‘Eco-Minded’ McCain Supports Offshore Drilling

Perhaps someone needs to clue John McCain in: calling oneself an environmentalist in one breath and supporting big oil in another = hypocrisy. McCain, in answer to rising public pressure over gas prices, keeps saying we need to “eliminate our dependence on foreign oil”. What he doesn’t seem to get is that we need to eliminate our dependence on oil, period. Not just foreign oil. Drilling for oil here in America is not going to solve the energy crisis, nor is drilling in Brazil, the Arctic or anywhere else.

McCain is calling for the federal government to lift restrictions on offshore drilling in the U.S., insisting that it will help ease the financial burden Americans are facing due to high gas prices. The Washington Post has the details:

McCain’s announcement is a reversal of the position he took in his 2000 presidential campaign and a break with environmental activists, even as he attempts to win the support of independents and moderate Democrats. Since becoming the presumptive GOP nominee in March, McCain has presented himself as a friend of the environment by touting his plans to combat global warming and his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Everglades.

Representatives of several environmental groups criticized him for backing an idea they said would endanger the nation’s most environmentally sensitive waters.

“It’s disappointing that Senator McCain is clinging to the failed energy policies of the past,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters.

Sierra Club political director Cathy Duvall said McCain “is using the environment as a way to portray himself as being different from George Bush. But the reality is that he isn’t.” The group began running radio commercials yesterday that criticize McCain’s environmental record in the battleground state of Ohio.

It’s clear that McCain is pandering to a nation of ignorant people who have no understanding of the energy crisis and are simply worried about their own finances and energy-sucking way of life. McCain is not thinking about America’s future, or what we’re going to do once oil really runs out. He’s thinking about what the idiots of our nation want to hear, and how he can use that to get elected.

Obama, meanwhile, has this to say about it:

“Our dependence on foreign oil strains family budgets and it saps our economy. Oil money pays for the bombs going off from Baghdad to Beirut, and the bombast of dictators from Caracas to Tehran,” Obama said. “Our nation will not be secure unless we take that leverage away, and our planet will not be safe unless we move decisively toward a clean energy future.”

I hope any of you moderate Republicans and Independents who bought McCain’s environment spiel kept the receipt for all that eco-friendly merchandise.

Link [The Washington Post]
Photo credit: Flickr user TheConcreteJungleBook.com

Related Posts:

Paris Hilton Supports Drilling, so McCain Must be Right
McCain Counts on Public Ignorance with New Global Warming Ads
The Truth About McCain and Big Oil
McCain Campaign Advisors Paid to Stop Cape Wind Renewable Energy Project
Arnold’s Subtle Digs at McCain and Crist over Offshore Drilling