McCain and Bush Are Oil Opportunists

[Etta Place]

I have now read three articles in the last two days about Republican shortsightedness and cynicism on oil prices.

June 20, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Driller Instinct
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Blaming environmentalists for high energy prices, never mind the evidence, has been a hallmark of the Bush administration.

Thus, in 2001 Dick Cheney attributed the California electricity crisis to environmental regulations that, he claimed, were blocking power-plant construction. He completely missed the real story, which was that energy companies — probably some of the same companies that participated in his secret task force, which was supposed to be drawing up a national energy strategy — were driving up prices by deliberately withholding electricity from the market.

And the administration has spent the last eight years trying to convince Congress that the key to America’s energy security is opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling — even though estimates from the Energy Information Administration suggest that drilling in the refuge would make very little difference to the energy outlook, and the oil companies themselves aren’t especially interested in punching holes in the tundra.

But it still comes as a surprise and a disappointment to see John McCain joining that unfortunate tradition.

I’ve never taken Mr. McCain’s media reputation as a maverick seriously, because on most issues, he’s a thoroughly conventional conservative. On energy policy, however, he has in the past seemed to show some independence. Most notably, he voted against the really terrible, special-interest-driven 2005 energy bill, which was backed by the Bush administration — and by Barack Obama.

But that was then.

In his Monday speech on energy, Mr. McCain tried to touch all the bases. He talked about conservation. He denounced the evils of speculation: “While a few reckless speculators are counting their paper profits, most Americans are coming up on the short end.” A weird aspect of the current energy debate, incidentally, is the fact that many of the same market-worshipping conservatives who first denied that there was a dot-com bubble, then denied that there was a housing bubble, are utterly convinced that nasty speculators are responsible for high oil prices.

The item that made news, however, was Mr. McCain’s call for more offshore drilling. On Tuesday, he made this more explicit, calling for exploration and development of the currently protected outer continental shelf. This was a reversal of his previous position, and it went a long way toward aligning his energy policy with that of the Bush administration.

That’s not a good thing.

As many reports have noted, the McCain/Bush policy on offshore drilling doesn’t make sense as a response to $4-a-gallon gas: the White House’s own Energy Information Administration says that exploiting the outer shelf wouldn’t yield noticeable amounts of oil until the 2020s, and even at peak production its impact on oil prices would be “insignificant.”

But what I haven’t seen emphasized is the broader picture: Mr. McCain has now aligned himself with an administration that, even aside from its blame-the-environmental-movement tendencies, has established an extensive track record as the gang that couldn’t think straight about energy policy.

Remember, they didn’t just insist that the Iraqis would welcome us as liberators; on the eve of the Iraq war, administration officials were also adamant that regime change in Iraq would add millions of barrels a day to the world oil supply, driving oil prices way down. (In fact, Iraq’s oil output took five years just to recover to preinvasion levels.)

So why would Mr. McCain associate himself with these characters? The answer, presumably, is that it’s a cynical political calculation.

I’m reasonably sure that Mr. McCain’s advisers realize that offshore drilling would do nothing for current gas prices. But they may believe that the public can be conned. A Rasmussen poll taken before Mr. McCain’s announcement suggests that the public favors expanded offshore drilling, and believes (wrongly) that this would lower gasoline prices.

And Mr. McCain may also hope to shore up his still fragile relations with the Republican base. As anyone who has read what’s in his inbox after publishing an article on oil prices can testify, there are many people on the right who believe that all our energy problems have been caused by sanctimonious tree-huggers. Mr. McCain has just thrown that constituency some red meat.

But I very much doubt that Mr. McCain’s gambit will work. In fact, it’s almost certainly self-destructive.

To have a chance in November, Mr. McCain has to convince voters that he isn’t just Bush, continued. Energy policy is one of the areas where he could best have made that case.

Instead, he has ceded the high ground on energy to Mr. Obama, and linked himself firmly to the most unpopular president on record.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/op...in&oref=slogin


I guess being an environmentalist was helpful to McCain when he wanted to project an image as a moderate or maverick, but is less useful now when he sees an opportunity to cynically play on the public's fears for potential political advantage.

[IamCPTSpalding]

But it's ok for China and Cuba to drill off of our shores.... Hmmm. Sounds like someone is spinning the donkey. I don't buy it.

[FrankRizzoXD40]

If Bush is an oil opportunist, then why did he keep renewing the executive ban on offshore drilling? Why isn't he revoking it now? Why did his father renew it throughout his administration?

Furthermore, if Bush is an oil opportunist, then why aren't we seizing Iraq's oil and shipping it here to refine? What would an oil opportunist like more than free oil???

Your arguements so completely ignore basic logic....it's laughable really.

Frank

[Etta Place]

Here's one from the LA Times editorial board - liberal, just like Krugman above, but probably will prove to be correct when it comes to not allowing drilling on the California coast.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

McCain and Bush, oil opportunists - Los Angeles Times

From the Los Angeles Times
McCain and Bush, oil opportunists

It's nonsense for them to use the run-up in gas prices as an excuse to advocate offshore drilling.

