Political Punch

The fact that oil prices have dropped slightly in the last 2 weeks indicates that the oil companies are attempting to take away Obamas' leverage. Before that, Bush talked of negotiating with Iran for the same reason. I am not fooled. Go Obama!

The actual amount received by McCain from Big Oil so far is $1.3 million, it will likely exceed $2 million when the July numbers are released, true Obama didn't mention the $300 thousand he received from Big Oil, but look what he's offering them, possibly some new Offshore drilling areas and a proposal to rescind the $17 billion in incentives Big Oil receives from the U.S. Taxpayer and to replace it with a Windfall Profits Tax.....it's kind of hard to say that Obama is being bought by Big Oil, on the other hand McCain wants to give Big Oil everything it wants including Offshore Drilling leases and bigger Tax Cuts......which candidate do you think is being influenced by Big Oil's donations?

"Not sure about you but my wallet can't afford another 4 years of GOP leadership. You had your chance...you totally destroyed our country. Now it is time to move aside!"

Wow what insight and deep thinking. I would counter that with the country was fine until after democrats got in charge of congress and since then we've had mortgage fallout, skyrocketing gas prices, and other problems with the economy. This also would be simple minded since both parties' contribute to problems.

Not sure about you but my wallet can't afford another 4 years of GOP leadership. You had your chance...you totally destroyed our country. Now it is time to move aside!

"MIssy M, Republican's have blocked more energy legislation, and more legislation period than any congress in history. It's not the Dems do nothing, it's the Republican's do nothing congress, they block votes then whine that nothing is getting done rather than attempt to govern as adults."

Nice smokescreen. So attempting to govern as adults is being like Pelosi and refusing to allow votes on drilling because she wants to "save the world"?

Democrats since taking over congress have been playing power trips like Pelosi causing the obstructionism. They hold meetings behind closed doors with only other democrats and do not allow republicans to debate on the bills, add amendments, etc. They make up their own radical bill without any bipartisan input then submit it to a vote. What do you think will happen? This sounds like the behavior of bratty kids or bullies more than adults so you really should look into congressional activities since the democrats have been in power before making false statements like the above.

MIssy M, Republican's have blocked more energy legislation, and more legislation period than any congress in history. It's not the Dems do nothing, it's the Republican's do nothing congress, they block votes then whine that nothing is getting done rather than attempt to govern as adults.

Hopefully a lot of democrats can look at the real numbers behind american versus foreign industries and see you are being completely scammed by liberal politicians and the MSM to run american companies out of business and transfer wealth around the world. Unfortunately I think the simple minded "big bad american corporations" will continue to dominate and the liberal followers will legislate themselves out of jobs unknowningly. Please think globally when you spout off about evil corporations and remember that american companies have to compete with foreign companies using no environmental standards and child/slave labor.

Right on Ragnar thank you! I hadn't found the oil company list but that is exactly my viewpoint. Democrats seem concerned with demonizing and punishing only AMERICAN companies which benefits all their foreign competition.

A perfect example is american auto companies used to be the big evil republican supported "big auto" until they fell threw the floor then I guess democrats were satisfied we had another failing industry and moved onto the next. I would guess that if you look at donations closely democrats have huge sums rolling in from China, India, the EU and the middle east since their punish american companies stances directly benefit the foreign competitors at american consumers' expense.

peoples_prez - There will always be people who vote based on their own personal bias rather than the issues. Just as many people are opposed to McCain simply because of his age (in the workplace, we call that age discrimination). Of course it's not right to place a vote based on age, race, religion, etc. - but I think that most people who are opposed to Obama are opposed to his ideas, his voting record and his socialized agenda for this country, along with his dubious associations like Rev. Wright, William Ayers, and others - those things make many Americans uneasy. Race has nothing to do with it.

ABC should point out that this ad is a flat out lie. McCain took in $1.3 million from oil companies - not $2 million. Obama himself took at least $400,000.

