McCain Unveils Energy Plan, Takes Aim at Obama
From CBS News' John Bentley:
DALLAS – When John McCain talked about the high price of gas in New York last week, he said he was "angry at the oil companies" for their obscene profits and their failure to invest in alternate forms of energy. But when he speaks in the "oil capital of America," as he will refer to Houston later today, the blame will be placed on Wall Street traders back in New York City. "We all know that some people on Wall Street are not above gaming the system," McCain will say, according to excerpts released by the campaign. "While a few reckless speculators are counting their paper profits, most Americans are coming up on the short end – using more and more of their hard-earned paychecks to buy gas for the truck, tractor, or family car."
McCain will also take aim at Barack Obama for not supporting more oil exploration domestically and opposing nuclear power plants. "So what does Senator Obama support in energy policy?" McCain will ask. "For starters, he supported the energy bill of 2005 – a grab-bag of corporate favors that I opposed. And now he supports new taxes on energy producers. He wants a windfall profits tax on oil, to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas. If the plan sounds familiar, it's because that was President Jimmy Carter's big idea too – and a lot of good it did us."
Obama has also spoken of investing in alternative fuels, and has tried to link McCain's energy policies to those of President Bush. "I want to invest in millions of green jobs, so that we finally develop renewable energy, end our addiction to oil, bring those gas prices down, and save our planet in the bargain," Obama said last month. "John McCain will stand with Washington's tried and failed approaches of the past."
McCain has also been trying to distance himself from Bush's energy policies. "The next president must be willing to break with the energy policies not just of the current Administration, but the administrations that preceded it, and lead a great national campaign to achieve energy security for America," he will say. "I will set forth a strategy to free America once and for all from our strategic dependence on foreign oil."