All of the above minus one 1

This is poison:

If everyone agrees that we should do everything, why is it that we're spending so much time talking about drilling, and less time on other measures like conservation and alternatives?

[Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign] said because drilling is one area in energy policy where Obama and McCain disagree.

"We're not talking about alternatives because we both support alternatives," he said.

This is of course what the McCain campaign wants the public to think: that everyone agrees on renewables and efficiency, and the only fight is over drilling. McCain is "all of the above," Obama is "all of the above minus drilling."

That's a fight Obama and the Dems can't win.

Of course it's not true. Republicans have been blocking anything that supports renewables for years and years, and McCain has missed every opportunity to support renewables. His support for alternatives to fossil fuels (except for nuclear) is entirely rhetorical.

David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.

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  1. Wolverine Posted 6:55 am
    14 Aug 2008

    "Can't Win"As I've argued many times, including here, people, including politicians, should take the positions in which they actually believe, not the ones they think they can win.  Obama and the Dems should still oppose drilling, but they need to spend some money to explain their reasons, which I haven't seen aside from slogans like "we can't drill our way to heaven" or whatever.  How about airing some videos showing oiled water and birds, polluted air, destruction of habitat, etc. in prime time on the most watched TV channels?  You don't know whether the Dems and Obama could win that argument when they haven't even really tried.

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