Here is the list of the 20 largest oil companies in the world; Obama's tax increase would only apply to the 17th and 20th on this list and the others would benefit as a result of only these ttwo being taxed:

1 National Iranian Oil Company (Iran)
2 Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Arabia)
3 Iraq National Oil Company (Iraq)
4 Qatar General Petroleum Corporation (Qatar)
5 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (UAE)
6 Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (Kuwait)
7 Petroleos de Venezuela.S.A. (Venezuela)
8 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (Nigeria)
9 National Oil Company (Libya)
10 Sonatrach (Algeria)
11 Gazprom (Russia)
12 PetroChina Co. Ltd. (China)
13 OAO Rosneft (Russia)
14 Petronas (Malaysia)
15 OAO Lukoil (Russia)
16 Petroleos Mexicanos (Mexico)
17 ExxonMobil Corporation (United States)
18 BP Corporation (United Kingdom)
19 Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. (Egypt)
20 Chevron Corporation (United States).

So why was it again that Obama wants to punish businesses headquartered in the United States?

I think his idea about inflating tires and tune-ups was a better idea.

Obama should know -- he was in Big Oil's pocket first.

By the way, notice how Obama is having his hair highlighted with gray? Trying to look like he older and experienced --LOL!!!

McCain has wined and dined with an oil company "big-wheel" I see. Didn't he also plan on being with one here a month or two back at the oil exec's ranch, but it had to be cancelled for some reason?

So is this the SECOND oil company big shot that McCain has been (or attempted to be) with?

Not sure, but I think I see a trend here.

msdttony, a government takeover of the oil industry is NOT the answer. These are private companies. They have the right to make as much profit as they want. What we need to do is rescind the limitations that the government and environmentalists have placed on energy production for thirty years. They have hindered both increasing supply of oil (blocking offshore drilling and blocking the building of new refineries) AND decreasing demand for oil (blocking the building of new nuclear plants) for thirty years. The answer is begin developing renewable fuels NOW...begin building new nuclear plants NOW...rescind the ban on offshore drilling and begin the process NOW.

chattyway you forgot to mention McSame's tendency to take money from Big Oil, a lot more money. Just a couple days after McBush changed his position on off-shore drilling 8 members of the Tess family(Oil) donated 28k each to his campaign. That is a whopping $225k. Do you want a senator running the country who is in the middle(Obama) or the most neocon(McBush)? There are 38 more liberal senators than Obama. McSame voted 95% of the time with Bush in '07 and 100% in '08(when he does show up to his job).

Think about what has happened under 8 years of GOP energy policy. Certainly, it's easy to see that anything would be an improvement over those policies. Sen. Barack Obama has proposed a comprehensive compromise to get stalled energy legislation through Congress. Now, McCain has decided that he too will support this compromise. This shows who is the leader, and who is the follower. Obama 08!!!

Obama opposes drilling in the Gulf. He opposes atomic energy. His only solutions are tire pressure and taxation which will be passed on to the consumer. Mentor Ted Kennedy opposes wind generation.

We need to do a little checking. Sounds like Obama and Kennedy might own oil company stock.

many guyz here are incredible
Your country's facing a debt of nearly
500 000 000 000 dollars...Unless you ask China to help you wipe that ,you will have to pay MORE TAXES!!!!!!it's almost the ONLY way you can manage that by yourself..
RAISE YOUR TAXES and this time , for once CALL YOUR CONGRESS AND GOVERNMENT FOR ACCOUNT...DEMAND!!!!!
Did you know that you need the government to spend around 200 000 000 000 to have any chance to start recovering?
But you don't wanna hear that don't you?
...Whoever you decide to put in the White House, good luck to you all because we know that the economy is gonna be ...tough on you!!!!

