Hot Seat: American Energy Act

LIKE SENATOR OBAMA, I PREFER "ALL OF THE ABOVE," BUT WITH MY EVOLVING BRAIN, I TOO AM SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

“Both Ways Barack”
The liberal news media has been reporting Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign like the second coming of Christ.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews says every time he sees Obama it sends “a thrill up my leg.”

And drooling reporters are acting as if Obama has already been elected our president.

But Obama has NOT been elected president. In fact, polls show this is going to be a very tight race.

Everything you and I do can make a difference.

Let Freedom Ring wants to blanket America with the truth about Barack Obama.

Recently, we created our first ad to expose Obama.

Our “Both Ways Barack” 30-second ad begins this way:

“People are saying that Senator Obama’s recent changes of position have made him a flip-flopper. He’s not! Flip-floppers only hold one position at a time. Senator Obama is different: he holds two positions at the same time. . . . Worse than a
flip-flopper!”

In the “Both Ways Barack” we reveal how Obama:
has taken two positions on gun control, claims to support campaign finance reform, but decided not to keep his promise to use public financing and says he both wants an immediate withdrawal for Iraq, but can stay as long as we need to.

Hghhhh?

If a conservative Republican held such sham and hypocritical positions, you can imagine the media would be in overdrive exposing the candidate to the public.

"Not so Obama."

This is why our campaign to tell the American people the truth about Obama is so important.

You can see the “Both Ways Barack” ad and support our efforts.

Make no mistake about it, the major media are afraid of our efforts.

The New York Post recently headlined “New Ad Calls Obama ‘Both Ways Barack’ – introducing a story about our new ad.

And we already made history at MTV. Our “Both Ways Barack” ad was the first political commercial MTV has ever run.

We are reaching out to new and younger voters – as well as getting the ad placed on traditional news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
We need to expose Barack Obama before it’s too late.

Watch "BOTH WAYS BARACK"!!

VOTE FOR COUNTRY FIRST - VOTE FOR McCAIN

politico.com has a video containing audio oh mccain flip flopping on different issues, they are polioticians and go the way political winds blow.deal with it

Living and dying by the 10-second sound bite. 'Judicious editing' can make any candidate 'say' almost anything the editor wants them to say... and a sound bite doesn't have a date stamp. If you said something 20 years ago, would you say it again today and mean it? People grow and evolve throughout their lives. I believed things 20 years ago that I no longer believe, and I've learned a lot in that time. But propaganda is still propaganda, and the politics of personal destruction have been almost universally adopted - because they work! Its a shame that they do - OUR shame! We keep voting for the same people... the same KINDS of people; we should expect the same kind of government. We are getting what we deserve.

The weekly Political Machine Presidential straw poll has consistently had John Mccain leading by a +/- 66% of the vote and the number of votes is usually close to 200,000. The question is: Why is this not a strong indicator of John McCain's overall polictical strength since the results are not a one week fluke and the sample is so huge?

the sample is so huge due to the fact the right haS MOUNTED A CAMPAIGN. CHECK WHERE THE MONEY IS AND YOU'LL SEE THE REAL RESULTS

I hope that I'm wrong, but if you people elect Obama in Nov. then I very afraid that you are just asking for race war's all over America!

Perer Maggio brings up a really good point. I have wondered the same thing myself. I choose to believe that the AOL poll is a correct representation of the American vote but It is really out of line with most other national polls. Which is right? Only time will tell. And remember, the Republicans are waiting until Sept. to really begin their offensive campagian so that NOBAMA'S many faults will be fresh on their minds .

Do you people really want 8 more years of Bush come on get your brains working. Or are you so rich you don't see the lights.

Come on people do you really want 8 more years of Bush. get your brains in gear. Or are you so rich you can't see the light.

The Republican Party is nothing but DOGS. McCain has no Energy plan, no Economic plan, and no foreign plan.

Oil Company have 68 million acre of lease land that they not drill on. The reason why they not drill on the lease land it will drive the price down. Now why would the Oil Company want the gas price to go down? When Exxon just made 11.7 billion dollars. If they do get to drill they will just SELL the oil to China and India for a bigger profit it will not got to the American consumer. The oil that they do get from the continental shell of the US goes to Japan. Look it up.

The Republican Party is nothing but DOGS. McCain has no Energy plan, no Economic plan, and no foreign plan.

Where was McCain great idea to drill off our coast 8yrs ago when the republican dogs control both houses? The Repuke party had control of both houses for the 1st 6yrs of the Bush administration and McCain was part of this mess. another 4yrs yeah right Obama is going to win in a landslide.

tsk tsk. Barack,thinks and consider the situation, Mc Cain follows a road of predictability, sometimes lucking out. Those who prefer him, no matter how wrong or how right he is, bank on a use to be, young prisoner of war who may just be out of touch with todays reality. Remember what worked in the days of Ceasar may not be in style today.

