Touring America's oil rigs andnuclear plants, John McCain sometimes sounds as if he'll produce enoughwind to power the nation all by himself. So strongly does his currentrhetoric smell of methanethe gas emanating from manurethat he mighteven qualify for an alternative energy tax incentive.
Theformer straight talker, who once could not help but tell the truth, hasfound the voice of the demagogue within. As McCain seeks to exploitpublic anger over the price of gasoline, first with his dubious "gastax holiday" and now with his campaign for offshore oil drilling, thethought ful legislator who defied his own party on global warming andAlaskan oil leasing has been replaced by that much more familiarcongressional figurea rented mouthpiece for the energy industry.
Notsurprisingly, this new McCain is not quite as accessible to the pressas the earlier version, partly because he resents the media attentiondevoted to his Democratic oppo nent and partly because he no longer isso eager to answer every question a reporter might pose. He prefers tolisten to the cheers of eager boobs who believe him when he says,"We're not going to pay $4 a gallon for gas because we are going todrill here, and we are going to drill now!"
Some Pertinent Questions
But should he ever stop yelling and start thinking again, there will be plenty of questions awaiting him, including these:
- Senator,if you truly think we should be doing "all of the above" to reduce ourdependence on foreign oil, why have you voted against every recentcongressional measure to encourage renewable energy sources?
- Ifyou still worry about the effects of climate change, then why do younow emphasize drilling for additional oil offshore rather than energysources that don't create greenhouse gases? And why do you continue totalk about so-called "clean coal," which doesn't actually exist?
- Whydo you say that offshore drilling will cut gasoline prices when theEnergy Information Administration predicts that will not happen for adecade and will make little difference even then?
- According to your best estimate, when will "drilling here and drilling now" reduce the price of gasoline in the United States?Please explain why you no longer believe in the data supplied by theEnergy Information Administration, which you asked to provide theeconomic analysis for the climate-change bill that you co-sponsoredwith Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
- When you assureaudiences that drilling offshore will produce more oil within a matterof months, as you did in Bakersfield, Calif., last week, are yourelying on sources other than the Energy Information Administration?Please iden tify the person or persons who told you that the oilindustry can produce more petroleum within the next several months ifwe start offshore leasing today. Did you learn of that miraculouscapacity from one of the many oil company lobbyists who have advisedand raised money for your campaign?
- When you said that there was no significant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexicoeven during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, were you aware that at leastseven million gallons were spilled as a result of Katrina? How much oilmust leak from a damaged off shore rig or barge before you would consider the spillage to be "significant"?
- By the way, where will all that new off shore drilling occur if the states of Florida and Californiacontinue to oppose offshore leasing, as their governors have vowed todo? Do you still support the right of those states to prevent drillingin their coastal waters, as you promised last year? Doesn't thatpromise conflict with your claim that offshore wells will produceenough new oil to lower gasoline prices?
- Finally, what isso funny about checking tire pressure to save energy? Are you awarethat auto and tire maintenancelike other conservation and efficiencymeasurescan save far more oil than offshore leasing will ever produce?Did you know that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged the people of California to pump up their tires? Is it really prudent to mock him?