Since we really went to Iraq for the oil we should let Iraq oil pay down the war debt, and since our soldiers are really dying for big oil, the oil companies should be responsible for the rest of the war debt thus lowereing the National debt greatly. Then we should use Brazil as a model, and quit buying foreign oil and mandate every car in America to flex fuel. Any car can be converted cheaply to flex fuel, and all the farm land that is now being subsidised should be planted. We should not let one drop of our own oil or ethanol go overseas until our needs are met. Actually considering that Venenzuela pays about 12 cents a gallon for gas, America really should consider centralizing American oil and retire all the oil CEO's. They should just about have enough of a nest egg to be able to. We really have become a joke to the rest of the world, and the real joke is that we pump billions of our dollars to all of them, and we can't even figure out what the problem is. The whole system seems to be broken, and it starts at the top.

It's negative, it's negative!! As the Barack Hussein Obama camp cries!

Go for it Barack, because there is nothing to positive to say about you. It's just a matter of time before he throws all his supporters under a bus, as he has already changed his position on practically everything since the primares. Drill, drill drill!

The Republicans were mocking the following statement from Obama: "We could save all the oil that they're talking about off(shore) drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much". The Republicans never said that inflating tires and regular tune-ups were bad practices, they were just mocking Obama's statement that the savings from those measures would equal production from off-shore drilling. Got it? I am lousy at posting links, but if you want to hear Obama's actual words I saw a link at NoQuarter at 21:46 under the post called "Campaign Disclosures".

Obama's economic policy is a recipe for disaster and more jobs to drift away overseas.
1. Windfall profit tax
2. Tax the rich
3. More government regulations
4. Tax more, Spend more and redistribute

Obama’s tax, spend and redistribute economic policy is a socialist idea. Big Oil is basically a scapegoat for Obama and the Do Nothing Democrats. Their idea of windfall profit tax certainly makes them look liked a champ to the voters but we are not the United Socialist of America.
Furthermore, why tax more when tax dollars are wasted on congressional earmarks.
In reality, windfall profit tax stands for more tax dollars, more earmarks.
A windfall profits tax on oil was an American disaster in 1980s. It has been criticized by many economists as being counterproductive.

I disagree in Obama's energy policy except for when he said, strategic oil reserve are for emergency only because I believe high cost of fuel is not considered an emergency but Obama has flipped and flopped on his view on the use of strategic oil reserves. I am also surprised in the number of his flip-flops within the span of one week. Is this how Obama going to lead this country? I also disagree in his latest ad "in the pocket of big oil" because both him and McCain are on the receiving end of big oil contributions. In addition, Obama, not McCain, was the one who voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill. Furthermore, it seems Obama and the Democrats are not consistent with each other. I think the ad will eventually backfire on Obama.-------------------------------------------------------------------***Obama is becoming more confusing, the more he changes his energy policy.
Posted by:
Al4McAttack 12:07 AM

Political campaign cannot expect money from oil companies. The Obama campaign ad is deceptive and misleading. It's against the law for corporations to contribute directly to political campaigns. During the primary battle with Clinton, Obama also did this, and the independent FactCheck.org criticized Obama for at the time for implying that his rivals took money from oil companies.

Politics is about control. One example is the drilling question. We dont have to lease the land to WTO companies. As some posters mention, 75 million acres are leased already and the accountants run those companies, not Mother Teresa. The accountants are SUPPOSED to make the price be high and the cash flow constant. If we stop leasing our US land, and start creating a sovereign corporation or two, to research, drill and deliver OUR oil to OUR refineries, which do not yet exist, we dont have to wonder how high the Chinese or American speculators are willing to bid up the price. We can own the entire process and the products. Yes, socialism comes to America.
Its Ok. You'll like paying $1 for gas instead of $4.
Or you can keep on letting WTO run the USA.
As things are, there is now a legal fiction in the USA that corporations have "the rights of persons". Amazing?! Anyway, oil will be higher and higher if we keep doing the same things. Change can be good. Also, we can go to steam powered cars, tomorrow. Stanley Steamer cars could go 150 MPH.
However they required tinkering. Electronic engineering eliminates all that old-fashioned tinkering, just like it did the hand crank to start gas powered cars eventually. The only technology we need to make the Stanley Steamer completely acceptable is to consider forms of fuel that are not high in emissions. Coal is available, but needs to bve submitted to technology. Anything, even weeds, will make water boil.
Nothing to it but to do it. This drilling stuff is all lies. We have to make real changes in process and techniques. Steam and public ownership are the easy ones. Most of our oil should be reserved for the military now, since it is finite and we can change to steam if we just act like it mattered.
air planes are not going to be steam powered.