McCain on windfall profits tax on oil companies:

Flip: Criticized Obama's support of a "windfall profits" tax on oil companies.

Flop: Said he'd be "glad to look at the idea of a windfall profits tax" on oil companies during a speech to the Charlotte, NC Chamber of Commerce on May 5th. link - CNN video on YouTube 6/17/08

McCain on off-shore drilling:

Flip: Stated he would "end the federal ban on offshore oil drilling" during a speech to reporters.

Flop: In 1999 and during the 2000 Presidential campaign, McCain scolded the “special interests in Washington” that sought offshore drilling leases. link - ThinkProgress 6/16/08

McCain on "Privatizing" Social Security:

Flip: During a campaign speech in Sioux City, Iowa along side former GOP rival Mike Huckabee, McCain stated, "I've never been for, quote, privatized Social Security. I never have been. I never will be."

Flop: During the 2004 campaign (11/18/04), McCain stated, "Without privatization, I don't see how you could possibly, overtime, make sure young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits." link - Democrats.org YouTube video 10/25/07 (repeated denial on 6/13/2008)

McCain on funding National Defense:

Flip: In the November 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, McCain argued “we can also afford to spend more on national defense, which currently consumes less than four cents of every dollar that our economy generates - far less than what we spent during the Cold War.”

Flop: Facing the $2 trillion budgetary hole the McCain tax plan is forecast to produce (a sea of red ink even the Wall Street Journal noticed), Team McCain changed its tune. As Forbes scoffed in amazement:
“McCain’s top economic adviser, Doug Holtz-Eakin, blithely supposes that cuts in defense spending could make up for reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% and the subsequent shrinkage in federal revenues. Get that? The national security candidate wants to cut spending on our national security. Wait until the generals and the admirals hear that.”
link - Crooks & Liars 6/13/08

McCain on attacking the media:

Flop: During his disastrous “green screen” speech on June 3, McCain reached out to Hillary Clinton’s supporters by proclaiming, “The media often overlooked how compassionately she spoke to the concerns and dreams of millions of Americans, and she deserves a lot more appreciation than she sometimes received.”

Flop: June 7, McCain denied to Newsweek that his critique of the media never passed his lips, “I did not–that was in prepared remarks, and I did not–I’m not in the business of commenting on the press and their coverage or not coverage.” link - (Ibid) 6/3/08

McCain on The Estate Tax:

Flip: On June 8, 2006, McCain on the Senate floor expressed his agreement with Teddy Roosevelt that “most great civilized countries have an income tax and an inheritance tax” and “in my judgment both should be part of our system of federal taxation.”

Flop: In a speech before small business owners in New York, McCain declared “the estate tax is one of the most unfair tax laws on the books.” link - Huffington Post 6/10/08

McCain on illegal wiretapping:

Flip: On December 20, 2007, McCain suggested to Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Charles Savage that President Bush had clearly crossed the line with his violation of the FISA Act. As Wired’s Ryan Singel noted:

“I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is,” McCain said. The Globe’s Charlie Savage pushed further, asking , “So is that a no, in other words, federal statute trumps inherent power in that case, warrantless surveillance?” To which McCain answered, “I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law.”

Flop: Pressed to explain the glaring inconsistencies, John McCain on June 6 the New York Times reported McCain now believes the legality of Bush’s regime of NSA domestic surveillance is unclear and, in any event, is old news:

“It’s ambiguous as to whether the president acted within his authority or not,” he said, saying courts had ruled different ways on the matter. “I’m not interested in going back. I’m interested in addressing the challenge we face to day of trying to do everything we can to counter organizations and individuals that want to destroy this country. So there’s ambiguity about it. Let’s move forward.”

As for immunity for the telecommunications firms cooperating with the White House in what before August 2007 was doubtless illegal surveillance, there too McCain’s position has evolved. On May 23, campaign surrogate Chuck Fish announced that McCain would not back retroactive immunity “unless there were revealing Congressional hearings and heartfelt repentance from those telephone and internet companies.” Subsequently, the McCain campaign swiftly backtracked, claiming its man supports immunity unconditionally. link - ThinkProgress Ibid

McCain on using sanctions as a tool of influcing international policy:

Flip: During his June 2 speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John McCain called for the international community to target Iran for the kind of worldwide sanctions regime applied to apartheid-era South Africa.

