Jukebox John changes his tune on emissions

July 19, 2008

John McCain was for national emissions standards before he was against them. (thanks to T.D. and R.P. for the tip)

U.S. Sen. John McCain backtracked Friday on a pledge to set national auto emissions standards that would supersede those California and other states want to set.

“I guess at the end of the day, I support the states being able to do that,” he said at a town hall meeting at the GM Technical Center.

The statement appears to contradict a statement McCain made to The Detroit News last month, when he said he hoped to set a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary. […]

The auto emissions issue is a huge one for car makers, which say allowing states to set their own standards would cost them billions of dollars.

One of the employees at the GM Technical Center told the Detroit News that McCain is “politicking for votes, so he’s going to be telling us all kinds of things.”

Yeah, he does that a lot.

And as long as we’re on the subject of Jukebox John, McCain told the NAACP this week that he will “fully fund” the No Child Left Behind Act:

McCain has always opposed “fully funding” the No Child Left Behind Act, and shortly after McCain made his commitment the NAACP audience, a campaign aide told reporters that McCain would only commit to “continuing the funding for No Child Left Behind,” not fully funding it.

For those keeping score at home, we’re now up to 66.

I’m convinced that McCain simply doesn’t understand issues and that’s why it doesn’t occur to him that he can be for national standards and for states setting emission standards at the same time. I used to think he was being disingenous but I really believe he rarely thinks beyond the moment. Of course this is NOT what anyone wants in a president (unless you can control access to his thinking environment i.e. GWB).

  • When we reach McCain’s age, we should send his campaign headquarters a cake.

    Hell, the candles alone could light up an entire floor.

  • Used to be… 2 things I hate about John McCain…his face.

    Now it’s…66 things I hate about John McCain…his face

    It’s really depressing that anyone could seriously consider McCain for president. He’s not even viable and if anything represents how craven some members of our society have become to be willing to overlook how fatally flawed this man is to become president of the USA. He’s only managed to be senator because of a sense of retribution for his POW suffering and name recognition. He’s avoided scrutiny for years while a bribed and bought press pushes a contrived and undeserved reputation. Hopefully someone will make up for their negligence with the truth. McCain is unfit for leadership anywhere.

  • McCain is unfit for leadership anywhere.

    He’s not expected to be a leader. He’s a figure-head. A war-hero, a symbol of courage, in a lost cause. McCaint’s the political equivalent of the French Foreign Legion. They’ll find a nice padded room for him and his blond bint, and keep up a nice parade, hust like at Tailhook, and somebody else –Phil Gramm, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney–will conduct bidness…

  • I had a great joke for why John McCain might have changed his “tune” on “emissions” but my wife wouldn’t let me post it.

  • For those keeping score at home, we’re now up to 66.

    Which is why I think the McCain Weathervane icon should include the number. It’s more striking as “66 flip-flops and counting….”

    BTW, “Weathervane McCain” is almost as catchy as “Jukebox Johnny”…

  • Good heavens, no!

    Fully funding NCLB would improve public schools!
    This is would be disastrous for the privatization movement!

    NCLB is a joke. It calls for 100% of children to pass standards chosen by individuals states.
    If my own state of Maryland had been smart about it, they would have made the exam 2+2=4 and be done with it. Much more and you’ll only get 99% which means your schools are “failures” ripe for privatization.

    Stupid states decided to take Dubya seriously.

  • Getting better mileage equals getting better emissions standards.

    Getting better mileage means saving on gasoline.

    Getting better mileage means giving people a valid reason to BUY A FREAKING CAR IN THE MIDDLE OF A RECESSION !!!

    And Bernard—would it look better if you were to say “Weather-vain McCain?” The man’s so totally prima dona these days, it’s ridiculous….

  • @1 — I think you had a missing “not” in your post, or maybe you don’t understand the preemption issue. In principle you can be for both national and state standards at the same time, but in reality the whole point of national standards is to prevent states from setting their own standards.

    If Congress sets a low standard, and then California sets a strict standard which is later matched by a few other large blue states, the national standard means nothing. Nobody will build cars that cannot be sold or moved to California or other big states. The California standard becomes the de facto national standard, so the congressional standard only works if Congress also forbids states to set their own standards.

    For a storybook example of this in action, read up on what happened with the CAN-SPAM Act.

  • Your site’s flip-flop tracking on McCain is incredibly valuable work. I do wish you wouldn’t reduce your own credibility with the rather childish “Jukebox John” headlines. Please let the facts speak for themselves.

  • Actually, “Jukebox John” is exceptionally accurate. You put in your four quarters, and in return, you get the issue position of your choice. The more you pay, the more he’ll play….

  • Henceforth and Forevermore, let The Senator from Arizona be known as Jukebox John.

    The statement appears to contradict a statement McCain made to The Detroit News last month, when he said he hoped to set a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary.

    Yeah. And it was just too hard to actually do the research necessary to confirm whether or not he actually contradicted himself.

    Our press is teh suck.

  • National standards would be great, if they were set by Al Gore.

    Since they would be set by the clone of Dick Cheney, I’m all for state by state standards. I bet the Japanese could design cars to met California’s standards.

    But not General Motors.

  • I love your list. Please try to get this to the MSM. I am seeing a little bit of movement from the Obama Flip Flops and McCain Holds Steady Meme, but we have to keep pressing this issue.

    I also was amused today Adulterer #1, Rudy Fooliani, bashing Obama for his experience on behalf of Adulterer #2. Such a spokesperson for McSame.

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