Vilsack, Strickland hit McCain on energy
Posted: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 1:26 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Democrats
From NBC/NJ’s Athena Jones
If you’re satisfied with the state of the economy and current energy policy, Vote for McCain, was the message in a conference call today hosted by Obama surrogates Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.
It’s the latest variation on Obama’s frequent argument that a vote for McCain would mean a third Bush term and part of an attempt to keep the focus on the differences between the candidates on the economy and on how to deal with high gas prices, both issues that are among voters’ top concerns.
Vilsack and Strickland, both of whose names have been mentioned as possible running mates -- though Strickland has said he is not interested -- said they wanted to highlight McCain’s record on energy as the Arizona senator visited their hometowns today. Vilsack is from Pittsburgh, Pa., and Strickland is from Portsmouth, Ohio.
Vilsack said McCain had blamed Washington for a failure to develop a comprehensive energy policy but pointed out that he had been in Washington for 26 years and had failed to support a wide range of energy policies that would have reduced the country’s dependence on oil, he said.
“For 26 years, John McCain has been in Washington; he hasn’t gotten it right in 26 years, and he still hasn’t gotten it right,” Vilsack said. “He has failed to support high mileage standards for our cars and trucks. He failed to support necessary funding for a wide range of renewable energy and fuel sources. He has failed to support necessary research and development on electric car technology and now proposes a massive prize to make up for the valuable time that’s been lost by failing to invest in that technology sooner rather than later.”
The former governor said McCain had said, “No,” to making price gouging illegal -- which Vilsack called “just another form of white-collar robbery” -- and to a windfall profits tax on oil company earnings and to support for wind power, which has created jobs in Iowa.
In contrast, Vilsack called Obama’s energy plan “visionary” that would raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards and more investment in renewable energy and close the loophole that allows for speculation in oil futures markets, among other proposals.
Strickland talked about recent job losses in Ohio that he said were linked to the high price of gasoline and suggested McCain did not understand the negative impact current energy policy had on people.
“Sen. McCain seems to be so tied to the policies of the Bush administration and so beholden to the oil industry, I’m hearing nothing from him that would indicate that he even has a serious comprehension of the effect of our nation’s current approach on working class people,” he said
Strickland expressed support for the ad campaign being run by T. Boone Pickens. The billionaire oilman, who funded the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is running a campaign to end America’s dependence on oil.
“I’ve seen the ad, and I’m glad he’s doing what he’s doing,” Strickland said. “I think he’s putting out a message there that all Americans and all of us in the political world need to pay attention to. He identifies himself as an oilman, but he also says that we can’t drill our way out of this problem, and I think that’s absolutely true, and I think that’s consistent with Sen. Obama’s approach.”
The Ohio governor stressed the importance of pursuing alternative energy sources from wind to solar to clean coal to nuclear power.
“I think we’ve got to do it all,” he said. “We’ve got to do it all. We’ve got to do it as quickly and expeditiously as possible and I think that’ll happen under an Obama administration, I don’t think it’ll happen under a McCain regime.”