NEW REPORT RELEASED

On July 31, 2008, Campaign Money Watch released "It's A Gusher: As John McCain Fights For Big Oil, They Open Their Wallets," a new report that features an in-depth analysis of how John McCain's campaign received an influx of Big Oil dollars after his June 16 reversal on offshore oil drilling.

Over 20 oil industry lobbyists are on the McCain campaign payroll:

1 Rebecca Anderson / Women for McCain Steering Committee / Williams & Jensen / Sunoco

2 Wayne Berman / National Finance Co-Chairman / Ogilvy Government Relations / Amerada Hess

Chevron Texaco American Petroleum Institute

3 Charlie Black / Senior Political Adviser / BKSH Occidental Petroleum Corp. / Yukos Oil Chinese

National Off-Shore Oil Corp.

4 Carlos Bonilla / Economic Adviser / Washington Group / Chesapeake Energy

5 Eric Burgeson / Fundraiser / Barbour Griffith & Rogers / BP

6 Kerry Cammack / Fundraiser C/ ammack and Strong / Exxon Mobil

7 Frank Donatelli / McCain Pick as Deputy RNC Chair / McGuire Woods / Exxon Mobil Dominion

Resources

8 Melissa Edwards / Fundraiser / Washington Group / Chesapeake Energy

9 John Green / Congressional Liaison / Ogilvy Government Relations / Amerada-Hess Chevon

Texaco El Paso Energy American Petroleum Institute

10 Robert Harding / Fundraiser / Greenberg Traurig / Chevron Murphy Oil Phillips Petroleum

Company

11 Richard Hohlt / Fundraiser / Hohlt and Associates / Chevron

12 James "Jim" Hyland / Fundraiser / Pennsylvania Avenue Group / BP America Independent Fuel

Terminal Operators Assoc. Occidental Petroleum Corp. Independent Fuel Terminal Operators

Assoc.

13 Peter Madigan / Fundraiser / Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart / Shell Oil

14 Susan Molinari / Women for McCain Steering Committee / Washington Group / Chesapeake

Energy

15 Jack Oliver / Fundraiser / Bryan Cave Strategies / Shell Oil

16 Nancy Pfotenhauer / Adviser / Koch Industries / Koch Industries

17 Steve Phillips / Fundraiser / DLA Piper / BP America Occidental Petroleum

18 Elise Pickering / Women for McCain Steering Committee / Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti / Koch

Industries

19 Sloan Rappoport / Fundraiser / Downey McGrath Group / Koch Industries

20 Matt Salmon / Fundraiser / Greenberg Traurig / El Paso Energy

21 Randy Scheunemann / Defense and Foreign Policy Coordinator / Scheunemann and Associates /

BP Amoco

22 Jeffrey Weiss / Fundraiser / BKSH / Yukos Oil Company

The oil companies don't want you to keep your tires inflated. More money for them!

YEP!!! BOTH SIDES OBAMA!!! In Chicago he supposedly hit the wrong button 4 times to vote!!! He not only doesn't know right from wrong but he doesn't know yes from no!!! YEP, this is just the man we need to have his finger on the nucleaar trigger!

chatty-
Do you have ANY idea how much that 8% amounts to? It's more than both of us would make in 10 lifetimes. 8% is a small number, but it represents BILLIONS of dollars.

What a hypocrite! Speaking out of both sides of his mouth again - voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill, now he is criticizing them and Big Oil. Took Big Oil money himself, now he is deriding McCain for doing the same. Cried Boohoo when he was the butt of negative ads, now he is making negative ads. A real Washington Politician! Spare us, pulllease!

McCain/Bush and Cheney are all in bed big oil. McSame is not changing one policy to hurt the oil companies-He may need another pair of $500 shoes-and big oil will get him a pair for everyday of the year. McSame will continue to do the same things as Bush and he will continue to buy expensive shoes. The rich truly get richer.