June 21, 2008

President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain both recently proposed an end to the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling. What's really needed, though, is a moratorium on worthless suggestions from politicians for lowering gas prices.

GOP leaders like Bush and McCain are rolling out their own nonsensical non-solutions to the energy crisis after the Senate this month beat back an equally ridiculous attempt at gas-pump pandering by Democrats. Their bill would have hampered investment in new supply by imposing a shortsighted windfall-profits tax on oil companies, and it might have set off a trade war by allowing the U.S. attorney general to sue OPEC on antitrust grounds. Fortunately for the country, it failed to win enough votes to avoid a filibuster.

Enter Bush, who on Wednesday said he would end his father's 1990 presidential moratorium on most coastal drilling if Congress would lift its own, separate ban. His reasoning was so contradictory that it's a wonder he could finish his news conference without cracking up. While conceding that the long-term solution to high oil prices is to pursue alternative energy sources, he argued that "in the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil, and that means we need to increase supply." The U.S. Energy Information Administration says that even if oil companies are allowed to tap the 18 billion barrels under coastal waters that are currently off-limits, oil prices wouldn't be expected to fall until 2030. How is that a short-term solution?

Coastal drilling isn't just opposed by a bunch of Prius-driving greenies from Santa Barbara. Existing moratoriums were put in place at the behest of tourism interests, fishermen, small businesses and coastal dwellers. That's because drilling in these waters benefits oil companies but causes direct economic harm to everyone else by trashing beaches, poisoning marine life and ruining views.

Californians have been leery of coastal drilling since a devastating spill from an oil platform off Santa Barbara in 1969. Drilling proponents counter that new technology has greatly decreased the risk of spills, but they nonetheless still happen. And there's more to worry about than spills. Texas is not known for its beaches, which attract the detritus -- such as tar balls and empty oil drums -- from thousands of oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Drilling releases a host of toxic chemicals, creating such problems as dangerously high mercury levels in fish.

The destruction of our coasts is too high a price to pay for a negligible decrease in gas prices that's 20 years down the road. The latest Republican oil strategy deserves the same fate as the Democrats'.

[Etta Place]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

If Bush is an oil opportunist, then why did he keep renewing the executive ban on offshore drilling? Why isn't he revoking it now? Why did his father renew it throughout his administration?

Furthermore, if Bush is an oil opportunist, then why aren't we seizing Iraq's oil and shipping it here to refine? What would an oil opportunist like more than free oil???

Your arguements so completely ignore basic logic....it's laughable really.

Frank

They are taking advantage of high gas prices in an election year to scare people so they will vote for Republicans. Not so laughable, really.

[FrankRizzoXD40]

Originally Posted by Etta Place

They are taking advantage of high gas prices in an election year to scare people and to vote for Republicans. Not so laughable, really.

So he's not an oil opportunist then? He's using an issue for political gain, according to you. Wouldn't that make him a political opportunist?

Seems to me they are trying to propose a solution to the problem of high energy costs.

Frank

[Etta Place]

Originally Posted by FrankRizzoXD40

So he's not an oil opportunist then? He's using an issue for political gain, according to you. Wouldn't that make him a political opportunist?

Frank

Using oil prices for political gain could be called oil opportunism or political opportunism - either one.

Plus, I continue to be suspicious of the steep rise in oil prices during the Bush presidency because of his, Cheney's, and others in his administration's relationship with the oil industry. As Bill Maher said on one of his more recent shows:

“You know that since George Bush has become president, gas has basically tripled in price. Now, Bush is an oil man. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m just saying that if we had elected Colonel Sanders president, and the price of chicken had tripled, I’d be a little suspicious.” –Bill Maher

[FrankRizzoXD40]

Originally Posted by Etta Place

Using oil prices for political gain could be called oil opportunism or political opportunism - either one.

Plus, I continue to be suspicious of the steep rise in oil prices during the Bush presidency because of his, Cheney's, and others in his administration's relationship with the oil industry. As Bill Maher said on one of his more recent shows:

“You know that since George Bush has become president, gas has basically tripled in price. Now, Bush is an oil man. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m just saying that if we had elected Colonel Sanders president, and the price of chicken had tripled, I’d be a little suspicious.” –Bill Maher

Ok, let's run with this...

Can you provide any evidence of how George Bush is significantly benefiting financially from the high price of gas?

If you can, then I will join you with taking this proof to the media to bring him down.

Frank

[AZXD]

I take it our discussion on being reasonable actually fell upon deaf ears.
Thanks Etta!

Attacking Bush and/or McCain does nothing to solve the problems you want solved. But it is a good , yet futile attempt and does garner some needed attention as you attempt to turn the tables once again.

I wondered why you all of a sudden went silent and stopped responding to my posts. Now I know!

You are lost. That's all I have to say about this retaliation thread, for now.

[AZXD]

Another item.

Originally Posted by Etta Place

Not that your post is worthy of a civilized response, but seeing as how you're from Houston, I can understand why you wouldn't care about the environment.

The same can be said of all the unreasonable idiots who live in California and care not about the economy