148 Days to Go

McCain and Obama tout very different energy policies

Posted at 4:51 PM on 09 Jun 2008

While campaigning in different cities Monday, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama managed to trade plenty of jabs on energy policy. At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., Obama called for a tax on oil-company windfall profits and declared, "At a time ... when we're paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, [McCain] wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for ExxonMobil." McCain's economic adviser responded that the GOP candidate supports an "across-the-board corporate rate cut that's necessary to keep the American corporate sector competitive in the global economy." Obama also dismissed the idea of a gas-tax holiday as a gimmick, and continued to tout his vision of a green-job-driven economy, making no mention of nuclear power. McCain, at a fundraiser in Richmond, Va., reiterated his support for the gas-tax holiday; when a donor summarized his energy policy as "nuclear, and drill wherever we've got it," McCain replied, "You just gave my speech."

source: Associated Press
see also, in Gristmill: The right comparison between Obama and McCain on climate/energy

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Comments: (2 comments)

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Gas tax holiday is a stupid idea....

which explains why politicians have embraced it so often lately.

The market is telling consumers "find new energy sources you knuckleheads" and it's up to the consumers and producers to listen.

The day of the SUV is over. It's time to find new means of transportation that do not require fossil fuels, because we just aren't going to have that option anymore.

Victory in Pattani

by MAD MAC at 4:52 AM on 11 Jun 2008

Obama and McCain

They could both be right on, you know. Obama correctly would tax the profits made (not actually 'earned') by the oil companies and refuse to grant them tax credits. At the same time, McCain is correct in pimping nuclear power as inherently "clean" (my quotation marks).

The tax money from oil profits should be returned to the people who paid it by way of income tax credits, and emission-free nuclear power would drop the cost of electricity to the public by way of market abundance.

Des Emery

by Des Emery at 8:55 PM on 11 Jun 2008

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