"McLame is bought and paid for by Big Oil, just like Cheney who was the CEO of Halliburton Oil just before he became Bush's VP."

Posted by: hailmary | Aug 4, 2008 6:41:33 PM

________

I don't know about McClain.... but I DO
know that list isn't complete without including OBAMA!

Does anyone have any idea how much money we can save if every car owner inflated their tires and gave their car a tune-up??? Obama thinks it is a great idea.....and he graduated from where???

Hey 08 after,

Those thousands of homeless now, were homeless 6 years ago. They were given a chance to own for the first times in their lives. They lived an up scale life for over 5 years. The smart ones did not re finance every years and have a five year party. So not all of the bush years were a disaster, only the ones you choose to look at.

- In March 08 he said, "I will not play election year politics with the housing crisis," adding, "I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." - Guess it's not his problem if thousands of Americans become homeless thanks to deregulations in the mortgage industry (which were supported by McCain).

McLame is bought and paid for by Big Oil, just like Cheney who was the CEO of Halliburton Oil just before he became Bush's VP.

What Senator McCain neglected to mention was that during those thirty years, he was in Washington for twenty-six of them," said the Senator. "And in all that time, he did little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. He voted against increased fuel efficiency standards and opposed legislation that included tax credits for more efficient cars. He voted against renewable sources of energy. Against clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind power. Against an energy bill that -- while far from perfect -- represented the largest investment in renewable sources of energy in the history of this country. So when Senator McCain talks about the failure of politicians in Washington to do anything about our energy crisis, it's important to remember that he's been a part of that failure."

Obama's biggest adviser is Tom Dashle who now lobbies for three giant agribusiness. Guess where Obama's bread is buttered.

Then, there's the fact that Obama voted for oil company tax exemptions in 2005. The same ones he now blathers about!

What does this jerk take us for?

'Oh, he's not in the pocket of Big Oil' ... so says the insurance lobbyist Tucker Bounds.

Heh.

If you vote for McCain you're essentially co-signing for a loser and you and your great great grandhildren will end up paying back what he'll waste on War and more tax breaks for the rich.

So who is Obama in the back pocket of? George Soros? Anyone?

Oil companies want to keep production low and prices high. That's why they aren't drilling on the 70 million acres they already have leased. No one else will be able to drill either as long as they hold those leases. That's why there needs to be a use it or lose it clause if anymore drilling rights are released. The quarterly reports of exxon showed a 11 billion dollar net profit. What does that tell you. The oil companies sure don't need a tax break.

The irony of this ad is unescasping after looking at this shocking Obama McCain cartoon that Saudi newspaper had published few days earlier:

devilkev, the French seem to be doing just fine by recycling their nuclear waste. By the way, France generates nearly 80% of their electricity through nuclear power.

In an article by Jon Palfreman (the producer of FRONTLine) he writes:

"French technocrats had never thought that the waste issue would be much of a problem. From the beginning the French had been recycling their nuclear waste, reclaiming the plutonium and unused uranium and fabricating new fuel elements. This not only gave energy, it reduced the volume and longevity of French radioactive waste. The volume of the ultimate high-level waste was indeed very small: the contribution of a family of four using electricity for 20 years is a glass cylinder the size of a cigarette lighter. "

Devikev:::: John McCain proposals for 45 new nuclear power plants are in the United States’ best interest and help fulfill our goal of energy independence. Obama has often been quoted as stating that we should not let the perfect solution stand in the way of the better or good solution explaining his approach to compromise.

Yes, there are problems with nuclear waste disposal and to date there is no perfect solution. However, nuclear waste has been stored on site at each nuclear power plant without incident for forty years. Continued onsite storage is “a good solution” and continues to be workable. Even if onsite storage were the only option which it isn’t, that is more than enough reason for increasing US nuclear power generation by fourfold to the level of eighty percent of our needs like France instead of the current twenty percent of our electric production. This is common sense.

