McCain: Screw You California, We're Going to Drill on the Coast

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Despite the McCain campaign's rhetoric about contesting the election here in California, he can't really be interested in our 55 electoral votes if this is what he is bringing:

Republican Sen. John McCain said Monday he supports lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling - a position that sets him at odds with most California officials, including his ally Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who see the ban as the best way to protect the state's coast.

The announcement was a move to the right for McCain, who has courted environmentalists by opposing drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and backing climate change legislation. But conservatives have been clamoring for more domestic oil and gas drilling, and GOP strategists believe the issue plays well with voters as gas prices hit record highs.

So, this is the straight-talk? This is the man that wants America to think him a "moderate" with "practical solutions." First, John McCain panders to the voters with his 2008 gas tax holiday, which he really can't do anything to implement except drop a bill in the Senate and watch it die there. By the way, even Dick Cheney finds that one asinine.

Now this? Drilling for oil off our coasts will bring relatively little oil and do nothing to actually affect the price of oil.  This is a demand problem. We need to find new ways to reduce our reliance on oil, not stall the inevitable by 3 or 4 years by scarring our oceans with derricks.

Do you think the GOP National Convention will give away the flip-flops this year now that their candidate has donned them so well?