7 Ways McCain Can Use Energy to Beat Obama

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Are you just trying to win another election or play another tune like Nero did while Roman burned. People better take this serious....this country is facing the greatest external and internal threat since the 1930s and 1940s.

Concerned citizen-retired military of WY 12:18AM September 10, 2008

As of today, 8/18/08, oil prices are not near $150 anymore, so some of the smoke and hysterica can possibly clear. Speculators are not responsible for our energy crisis and Bernanke came out and said as much weeks ago. I think speculation is a government scapegoat and the culprit of uneducated people who are looking at the surface of things only.
Punishing speculators is ridiculous. These are free markets and all the commodities have been at record highs.
I think it would be a wise idea for every American voter to do some research on the history of the energy crisis we are in and see how we got here. Then, send letters or telegrams to the candidate you truly respect more, thinking of their values, their vision, etc. and provide some guidance. Leaders need intelligent support. It's not mostly up to Obama or McCain.

Lynne of IL 4:30PM August 18, 2008

No oil man would ever suggest that we can drill our way out of this mess. It's impossible. We only have 55 of the oil in the world and we use 25%. However if we do want to drill more take back the 68 million acres we have already given to the big 4 oil companies and put them in a lottery where smaller oil companies who are willing to drill can make some money and just to make sure the politicians aren't just feeding themselves if they do open up the off shore drilling and ANWR let the independent drill. Of course suddenly it wouldn't seem like such a good idea to any of the politicians, but drilling does have to be part of a total plan to make this country independent of foreign oil. Like I said earlier comment we need to make a 10 year commitment just like John Kennedy did with the space program to get a man on the moon. Except this time it has to be to make this country oil independent. And yes that means renewable energy. Wind, wave and eventually solar. Alternative fuels for now yes it could be a big part of the over all 10 year plan. I do agree with a lot that you have to say. But a strong leader and a strong plan will give Americans a level of trust that would loosen up the purse strings and get them to start spending again and that would solve so many problems.
Of course the oil companies and big pharms are so greedy that they just want to take every last penny. We use twenty million barrels a day. Do math and multiply it times $120 dollars a barrel and then remember that it only costing the oil companies 2 dollars a barrel to get it out of the ground outside of the US. It cost more here. Still even after they do their 30/70 split with the country they are drilling in how much are they actually paying for oil?
Where a real leader when we need him?

George Mercier of CA 4:01AM July 27, 2008

Give me a break guys do you really think the American puplic is so stupid that they will believe that that we can drill our way out of high oil prices? We use 25% of the oil in the world and we only have 5% of the oil. Every year for the last eight years gas prices have gone up in the summer and then down in the winter, but never as low as they were the winter before. Do you really think no one pays attention year after year at the gas pumps?
If McCain wants to get elected he better start thinking like Al Gore and do what Kennedy did with the space race. We need a president willing to make a commitment to making us independent of foreign oil over the next 10 years. It doesn't all have to be aternative energy, some can be oil. I'm a driller and not unlike T.Boon Pickens I see that aternative energy is a must.
We not only have to develop our own national sources of energy but we need to develop it from renewable energy so that it doesn't keep going up when we deplete our sources. That's what is happening now world wide and you don't have to be a genius to understand that, that just isn't working.
And McCain as to stop blaming the Democrates for high oil prices and giving Bush the credit for lowering them. Yes some fools will buy into what ever you tell them, but when people can't afford to put gas in their cars and they can't go to work, this country is going to be in one very, very bad situation. None of this has to happen. All we need is a president who can open his eyes and see that we are being bled dry by oil and medicine. Yes it is all very profitable for some but how profitable will it be when no one can afford to go to work?
We need to look at both and alternative approach to energy, and an alternative approach to medicine. I've also been studying medicine for over twenty five years and we keep buying into what we are being told because we as a people know nothing about medicine or energy.
If McCain is willing to stand up and not make a fool of himself and actually find out what it would take to make all of this work and stand up and be a real leader he would get the votes. But so far he been making some pretty stupid statements on oil, energy and medicine. Not that Obama is making statement that are much better. Does either one of these guys know anything about medicine or oil?
If we actually through all of our resources at developing new forms of energy we could not only do it, but we could be creating jobs and new technology that would fuel the economy for decades and decades. Just like the space program did with computers and the internet.
By staplizing the price of energy through inovative new technology we will keep jobs here in this country and put the American people back to work. Why would big business go else where if the energy was the cheapest in the world. It would off set the price of wages. I know you say oh, wind cost 5 cents to 6 cents a kilowatt. I say it does now but not with inovative new technology and mass production. The price would come down. Although that's going to be an awful good price when you look at what has been happening with oil and gas.
What you think if we are spending trillions of dollars on alternative energy is won't creat trillions of dollars worth of jobs? And do you really think that the technology we develop won't have a market around the globe?
We need a real leader I just hope McCain decides to step up and be that leader. If not Maybe Obama will. We will see over the next four months, but so far we don't have a lot to choose from.
It's sad to because I've always like McCain and I want to vote for him but right now I am just disappointed in all of our politicians including the ones running for President.