In the Northeast and other parts of the county, some electric power plants today are burning fuel oil that could be used for heating oil this winter.

Bruce Becker, what was false about Saddam Hussein failing to comply with any of the conditions of the 1991 cease fire for 12 years? That was a material breach in the cease fire...and as such we resumed the war.

McCain and the RNC received $285,000 from ten donors from Hess Oil who each gave $28,500 the day after he came out for off shore drilling. This was truly a revolutionary switch as it now appears that he's continuing to fight for King George (Bush) as a Hessian.

As long as we're talking about windfall profits, how about a windfall profit on Hollywood star salaries. If that ain't a windfall, I don't know what is. People with nothing higher than a high school diploma reading some lines in front of a camera and getting $15-20 million. We need to pass a law that takes 75% of Hollywood stars' incomes over $1 million in a year. The beauty is, most of the Hollywood stars are socialists so they won't even care (or will they).

overseas*. Argh I'm full of typos today need to proofread before I post.

RIght on politicsandtraditions. Democrats are busy putting American companies under so we can transfer more and more of our wealth oversees.

Unfortunately they know that a large percentage of americans don't have the intelligence to understand a global economy and will believe their rhetoric. It's amazing they get away with a naive "corporations versus the people" while foreign competition eats us alive. It is only a matter of time before all american wealth leaves the country and democrats will blame the wealth that is left until it leaves.

Just to clarify if you dont know. Leading the Congress into war with false propaganda is a crime.

McCain went on Letterman and hemmed and haw'd and got around to saying HE HAD A SOURCE WHO TOLD HIM that it was the Iraqi's who sent the Anthrax, a weapon of mass destruction which can kill thousands with just a small amount of powder.
Now we know that the anthrax was made in Maryland and sent out by US citizens, not Iraqi's.
Since McCain is a true patriot, he either tells us who the SOURCE of the false propaganda was that scared Congress into attacking Iraq on the basis of WMDs or we have to presume that John was guilty of treason himself. At the very least, he is complicit.
Why have we not heard this very day, who the SOURCE and treasonous one was? WHO IS HE HIDING? WHO IS HE PROTECTING? To continue hide this should earn him official censure by the Senate Foreign Relations committee and EXPULSION FROM THE SENATE.

McCain has not revealed the "source' of his false claim he made on Letterman in 2001, that the Iraqi's mailed the anthrax to NBC and two liberal members of Congress, because McCain is the one who made the whole thing up. McCain is the one who committed treason and led the public to think they had been attacked by a foreign power with a weapon of mass destruction. There was no "source" or surely: such a patriot as John McCain would have reported that miscreant to the FBI the minute he learned that the Anthrax was really sent thru the US postal system by insiders from a Maryland bio-terrorism fort. Is he hiding his "source" (wink!) who committed treason, or did he commit treason himself? He gets to say the truth if there was a source. This can be easy or he should be held in contempt by the Senate Foreign relations Committee and purged from the Senate, NOW.

politicsandtraditions and James Danley::: Are you volunteering to put all the nuclear waste created by 45 new nuclear plants in your backyard? Hope you don't live near me.

Teo: Obviously you were referring to my post. I don't like posting books either, but it may be the only way to get information to consumers who are being hoodwinked. The average Joe certainly doesn't take the time to read Business Week, but relies on the rhetoric and half truth spun by Limbaugh, Hannity and others, and never get's the real truth. Example, Senator Obama stating the fact about tire inflation, the right wing now ridicules, when Rex Tillerson CEO of Exxon virtually stated the same thing in a recent board meeting. By the way, I'm a former Goldwater Republican, and believe me mainstream Republicans are being sold out by the polices of the past 7 1/2 years and the policies McCain wants to continue, just the same as anyone else. It's time the RNC fesses up and starts to right the wrongs. McCain's not the one to do it.

Nanameow, Sen. McCain has called for having 45 new nuclear plants on line by 2030. That's...let's see...forty-five more than Sen. Obama.

