Just goes to show you how STUPID McInsane is.
What a flip-flopper.

You're shocked?

  This is an election, and unless there are obvious consequences to the electability of the candidate/party don't expect truth and realism to prevail. Unless of course the press is prepared to call BS, BS.  But how long has it been since we've had mainstream media that would do that?

   Obama's change (on drilling) is the right one. The mood of the country has changed, and being totally against the drilling could cause the wrong guys to win in November. The best thing about Clinton's presidency, was how he could preempt Republican issues. Nothing made them hate him more than to have an issue they were gonna use to destroy the Dems with taken away from them.

   The most important thing to control about any new drilling, is the expectation that it will allow business as usual to continue. That has been by more the most damaging part of the existence of a few off limits areas, their existence fuels the myth that we could drill our way out of our problems, if only we were allowed to walk over the dead bodies of the environmentalists. I want this myth to die!

  Secondarily, compromising on the issue, gives us the opportunity to control the regulation of the drilling. I guarantee an Obama administration would better control the drilling (and would demand a greater price for the leases), than a McCain one would.

The most important thing to control about any new drilling, is the expectation that it will allow business as usual to continue. That has been by more the most damaging part of the existence of a few off limits areas, their existence fuels the myth that we could drill our way out of our problems, if only we were allowed to walk over the dead bodies of the environmentalists. I want this myth to die!

James Howard Kunstler said this as well.

I'm aware of the hideous politics of the situation; indeed Mccain himself said somewhere that he wants drilling in order to send a psychological signal, i.e. that "the expectation that it will allow business as usual to continue" is precisely what he wants to foster.

Nevertheless, I'm not willing to sacrifice ANWAR and sustain Exxon Valdezes up and down both coasts just to prove a political point. If the people are stupid and selfish enough to fall for drill-and-burn, even though the stupidity and fraudulence of it are as simple as 2+2=4, then do you really think, when drilling doesn't produce the desired results right away, that unscrupulous demagoguery like this won't just come up with another equally stupid mantra which the "people" won't swallow equally gullibly?

This may rain on alot of people's parades here, but anyone who's waiting for the American people to wise up, learn a lesson, and start behaving maturely (which is what the "let them drill; that'll teach 'em" implies) is going to wait forever. It's not going to happen. Drill or not, America is going to keep on the way it's been going until the cars literally run out of gas and die on the freeways.

"Free ways" indeed.

The GOP has become the party of status-quo. It is about ensuring the continued profits of large corporations. These companies can be oil, coal, automobiles or even nuclear plant manufacturers. The truth of the matter is that the industrial infrastructure of USA is in a broken shape and running forward in complete disregard to environment or sustainability.

This needs to stop and US needs to completely redesign its infrastructure. But doing so will badly hurt the profits of big companies. The GOP will do its best to prevent this from happening.

McCain is just a puppet being pulled from the back by oil execs

I think I could support opening other areas to lease, provided the terms were right.

With oil still over $120/bbl, I would think a lease could be something like:

 Land lease (pay to play)  PLUS
 $25 per barrel extracted   PLUS
 $100,000 per barrel spilled and not recovered within 24 hours.

This way the cost of ecological / tourist industry damage of potential mishaps could be reflected, and the oil industry would make damn sure to keep it's act tight.

And an extraction fee would do wonders for the national coffers...  a big find could go a long way to paying off the Bush Visa bill.

I don't see why state-owned oil should be anything other than a huge windfall for governmental revenues.  Its working pretty well in Alberta, Norway, and Quatar.  Lord knows we need it.

Bikes can save us!!

After reading the quote:
 "I don't agree," McCain replied. "In fact I met with oil executives just a few days ago in California ... and the fact is that we can, using existing facilities, expand our oil production within months, according to these executives."    
I wonder what he/they are not telling us?

If it can be done with existing facilities in that short of an order, it leads me to believe that quotas for existing wells and refineries have been held back from production, creating lower supplies to inflate the cost to us the consumer.

It's like holding out on a partner until one gets what they want. We've been getting drilled on this for at least the last seven years without consent. Trauma counseling might be in order due to this absence of consent.