Flop: McCain advisers Charlie Black and Rick Davis each represented firms doing business with Tehran. Even more unfortunate, John McCain was frequently not among those offering “moral clarity and conviction” in backing “a divestment campaign against South Africa, helping to rid that nation of the evil of apartheid.” As ThinkProgress detailed:
Despite voting to override President Reagan’s veto of a bill imposing economic sanctions against South Africa in 1986, McCain voted against sanctions on at least six other occasions. link - ThinkProgress 6/2/08

McCain on job creation:

Flip: During the run-up to the Michigan primary, John McCain cautioned workers in January that he didn’t want to raise “false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs,” adding that it” wasn’t government’s job to protect buggy factories and haberdashers when cars replaced carriages and men stopped wearing hats.”

Flop: On June 5: echoing Mitt Romney who trounced him in the January 15th primary, McCain returned to Michigan, telling a local television station that he would fight for new jobs and the state wouldn't "be left behind."
Nowadays, McCain is striking a populist pose and saying “new jobs are coming”… …Over the past few months, however, McCain has taken a lesson from Romney, acknowledging recently that “Americans are hurting.” Returning to Michigan last month, the Arizona senator told a local television station that he would fight for new jobs and the state wouldn’t “be left behind.” link - Bloomberg News 6/5/08

McCain on investigating Katrina failures:

Flip: During a June 4th town hall meeting in Baton Rouge, John McCain answered a reporter’s question regarding Hurricane Katrina and investigating the failure of the New Orleans levees by announcing:
“I’ve supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. I’ve been here to New Orleans. I’ve met with people on the ground.”

Flop: In 2005 and 2006 McCain twice voted against a commission to study the government’s response to Katrina. He also opposed three separate emergency funding measures providing relief to Katrina victims, including the extension of five months of Medicaid benefits. Until traveling there one month ago, McCain had made just one public tour of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina touched down in August 2005. link - ThinkProgress 6/4/08

McCain on differing from Bush:

Flip: In a televised speech hoping to steal some of the thunder from Barack Obama's announcement that he had clinched the Democratic nomination, McCain said:
"You will hear from my opponent’s campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I’m running for President Bush’s third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it’s so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it’s very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false."

Flop: During his appearance on the June 19, 2005 edition of "Meet the Press", McCain responded to Tim Russert's claim, "The fact is you are different than George Bush.":

"No. No. I--the fact is that I'm different but the fact is that I have agreed with President Bush far more than I have disagreed. And on the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I've been totally in agreement and support of President Bush." link - Ibid 6/3/08

McCain on raising taxes:

Flip: Senator McCain has repeatedly attacked Senator Obama on the issue of taxes, in one appearance saying (quote): "The choice in this election is stark & simple. Senator Obama will raise your taxes; I won't."

Flop: During his interview on ABC's This Week, Senator McCain said that the possibility of raising taxes "to save Social Security" is an option he's willing to consider:
George S: "Is [sic] payroll tax increases on the table as well?"

McCain: "There’s nothing that’s off the table. I have my positions and I will articulate them, but nothing is off the table." link - crooks and liars 7/28/08

McCain on energy conservation:

Flip: Following a comment by Senator Obama that "proper tire inflation" could save as much energy as the GOP’s coastal drilling policy, McCain responded the next day: "Yesterday, he [Obama] suggested we put air in our tires to save on gas. My friends, let’s do that. But do you think that’s enough to break our dependence on Middle Eastern oil? I don’t think so."

Of course, Obama never claimed "proper tire inflation alone" would end our dependence on foreign oil. Note that "electronic tire pressure monitoring" is now standard equipment on most luxury cars, underscoring the importance of proper tire inflation with regards to fuel efficiency, performance and safety.

Flop: Just last April, Senator McCain, while commenting on the same subject of "dependency on foreign oil", McCain suggested:
"We can do that [decrease our dependence] as a nation. We can turned out [sic] the lights five minutes earlier. We don't have to drive the extra block."

It is almost surreal that Sen. McCain seems to be making a habit of criticizing his opponent for comments on subjects McCain himself injected into the debate just weeks earlier. Should the issue of "looming Alzheimer's" now be injected into the debate?

Why aren't the oil companies drilling on all those leases?Because with todays technology they know there is no
oil there!If there was they'd be drilling,especially with todays record prices.
Some of you electorate better open a `book and start
educating yourselves before you buy into the Washington
B.S.or worse vote

Whatever we decide to do about energy better consider the CO2 problem.....

Ice at the North Pole melted at an unprecedented rate last week, with leading scientists warning that the Arctic could be ice-free in summer by 2013.

Satellite images show that ice caps started to disintegrate dramatically several days ago as storms over Alaska's Beaufort Sea began sucking streams of warm air into the Arctic.

As a result, scientists say that the disappearance of sea ice at the North Pole could exceed last year's record loss. More than a million square kilometres melted over the summer of 2007 as global warming tightened its grip on the Arctic. But such destruction could now be matched, or even topped, this year.