Since when are private corporations obligated to share their profits with NON-shareholders?

Obama latest proposal of a windfall profits tax on oil companies is only more evidence of longstanding Democratic disdain for US energy production by American owned oil companies. How many bloggers remember Arco Oil Company and Amoco Oil Company. Arco was considered a jewell that explored, developed, and owned 80 percent of our Alaska oil reserves. Arco was bought and taken over by British owned British Petroleum Company during Bill Clinton’s second term during the late 1990’s. Nearly all of our Alaskan oil reserves are now owned by a foreign oil company, British Petroleum. Britsh Petroleum also bought Amoco Oil Company which was the successor of American owned Standard Oil Company the former monopoly that once controlled the world’s oil supply. Citco Oil Company is owned by the Venezuelan government which has not been friendly to the United States.

Compare on the other hand, how the British government has supported offshore development in the British channel. If leading Democrats had supported a more pro-US energy based policy, Arco might have been able to buy out British Petroleum instead of the other way around. Shell Oil Company is foreign owned and Citco Oil Company is owned by the Venezuelan government which has not been friendly to the United States.

Look at how Democratic policies have also killed the US nuclear industry over the last thirty-five years. While 80 percent of France’s electricity is generated by nuclear power, only twenty percent in the US is generated due to the successful efforts of Democratic party to kill the US nuclear power industry. The two largest builders of nuclear power plants in the US are General Electric and Westinghouse. Westinghouse sold it nuclear power construction division to Japan’s Toshiba corporation. Now there is only one US ownerd major nuclear power plant builder in the US. Significantly nuclear power is not considered a mainstay of Democratic plans to address our current energy crisis.

Obama’s windfall profits tax will have the effect of undermining US owned energy companies and discouraging future investment in those companies.

"Now then should Sen. Obama become president; and should the Democrats, as expected, gain 30+ seats in the House and 5-8 seats in the Senate, the country will take a decided Left turn."

Too bad there isnt any evidence for that. Vast majorities of the people are in favor of socialized medicine, yet the Democratic Party still isnt.

Where to you nay-sayers think Big Oil's record PROFITS come from? They come from all of us have to decide every day whether we can afford to fill our cars to drive to work and eat too. Public transportation isn't available everywhere in the U.S. and even where it is, it rarely goes where we need to go. McCain isn't doing much about encouraging alternative energy. Drilling in our wilderness areas and more off-shore wells won't help beat down $4.00+ gal. of gas any time in the foreseeable future. Big Oil is collecting billions in record profits quarterly. They don't give any back to the driving public and McCain cheers. It's the same as him telling the American voter to go hang.

Socialist Obama... Tax more, spend more and redistribute. Obama's economic and energy policy stands for United Socialist of America.

I'm not crazy about taxing the oil companies more than other companies because of some windfall profits. (Do you know the profits software companies make?) Oil is being driven by futures because someone keeps saying there is a limited supply. I don't like the idea of taxing oil companies just because they make a profit nor do I like the idea of pitting one side against the other. We are all in this together. Obama is pretending to be Robin Hood, all the while he personally enjoys the fruits of capitalism. He speaks with a forked tongue.

if i wanted to read a book, i wouldn't be on the internet.

jhw539, I brought up Europe to point out that in spite of Germany paying a $5.16 tax per gallon of gasoline they still have an income tax.

Now then should Sen. Obama become president; and should the Democrats, as expected, gain 30+ seats in the House and 5-8 seats in the Senate, the country will take a decided Left turn. You can forget about Sen. Obama's current rhetoric, because the Democrats in Congress will then take us even further Left than what Sen. Obama is currently advocating. Sen. Clinton has already implied that she wants to do away with private health insurance and replace it with a Medicare like bureaucracy. All she has to do is introduce her own version of womb-to-tomb universal health care and the Democrats in both the Senate and House will pass it. A President Obama will NOT veto the bill.

jhw539, you wrote: "There is NO factual basis to claim the media favors Obama over McCain." What about the recent report that the media who contribute donate to Democrats by a 100-1 ratio. And have you even seen MSNBC's political reporting?

