More on McCain and ethanol
Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 4:13 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, McCain
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
To clarify a post I made earlier -- which McCain’s campaign called me to vehemently oppose and demand an immediate correction -- on McCain’s stance on ethanol, here’s some information on his statements in recent years, and notice the shift in tone:
AGAINST IT
1999: During his 2000 run, MSNBC debate, Dec. 14, 1999:
"I'm here to tell you that I'm going to tell you the things that you don't want to hear, as well as the things you want to hear, and one of those is ethanol. Ethanol is not worth it. It does not help the consumer."
More: "Those ethanol subsidies should be phased out, and everybody here on this stage, if it wasn't for the fact that Iowa is the first caucus state, would share my view that we don't need ethanol subsidies. It doesn't help anybody.”
2003: Here's McCain’s language in November 2003 against ethanol…
"Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn't create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it. Yet thanks to agricultural subsidies and ethanol producer subsidies, it is now a very big business -- tens of billions of dollars that have enriched a handful of corporate interests -- primarily one big corporation, ADM. Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality."
FOR IT
2006: McCain in a speech in Grinnell, Iowa in August 2006:
"I support ethanol, and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects." (Associated Press via Fortune Magazine).
2007: May 13, 2007: Meet the Press with Tim Russert:
RUSSERT: In 2007 you go to Iowa and say this: ‘I support ethanol. I think it's a vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependence on foreign oil but because of its greenhouse gas reduction effects.’
Is the switch because you're entering the Iowa caucus?
MCCAIN: When oil is $15 a barrel, ethanol does not make sense. When oil is $60-plus a barrel, then ethanol does make sense.
RUSSERT: So you've changed your mind.
MCCAIN: No, I haven't. I have adjusted to the realities of the world we live in today.
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--In August 2006, McCain was polling first or a close second in Iowa polls. (Research 2000 (R): McCain 27, Giuliani 26, Romney 9)
--In May 2007, McCain was second in Iowa. (Des Moines Register poll: Romney 30, McCain 18, Giuliani 17, Huckabee 4)