'It is a neck-and-neck race between 2007 and this year over the issue of ice loss,' said Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado. 'We thought Arctic ice cover might recover after last year's unprecedented melting - and indeed the picture didn't look too bad last month. Cover was significantly below normal, but at least it was up on last year.

'But the Beaufort Sea storms triggered steep ice losses and it now looks as if it will be a very close call indeed whether 2007 or 2008 is the worst year on record for ice cover over the Arctic. We will only find out when the cover reaches its minimum in mid-September.'

This startling loss of Arctic sea ice has major meteorological, environmental and ecological implications. The region acts like a giant refrigerator that has a strong effect on the northern hemisphere's meteorology. Without its cooling influence, weather patterns will be badly disrupted, including storms set to sweep over Britain.

At the same time, creatures such as polar bears and seals - which use sea ice for hunting and resting - face major threats. Similarly, coastlines will no longer be insulated by ice from wave damage and will suffer erosion, as is already happening in Alaska.

Other environmental changes are likely to follow. Without sea ice to bolster them, land ice - including glaciers - could topple into the ocean and raise global sea levels, threatening many low-lying areas, including Bangladesh and scores of Pacific islands. In addition, the disappearance of reflective ice over the Arctic means that solar radiation would no longer be bounced back into space, thus heating the planet even further....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/10/climatechange.arctic

landnreyn8@aol.com

I would rather see a big push for renewable energies because if the oil companie start drilling and building refineries, that will just prolong the inevitable...continued reliance on oil, domestic especially, and postponement of other developments. As long as domestic oil is available, people will say, "Well we're getting a lot of domestic oil now so why switch to anything else?"

@Diane3:39PMAug 13th 2008
you do realize that McCain isn't well liked by most conservatives right? You also realize that he was about a day away from becoming a Democrat due to differences with Bush last Fall right?
You can keep parrotting the Daily Kos/Move On...(...to failure) crowd propaganda all you want, but McCain is a very different politician than Bush is.
I'm not suggesting that should be enough for you or anyone else to switch their vote but if your sole grievance with the man is that he is Bush III then you couldn't be more wrong.

Also, if you are going to comment on people using their brains, perhaps you should learn to comment and not double post. It just makes it too easy.

Q: Is it true John McCain voted with George Bush 95 percent of the time?

The Obama campaign keeps claiming McCain has voted with President Bush 95 percent of the time. Is this true?

A: Yes, it's true, according to Congressional Quarterly's assessment of McCain's voting record.
Sen. Barack Obama has attempted to use the Arizona senator's voting record against him in statements like this:

Barack Obama (June 3): It's not change when John McCain decided to stand with George Bush 95 percent of the time, as he did in the Senate last year.

The claim is true. -- FactCheck.org

Republican motives for this drilling hoax are simple: First and foremost, exploitation of voter discontent over high gasoline prices with a hoax which appears to the uninformed like they're doing something.

Secondly, oil and gas industry executives donated $1.1 million to McCain in June -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the offshore drilling ban -- compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.

McCain reversed his previous opposition to offshore drilling on June 16th before a series of fundraisers with energy industry executives, and on June 17th he raised $1.3 million from drilling advocates at a private luncheon at the San Antonio Country Club.

But McCain is not the only player in this hoax -- nearly 75 percent of the existing leases on federal lands held by oil companies are currently producing no oil. Those companies today hold tens of millions of acres dormant.

Perhaps supporters of this drilling hoax should ask McCain's friends in the industry why they aren't exploring or producing on the leases they already control. A truthful answer would be that those leases count as financial assets whether productive or not -- adding to them enhances an oil firm's record profits.

The most recent time, one of many, that Dubya pushed to drill in the ANWR -- where an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil lie -- I looked up what the effect would be of drilling there and found that it would only reduce the price of crude oil by about 75 cents per barrel, and that would be 17 years from now, according to Dubya's own Energy Department.
http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/pdf/sroaif(2008).03pdf

Now the White House estimates that there are 18 billion barrels of oil offshore. If we start drilling in the moratorium areas offshore, we could lower the price of oil by $1.35 per barrel by 2030.

Increasing domestic drilling is neither a short-term nor long-term solution. Currently, we use about 21 million barrels of oil per day, and produce about 5 million barrels per day domestically. So our net import is roughly 15 million barrels/day. Drilling on moratorium areas offshore in an analysis, performed by the EIA, found in a report published in 2007 that opening up the outer continental shelf in the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf regions would result in production no sooner than 2017, and would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil production until 2030.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2008/jun/19/MCCAINOIL/

Furthermore, additional offshore production at that point would be less than 1 million barrels per day -- less than 5 percent of what we consume.

Obama's policy is to invest $150 billion over 10 years to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, advance cellulosic biofuel -- not from corn but from agricultural crop residues and switchgrass, advance the associated fuel infrastructure, and promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy -- requiring that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. be derived from sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal.