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OBAMA RESPONSIBLE FOR HIGH GAS PRICES?

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Today, I saw an ad from the McCain campaign that states that high gas prices are because of Sen. Barack Obama. John McCain is ready to drill for oil and solve our dependency on foreign oil! Sen. Barack Obama is against off-shore drilling and THAT IS WHY GAS PRICES ARE HIGH!

I thought I remember John McCain saying that Obama's inexperience and lack of time in the Senate is why I should vote for John McCain. But now he tells me that in the short time Obama has been in the Senate he has single handed stopped all off shore drilling and driven the price up.

HUH????

I seem to remember that in 2003, Senator John McCain voted AGAINST off shore drilling. That was a full year before Senator Obama ever held the office of junior Senator from Illinois. In fact, John McCain has opposed off shore drilling for his entire 30 years in Washington. So how does he justify blaming this on Sen. Obama?

This is even more incredible when you realize that even if we authorized off shore drilling today, it would be 5 to 10 years before we saw any of that oil. And when that oil finally is pumped, it will be put on the world market instead of being kept to "reduce America's dependence on foreign oil." (Which is also an idea that Sen. John McCain has publicly supported..) The dirty little secret that conservatives would like you to forget is that all American oil is put on the world market. So even today at a time that we scream about the amount of foreign oil we import, we don't like to remember that we also export US oil to other countries. (It's called a Global Economy...for good or bad.)   So when oil companies do get this oil, we will still be bidding for it on an open market against China & India.

A discussion on off shore drilling is legitimate. I don't think it will do nearly as much to reduce oil imports as people say, but it is a discussion that should be had. It is not legitimate to blame Senator Obama for the problem as the McCain ad does.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE STRAIGHT TALK EXPRESS?


Comments (9)

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Is trolling a violation of TPM policy? Is there a ethics policy in place that requires a paid operative of a campaign to identify themselves as such?

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Conservatives get paid to troll. Independents, like myself, do it out of sincerity of belief. I do not claim to be unbiased...I am a strong supporter of Senator Obama and have volunteered for his campaign. (Note: The last campaign I volunteered for was Ronald Reagan's.)

I do this because it is the first time in many years that I am voting for a particular candidate as opposed to voting against his opponet.

Care to explain why you are asking the question? Does the post appear to you like a troll post or a post from a paid operative?

Personally I would like Johnny to explain how this incredible ad blaming Obama for high gas prices has any basis in any fact in evidence.

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This post originally appeared on www.nemokc.blogspot.com

...and on his current trip he walked across the Atlantic. Man he is fast.

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I previously said that McCain is taking the low Rovian Road in the footsteps of Dubya:

If solving America's energy needs was so easy, why didn't McCain, Bush and the Republicans take care of it years ago?

For John McCain 'staying the course' means more lies and spin and no effort to confront real problems or to improve the lives of Americans by solving the very difficult challenges facing this nation.

McCain's ad:

(1) America can be free of foreign oil if we just drill more.

(2) If we drill more in America it will also lower the price of oil.

(3) Obama and the liberals have prevented drilling.

(4) The high price of oil is Obama's fault.

(5) Vote for McCain if you want cheap gas.

Does McCain and his Straight Talk Express take any resposniblity for the state of the economy? No. Does he give Americans the true picture of how we can solve our dependence on foreign oil? No. Does he present any realistic plan to help America reduce the cost of energy? No. He exploits the economic hardships of middle class Americans to try to get their votes.

Dick Cheney's energy panel was created in January 2001. On the cover of the National Energy Policy report, delivered to the president four months later, Cheney wrote, "we have developed a national energy policy designed to help bring together business, government, local communities and citizens to promote dependable, affordable and environmentally sound energy for the future." At the time, Cheney publicly scoffed at the notion of conserving energy resources.

When you put two Texas oil men in the White House, you can expect one of two things: either they use their significant clout with the oil companies to the benefit of the American people or they use their control of the reins of power over the American people to benefit their friends in the oil industry. Guess which one we got.

As far as I'm concerned, Cheney's had seven years to figure out what to do about oil production and/or alternatives to it. The best ideas he could come up with are to invade Middle East oil-producing nations and to destroy our coastal and wilderness areas with no appreciable impact on production or prices for decades to come.

Yeah, I see your point, John. It's got to be Obama's fault.

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We don't have much room to talk. One of the campaign promises Pelosi made for encouraging a Dem majority in 2006 was that they "had a plan" for lowering gas prices. It's doubled since she's been speaker.

Let this one go, folks. It's not a good issue for us.

It could be worse. Frankly by the time we get to November I expect McCain to blame Obama for Pearl Harbor, The Johnstown flood, and Custer's Last Stand.

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