George Mercier of CA 3:39AM July 27, 2008

Peak oil is here. no escaping it or drilling your way out of it...
Sure there's 400 billion barrels in the Bakken reserve but we can only recover right now...4 billion
not to mention that pesky problem of continuing to put so much carbon in the atmosphere that we cook the planet.
with politicians like "the Precious" and McCain dictating policy, we're going to see the utter collapse of the global economy in short order. The bright side (looking past people starving to death) will be the decrease of population...which has gone completely insane and all of the beneficial results from that alone for those who survive.

Linda of OK 3:38PM July 07, 2008

Looking back at the oil industry and it's ties to government over the past sixty years we will find that everyone has been in bed with this industry or visa versa. The democrats willingness to limit production facilities to a 1950's level and help to control supply and the republicans greed in tax favors for the industry allow McCain to open up to the American public. I personally think McCain should call it the way it "was". We have made some bad deals with the industry of "big oil" regarding tax issues and price controls and the Democrats have limited supply in every way possible which has trapped us in this terrible position of "must have more oil " at any cost. McCain needs to emphasize the benefits of the economy over the next ten years by a four tier approach tied to spending, tax incentives and oil: 1) begin immediately to increase refinery output 2) Drill in the tundra with reasonable controls for the environment 3) Cut spending on pork-barrel projects, remove tax incentives for big oil and reallocate those funds to real alternative fuels 4) Limit speculative investment in the oil market which has driven the price as much as demand. When the investment is no longer profitable to the investor, the price will fall. Just a couple of ideas.

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debts cards of DE 3:36PM June 21, 2008

I remember the global cooling scare so I am skeptical about the global warming hype. However, I have always been in favor of reducing pollution. The answer clearly lies with more nuclear power. Less pollution/more energy independence - take your pick, just like the Miller Lite commercials.

VoxClams of FL 9:47PM June 20, 2008

This is silly. The real issue here is the oil supply and the economy. The best issue to address this is to liberate Canada, and spread our democracy. While we're at it, it wouldn't hurt to take their oil sand for the cost of sacrifice for liberation.

John of AK 12:35AM June 19, 2008

Bush (and the lobbies that bought him the air time during the elections and gave him their issues to run on) rushed to war in 2003. This was a war of CHOICE. Every study funded by his administration has proven it. He (at the call of the lobbies), launched a campaign to DESTABILIZE Iraq. As proven by the quick disbanding of the Iraqi National Guard, Saddam had enough power to keep the secular fighting in Iraq quelled, but he was no threat on the global stage. Instead we've murkied the waters around one of the greatest oil reserves in the world. THIS is causing oil prices to rise more than anything. A stable Iraq, able to produce oil like it should, was the lid on the oil speculation market. Only now that there is great question about the stability of Iraq and its ability to maintain a peak oil flow from its wells are the prices skyrocketing. Iraq has many multiples more of oil than the United States and the threat (either legitimate or percieved) to that supply is causing the speculators to go wild. This ban on coastal and ANWR drilling has been in place since 1990 when H.W. Bush put the cap on drilling. Did oil prices go through the roof, or even noticeably up in the U.S. when that occured? The prices through 2001 tell us NO.
It's not unpatriotic to say the U.S. can't produce as much oil, or even a significant fraction of the OPEC nations abilities. That's just the facts. It's not that America isn't trying hard enough, we just don't have the reserves.
Instead we have the same people who made sure one of the world's largest oil supplies was mucked up and prices went up telling us that we need to lift this ban on drilling. It's more profits for the rich lobbies, more of the American people voting against their own interests, more of the same. The same conservative status quo.
Conservatives tell us that government doesn't work, than they run for positions in it and make sure it doesn't. They come up with emotionally charged distractions like gay marriage and illegal immigration and swiftboat people's sound thinking. Next thing you know it'll be Obama's "terrorist fist jab" or his lack of a flag pin that will be the cause of rising oil prices.
Insanity my friends is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Let's break the status quo, and get real about the problems and their solutions in this country.

M of NY 8:31PM June 18, 2008