McCain's senior moment-Admits Blood for Oil

Trinity

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I can't wait for the new DNC ad entitled Blood for Oil...the first one is my favorite with the McCain quotes demonstrating how out of touch he is. The 100 years quote Ad is okay...but most Americans know McCain is a continuation of Bush. This McCain Blood for Oil "oops" and the subsequent effort to change what he said...will be classic.

McCain Backs Off War-Oil Link
ABC News - Political Radar
May 02, 2008 8:48 PM

ABC News’ Bret Hovell reports: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stepped away Friday from seeming to suggest earlier in the day that the Iraq War was motivated by U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

At a town hall meeting in Denver Friday morning, McCain was discussing the war in Iraq, and comments about how long the United States will be involved in that region, when he pivoted quickly to energy policy.
“And I just want to promise you this: My friends, I will have an energy policy, that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East,” McCain said. “That will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

After landing in Phoenix later in the day, McCain told reporters that he was not saying that the conflict is about oil.

“We went to Iraq because we believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and he was going to use them,” McCain said, reiterating what he has said before on numerous occasions.

He said that he was actually referring to the first Gulf War when he talked about how a new energy policy would allow the Untied States never to have to “send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

“I was talking about that we had fought the first Gulf War for several reasons,” McCain said, noting primarily that Iraq had invaded its neighbor Kuwait.

“But also we didn’t want them to have control over the oil, and that part of the world is critical to us because of our dependency on foreign oil. And it’s more important than in any other part of the world.”

But he did not mention the first Gulf War during his town hall meeting in Denver. His comments then came in the context of a conversation about the latest Iraq struggle, and how his plans for Iraq differ from that of his Democratic opponents, who want to begin withdrawing troops quickly from Iraq.

“I believe that that would lead to catastrophe and chaos,” he said of the Democrats’ plans. “And that we would have the whole region, including the country, in such turmoil that we would be required to come back to the region.”

In the very next sentence, McCain said that he wanted to promise Americans that his energy policy would prevent future conflict in the Middle East, as noted above.

In Phoenix, McCain acknowledged how he might have created the impression that oil and the Iraq war were connected, and he sought to correct it.

“I’m sorry if there was a misconception of that. And I hope I cleared that up. … I’m sorry that the word ‘again’ somehow caused an upheaval.”
McCain said that even though he did not vote for war with Iraq because of the vast oil reserves in that region, he does believe that dependency on foreign oil is something that is taken into account.

“I think that if we’re dependent on anything outside the United States of America, it has to, it has to enter into any calculations that we make,” McCain said.

He said that his comments in Denver related only to his desire to be completely independent of foreign oil.

“It’s obvious that we are dependent on oil from the Middle East and that is something that we have to become independent of, because it’s a very unstable part of the world.”
 

B_Nick4444

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[FONT=&quot]It is certainly an intriguing notion that the forthcoming election affords the opportunity to terminate the Petroleum Presidency of George Bush.

However, the reality is that whoever is elected will be placed in a position that affords few options on the energy issue(s) structured into our economic and political system, or disengagement from the Middle Eastern morass.

*************************************************************************

McCain Drills for Cash at the Petroleum Club [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]by: Wendy Norris [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Wed Mar 26, 2008 at 02:10 PM MDT[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sen. John McCain will visit Denver on Thursday to do what many politicians have done before him -- ask for money. But the fundraising trip to the posh Petroleum Club in Denver tomorrow raises a central question of the 2008 campaign: would a McCain presidency simply reprise the oil-and-gas-friendly Bush Administration for another four years?[/FONT]
The Arizona senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee is a study in contrasts -- often exasperatingly so for political allies and opponents alike.​
An examination of McCain's campaign donors, voting record and public statements suggest his long-hewed persona as a political maverick coexists with his identity as consummate Washington insider with strong ties to corporate interests -- a politician who is as much a product of a money-bloated political system as his colleagues.​
McCain's legislative priorities on energy issues appear to change depending on his political ambitions. The senator's voting record on oil and gas drilling in protected public lands, corporate tax breaks, and CAFE standards are often inconsistent with his public comments on renewable energy, foreign oil independence and climate change. The statements are also at odds with an industry that has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaign coffers. Compounding the squeamishness on McCain's views is an odd omission from his presidential Web site -- there's no energy policy except for a speech from April 23, 2007 buried in the news and media section.​
Striking black gold
McCain has long enjoyed the support of the energy interests who have prospered in the Bush years.​
Over nearly three decades, McCain has accepted $551,962 from oil and gas interests to pump up his Senate re-election funds, two Presidential campaigns and the Straight Talk America leadership PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit group that tracks political contributions.​
Since announcing his most recent bid for the White House last year, McCain has collected $232,000 from employees and political action committees of U.S. energy conglomerates in the last year -- or 42 percent of all the oil and gas money he's ever accepted over a 26-year political career. And more than double the haul from his entire 2000 presidential campaign.​
"While Senator McCain deserves credit for the leadership he has shown on the issue of global warming, he has a lifetime record of voting against the environment in three out of every four key votes. Last year, he missed every key environmental vote in the Senate," said Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. Thus earning McCain an F rating on environmental issues from the organization.​
Political maverick or fossil fuel maven?
The ties to the extractive energy sector don't end at McCain's own doorstep.​
More than a dozen of the senator's top campaign advisors and fundraisers have deep ties to the oil and gas industry. The Center for Responsive Politics finds that, as a group, McCain's team received more than $6.5 million in lobbying contracts with some of the world's largest oil conglomerates, such as Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Texaco, Occidental International, and the trade group, American Petroleum Institute, among others.​
As the Washington Independent's Mike Lillis noted in a Feb. 21 story, McCain's former role as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee made him a target of lobbyist largesse.​
But, watchdog groups say, sticking to vows of political-favor celibacy is no easy task in a system bloated with special-interest dollars, particularly for a high-profile committee chairman. In this sense, McCain is not so much a corruptible figure as he is a product of his environment.​
"Candidates at this point basically owe their jobs to moneyed interests," said Deborah Goldberg, director of the Democracy program at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. "It takes a heroic effort to resist the temptations that are put into place."​



