McCain: There will be oil!

Posted: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:05 AM by Domenico Montanaro

McCain went to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday to drill home his energy policy -- and bash Democratic rival Barack Obama. "Senator Obama opposes new drilling," McCain said. "He has said it will not 'solve our problem' and that 'it's not real.' He's wrong, and the American people know it."… [McCain] and his aides believe the pocketbook approach can connect with voters -- and, in turn, suggest that Obama wants people to pay more for gas, food, and heating."

The New York Times: “Despite the urgency that Mr. McCain attached to the [energy] problem, Democrats noted that he had missed every vote on a 2007 energy bill that increased fuel economy standards for the first time in three decades. Mr. McCain also missed all eight votes on a renewable energy bill that was defeated last month.”

Maureen Dowd writes of a scripted (fictional?) conversation between McCain and Hillary -- who supposedly are conspiring to defeat Obama.

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Comments

The part that liberals don't understand is that even if US domestic drilled oil is "sold on the world market", that means there is more oil on the market, and with that, prices will go down. Supply and Demand, Market Forces, and all that. It's capitialism libs! And it's a good idea!!
Cap Pig
****************************************************
Dear Pig,
I'm afraid you have allowed yourself to be misinformed. Supply and demand? Do you really think the reason that oil prices went up from $28/barrel when Bush took office to over $130/barrel had anything whatsoever to do with supply and demand? Although the world's total oil supply has been shrinking ever since we first started using it, we certainly did not see a major downward plunge in production in the last few years (although well depletion rates. Likewise, although world supply has grown and will continue to grow (esp. in India and China), there was no major spike in demand. Prices are high for two reasons, speculation unleashed by Phil Gramm's Enron Loophole and because OPEC much prefers selling a little oil for a lot to selling a lot of oil for a little.

President Bush went twice this year to Saudi Arabia (you probably saw it in the news) to beg them to produce a few million bpd (barrels per day) more, thereby increasing supply and lowering the price at the pump. They increased production by a paltry couple hundred thousand bpd, saying they could do more but didn't want to.

As long as we're dependent on oil, we're dependent on the "kindness" of the oil-producing nations of the world. But capitalism doesn't enter into it.

Michael Sheridan, Sacramento, California (Sent Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:51 AM)

"There will be oil!" ... as soon as I find another country, with oil, to attack.

Drill now! on the land they already have but are ignoring.

gwinegarden, Toronto (Sent Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:01 PM)

Oil rigs are safe, according to McCain.

OK what about those 113 oil rigs that were destroyed, during the last two hurricanes, spilling 750,000 gallons of crude into the Gulf?

gwinegarden, Toronto (Sent Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:05 PM)

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