We can trust oil executives, can’t we?

July 23, 2008

The surge, coastal drilling, and a “gas-tax holiday.” That’s it. That’s all John McCain has left, and those are the only substantive policy issues John McCain is prepared to talk about as a presidential candidate.

In fact, he already doubled-down on the surge, and this week, McCain is doubling-down on a coastal-drilling policy that he already knows is a shell game.

Take this clip from a town-hall meeting in New Hampshire yesterday.

For those who can’t watch clips online, McCain said, “…I’d like to mention offshore drilling if I could. My friends, we have to drill offshore. We have to do it. It’s out there and we can do it. Oil executives say within a couple years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it? We need to do it, and I was pleased to note that, in case you missed it, when the President announced that we were lifting the Federal moratorium on offshore drilling that the price of oil went down ten dollars a barrel. So it does, if America can show as we move into this energy independent era, that we have significant oil and gas reserves and we aren’t dependent on foreign oil, it will have an effect on the price of a barrel of oil. So it can have a beneficial effect in the short term, as well as the long term.”

Let’s review. On June 16, McCain told reporters, reality by damned, that coastal drilling would be “very helpful in the short term.” On June 18, the McCain campaign acknowledged coastal drilling would have no short-term benefits. On June 23, McCain told a town-hall audience that “it may take some years” before the effects of coastal drilling are felt. On June 28, switched back and said coastal drilling could be a “short-term” solution.

And then yesterday, McCain — citing the word of “oil executives” — said this would be worthwhile in the short and long term.

He really does think we’re idiots.

How blisteringly stupid is McCain prepared to get on this? About this much.

While Barack Obama is speaking about international affairs in Germany before thousands of fans tomorrow, John McCain will be talking about a pressing domestic issue with an equally striking if very different backdrop.

Weather permitting, McCain will helicopter from Louisiana to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast to make the case for expanded off-shore drilling, says a McCain aide.

The GOP nominee will be joined by a small press pool of reporters and photographers on a trek sure to offer memorable images. Because of space constraints, Louisiana Gov. and veep prospect Bobby Jindal will not make the trip.

Since first disclosed Monday, McCain’s visit to the state has been shrouded in mystery. Campaign aides have been watching weather patterns, including the path of Hurricane Dolly, closely and are hopeful they can pull off the visit.

McCain knows he’s pulling a scam. We know he’s pulling a scam. He knows that we know he’s pulling a scam.

But McCain’s doing this anyway. For more on the substance (or lack thereof) behind McCain’s push, Dianne Feinstein had a good piece on this.

He’s still getting a soundbite in. The majority of McCain supporters don’t undertstand that his simplified economics is flawed. We’ll hear this over and over now when someone opposes drilling offshore. Of course it won’t be mentioned that because of the rise in gas prices, people are driving less, therefore demand is down (or stagnant), and the price is dropping because of this. Its basic economics, but the average person out there won’t get this.

  • Even Mother Nature seems to be against McCain with this hurricane threatening to rui his plans. Poor guy. What a pathetic shell.

  • “A couple of years”? McCain needs some of Ross Perot’s handy charts. I’m pretty sure there are fairly extensive scenarios for how long it would take for oil companies to start sucking oil off the Florida coast. And I’d bet it’s not two years. Maybe by the next presidential election. (Or if McCain wins, by the next presidential erection.)

    Greg Mitchell pointed out though there are fuel riches off the coast if we reconcile with Cuba and get a grip on their sugar cane production for bio fuels.

  • I still don’t think these gas price increases are market driven. Have other countries faced this kind of increase?

  • He really does think we’re idiots.

    If you go by recent polling data, many of “us” are idiots

  • Quick, someone from the media, ask McNutball how many rigs are available to drill all that yummy offshore oil.

    The answer: ZERO.

    And then for extra credit, ask McNutball how drilling for more oil affects the problem of global warming.

  • McCain knows he’s pulling a scam. We know he’s pulling a scam. He knows that we know he’s pulling a scam.

    But most of the American people won’t because not a single newscast will point it out.

    They also won’t bring up the fact that oil companies currently have permission to drill on some 68 MILLION acres they have yet to touch, proving they really don’t need any more.

    If only we lived in a country where the media is worth a shit …

    **bangs head on desk**

  • John “Anything-for-a-BuckSoundbite” McCain.