According to the latest campaign finance reports, McCain has attracted about $20,000 from Colorado-based energy sector CEOs and employees, less than half of Romney's haul before he dropped out seven weeks ago. CBS 4 reported this morning that McCain's Colorado fundraising drought may be relieved in short order -- the event invitation purportedly requires attendees to bundle a minimum of $25,000 for the campaign.​
The Colorado visit highlights the way McCain's push for campaign finance and ethics reforms has put him in a political bind. The need for cash is all-consuming on the campaign trail but his
persona of being above the money-grubbing fray doesn't pay the bills. Which may explain why the
conservative Washington Times called McCain's fundraising "abysmal" in a Tuesday editorial.​


Since announcing his most recent bid for the White House last year, McCain has collected $232,000 from employees and political action committees of U.S. energy conglomerates in the last year -- or 42 percent of all the oil and gas money he's ever accepted over a 26-year political career. And more than double the haul from his entire 2000 presidential campaign.​
"While Senator McCain deserves credit for the leadership he has shown on the issue of global warming, he has a lifetime record of voting against the environment in three out of every four key votes. Last year, he missed every key environmental vote in the Senate," said Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. Thus earning McCain an F rating on environmental issues from the organization.​
Political maverick or fossil fuel maven?


As the Washington Independent's Mike Lillis noted in a Feb. 21 story, McCain's former role as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee made him a target of lobbyist largesse.​
But, watchdog groups say, sticking to vows of political-favor celibacy is no easy task in a system bloated with special-interest dollars, particularly for a high-profile committee chairman. In this sense, McCain is not so much a corruptible figure as he is a product of his environment.​

"Candidates at this point basically owe their jobs to moneyed interests," said Deborah Goldberg, director of the Democracy program at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. "It takes a heroic effort to resist the temptations that are put into place."​



According to the latest campaign finance reports, McCain has attracted about $20,000 from Colorado-based energy sector CEOs and employees, less than half of Romney's haul before he dropped out seven weeks ago. CBS 4 reported this morning that McCain's Colorado fundraising drought may be relieved in short order -- the event invitation purportedly requires attendees to bundle a minimum of $25,000 for the campaign.​
The Colorado visit highlights the way McCain's push for campaign finance and ethics reforms has put him in a political bind. The need for cash is all-consuming on the campaign trail but his
persona of being above the money-grubbing fray doesn't pay the bills. Which may explain why the
conservative Washington Times called McCain's fundraising "abysmal" in a Tuesday editorial.​
Yet the price of tickets to attend the Thursday evening Petroleum Club event range from $1,000 to $2,300 per person, the larger of which is just half the maximum allowable contribution. News reports of McCain's fundraising swing through California this week also report the same low-ball approach





 

B_jacknapier

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why are we still paying $3.60+ per gallon at the pump?
Is occupying Iraq keeping oil prices lower than they would be otherwise?
I hear "no blood for oil" and stuff, but are we getting oil out of the deal? Because the price keeps going up.

I'm confused. I am not trying to imply anything.
 

fivesalive

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why are we still paying $3.60+ per gallon at the pump?
Is occupying Iraq keeping oil prices lower than they would be otherwise?
I hear "no blood for oil" and stuff, but are we getting oil out of the deal? Because the price keeps going up.

I'm confused. I am not trying to imply anything.


The price of oil is more of a problem stemming from the weak dollar than anything OPEC driven. Oil is traded in dollars, so a weak dollar means that those trading oil want more of 'em to save face. Get ready... the only sure thing is that these prices are here to stay. To fix oil prices we'll have to fix the dollar, which means fixing the economy, which isn't particularly easy. Ironically, maybe not spending billions of dollars on a war we don't want could help...

And of course the war is for oil, but considering that our entire civilization is based on petroleum and its products, short term swapping of some plentiful, sustainable blood for oil sadly won't stop with Bush. Anyone around in the 70's knows what its like when it's in short supply...

I just took American history here at my university, and its amazing how the only president after Vietnam who didn't have his head up his ass is Carter. Environmentally at least we'd have been better off with his forward thinking energy policies, but maybe we'd have missed the ridiculous prosperity levels of the 80's and 90's. Eh who knows.

blood for oil, bash of Bush, endorsement of Carter and the environment... i think my inflammatory liberal checklist is complete. I feel like Mark Wahlberg in I Heart Huckabees.