    Oil is down because demand is down, coupled with high inventories. That’s what happens when you’re still pumping it out of the ground when people can’t afford it.

    Now, if I can only figure out the math to this: McCain pumping out more BS, coupled with an electorate less able that ever before to afford the BS, should equate to McCain’s political value dropping.

    Does that sound about right?

  • Another McCainesque Solution Towards Energy Self-Sufficency He Doesn’t Want You Knowing About:

    None other than the wholesale and deliberate production of cheap and cheerful ersatz gasolines derivate from coal, South African-stylee, never mind the potential risk of worsened air quality therefrom.

    (Come to think of it: Are there any studies about the effects of coal-based gasolines on air quality, particularly so in South Africa, where such has been produced with abandon since the early part of the apartheid regime? And what can the “morally superior” Americans learn therefrom?)

  • McCain’s visit was cancelled. Honestly, I dont think I have ever seen a campaign, even at a local or regional level, that is quite this bad. He is mind bogling in his inability to get even a single thing right.

    I used to think that as bad as he is and as much as I dislike McCain, at least my life would proably not change too much under a McCain presidency. The areas where it seemed he was likely to do the most harm probably wouldn’t effect me much. I told myself this to combat the despair at the possibility that this prick might actually get elected. But I am starting to realize that there isn’t anything this guy can’t make a dog’s breakfast out of. He is a complete and utter disaster. He might actually destroy this country permanently. He is really that bad.

  • “Oil executives say within a couple years we could be seeing results from it. So why not do it?”

    Other points McCain might want to make:
    1] Crystal meth has no longterm side effects. Drug dealers say it’s not even addictive. So why not do it? .
    2] The Bush administration has never made a mistake. President Bush says so, with great conviction and minimal eye twitching. So why not go with it?
    3] MacDonalds Big Macs are nutritious and satisfying. Their commercials say “I’m lovin’ it. So why not eat them?
    4] Eating dog shit is fun and safe. My dog loves to do this and seems pretty healthy. So why not do it?
    5] God hates homosexuals. A closeted gay minister says there are no homos in heaven. So why even go there, man? Come on!

  • McCain might be invoking the words of Oil Executives because Republicans put a lot of credence into what rich people say. As Free Marketeers, they would rather trust someone who’s worth a billion dollars than someone with a doctorate in science.

    I know this because, in a recent Global Warming argument, I was told that the fact that rich [meaning intellectually superior] people aren’t selling their seaside homes in droves is proof positive that the oceans are NOT going to rise. Rich people are just too smart, as evidenced by their obscene wealth. If the seas had any potential of rising, they’d know about it.

    And yes, the argument ended there.

    Meanwhile, what about that one Oil Executive who keeps talking about alternative energy?

  • Politico just ran an update saying the visit was cancelled due to weather.

    Instead, McCain will visit a BP station in Baton Rouge.

  • “Meanwhile, what about that one Oil Executive who keeps talking about alternative energy?”

    T. Boone Pickens wants to replace foreign oil derived gasoline as our transportation fuel with domestically pumped natural gas. To do this, he has to get that gas away from the electrical power generation where it goes now, so he’s going to build millions of windmills in Texas and transmission lines to move their electricity around.

    Nice I suppose except for the minor point that natural gas, when burnt, still creates carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.

    Pickens has a plan for energy independence, not for fighting global warming.

  • Another theme behind McCain’s “drill everywhere” nonsense is the implication that those who oppose drilling are unpatriotic (here we go again) people who won’t support ‘Merica, who want us to ‘lose.’ I wonder where that commie, pinko, liberal T. Boone Pickens fits into this, him ‘n his commie, pinko, liberal wind power—‘n solar power—‘n stuff like that.

  • Instead, McCain will visit a BP station in Baton Rouge.

    I heard he will be holding a cardboard sign that says:

    “Will pump gas for votes.”

  • Instead, McCain will visit a BP station in Baton Rouge.

    I heard he will be holding a cardboard sign that says:

    “Will pump gas for votes.”

  • Instead, McCain will visit a BP station in Baton Rouge.

    I heard he will be holding a cardboard sign that says:

    “Will pump gas for votes.”

  • I was pleased to note that, in case you missed it, when the President announced that we were lifting the Federal moratorium on offshore drilling that the price of oil went down ten dollars a barrel.

    You will note that Bush said this on June 18. And the price of oil didn’t start it’s drop until last week.

    Just another lie to add to McCain’s list.

  • Lance, yeah I know. My point was just that there’s at least one oil executive out there who’s not all “drill drill drill” and stuff.

  • McCain is stomping his feet to get media attention away from Obama. The applause only means the crowd is either not listening or thinking. They hear,,, gas prices dropping and drilling for more oil and believe the two things equate when they should hear… McCain doesn’t understand a thing about economics and couldn’t even get Social Security straight, that he speaks for what is good for oil execs and not for what is good for the people.

    McCain is insane, wrong on everything yet angrily demands we not question him. The more he talks, the more he reveals how inept he really is. Not a viable candidate for president he’s managed to con Arizonians into voting for him for the senate. He hasn’t had an original idea in his head for 40yrs allowing his staff to do the work and the party to determine how he should vote. The USA deserves so much better than this scraping the bottom of the barrel. McCain,Liebermann,Graham,Bush,Cheney…that ship deserves to be sunk.

    Oil + Drilling = more profits for the oil companies…not economic help for the public.

  • Banging head against desk. I can’t stand it anymore. See the article by Dianne Feinstein that CB linked to. It summarizes nicely the open and shut case against drilling in the protected areas. But the message never gets out to the American people.

    T. Boone Pickens has some interesting ideas. It’s my understanding that natural gas is much cleaner than gasoline in general, but I don’t know about CO2. But Pickens has taken some puzzling positions. For one, he favors drilling in ANWR and offshore in the sensitive coastal areas, and I saw him on C-Span when he said it. It was like a non sequitur – he explained how we can’t drill our way to energy independence, and then concluded we have to drill everywhere we can, including ANWR. He also claimed global production has peaked at 85 million barrels a day, and that’s why crude is skyrocketing. That’s just not true, YET. The Saudis are holding back, Iraq can dump 2 million barrels a day more once the security issue is resolved, and there’s still more other producing nations can ratchet up. He discounts speculation and market manipulation, too, which makes no sense when you look at the rapid rise and drop off, when there’s been no fundamental change in supply and demand. Finally, he doesn’t seem concerned about global warming. He emphasizes independence from foreign fuels, not from fossil fuels.

    But still, he’s got big ideas. Who else does, besides Gore? Obama is talking about a piddling 15 billion a year, which isn’t going to cut it. We need to nudge him on this. I’m afraid he’s being politically too cautious.

    Pardon me, I’m still banging my head against desk and can’t proofread this. I always miss half the typos anyway.

  • I have several problems with The Pickens Plan, but I love the fact that he has one and is promoting it.

    1) Every dollar this Swiftboat funder spends on advertising The Pickens Plan is a dollar that can’t be used to fund anti-Obama 527s and

    2) Every time this noted rich Republican oilman runs an ad where he says bluntly “this is one problem we can’t drill our way out of” he essentially rebuts the McCain ads running trying to claim that we can in fact drill our way out of the problem and Obama should agree. I love it when Republicans eat their own.

  • Don’t trust Pickens as far as u can throw him. He owns all the windmills and wants the State of Tx to provide the grid to bring the energy to market and HE gets the profit. He’s also a natural gas tycoon (I think).

    He is also moving to buy up all the mineral rights to the Ogallalla Aquifer in West Texas. When he owns all the water rights, he can withhold water or get rich at the expense of the little guy. In Texas utilities are privately owned. (What a surprise!) Water here is expensive. Even when they seem to be “helping” these guys are scumbags with schemes to help only themselves in the end.

  • Well, back to McCain…

    He’s confused because he’s talking for himself now instead of having Phil Gramms there to coherently advise him. You see, all his rhetoric STILL focuses on psychological economics rather than market economics.

  • This is manna from heaven (or at least, from McCain). Rhetorically, it’s a simple case of playing back his sound-bite, and adding in a line like, “McCain’s oil plans are backed by Oil Executives.” It ties him to the one segment of the population that might be less popular that Bush. Good grief, is he actually trying to see how hard he can drive his campaign into the ground? Or is it just a test to see how little people really do pay attention?

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