Now as for your $2 tax on gasoline, we consume about 146 billion gallons of gasoline per year. So your $2 tax would generate $292 billion. According to the Internal Revenue Service's 2008 report (updated in July 2008) the total income tax revenue for the year 2006 was $1.024 trillion. So your $2 tax would not even meet 1/3 of the total income tax revenue in 2006.

John McCain, is this the best you can do??!! Your going to have to do more than your #### speeches as of late.

To say this is a wierd move by Obama is an understatement. He needed to go on the offensive, but this is a pretty perplexing move. I swear, these 2 are trying to out-do one another for "worst attack ad" of this cycle....

Although last week Obama was against domestic drilling, just today he said: "You won't hear me say this too often, but I couldn't agree more with the explanation that Sen. McCain offered a few weeks ago. He said, 'Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long term about the future of the country." He also said he supported tapping into strategic resources and drilling in the US and offshore if it is part of a strategic plan .... His position isn't any different than MCCain's - this ad simply makes Obama a pretty big hypocrite?

"It takes two sides to compromise. The Democrats were at the table while the Republicans were playing politics."

Let me use this statement again. The republicans wanted to stay in session and debate energy but the democrats wanted to go on vacation. So I guess going on vacation is more important to democrats then trying to solve America's energy plans.

I guess people like Kennedy have to spend time lobbying to put their lofty solutions like wind power in SOMEONE ELSE's backyard since it ruins their own view. I mean how pretentious of people to think that liberals should have to live their own policies.

"It takes two sides to compromise. The Democrats were at the table while the Republicans were playing politics."

2 amendments is not a suitable compromise when there were a couple dozen proposed amendments. The democrats' "compromise" would have forced voting on bundled up packages and amendments. With an issue as serious as energy you would think if the democrats wanted to genuinely fix it they would do what they could and seriously debate it right? Instead they'd rather that americans suffer so they can have their power trip and refuse to open up any useful discussions. I guess "saving the world" is more important than a bipartisan solution. By the way Pelosi won't let any vote for drilling by her own words so Senate compromise is meaningless without the house.

"You basically just admitted you are defining liberal to be "whatever Senator Obama's record is."

"In that recored, he is far from liberal unless you are calling the entire Illinois Republican party liberal now. "

I based it off of the only standard way of determining a senators record at a NATIONAL level. I could care less what the Illinois voting record is we're talking national politics. Illinois is a very liberal state so your obvious bias is apparent as well as your flawed methodology for how you determine a senator's voting record. You are burying your foot deeper and deeper into your mouth.

Now that we've been sufficiently distracted how about you get back on track and debate some of the points raised in this thread about energy instead of changing the subject?

I find it interesting that my post regarding S-1862, The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act of 2007, introduced by Senator Kyle and co-sponsored by John McCain and his support by the big mining lobbyists was immediately taken down. This is another bad for America land swap deal such as previous ones engineered by McCain. McCain's support for land swaps, giving away American assets for the benefit of big developers in exchange for campaign support/donations, needs to be aired out as well as his support of big oil.

devilkev:

"The Rio Tinto-Resolution Mining bill is not the first time McCain has benefited from land Exchanges. "

_____________

I see McCain's name mentioned waaaaaaaaaay down in this article.... but I don't quite grasp how you can say he benefitted from this...or other land exchanges based on the information in your post.

Cryos: "Maybe Obama would appear more genuine if he actually worked to get this compromise done while it mattered now waiting until the day after they left for a 5 week break. "

The Democrats offered an up/down vote on the energy bill if the Republicans limited admendments to two - they could have put up for a vote offshore drilling and ANWR. That was a compromise on the part of the Democrats. The Republicans refused to allow a vote (adding to their historic record of obstructionism as measured by failed cloture votes/filibusters). Why did the REPUBLICANS refuse to allow a vote on off shore oil drilling?

It takes two sides to compromise. The Democrats were at the table while the Republicans were playing politics.

sorry spock but your wrong if we droped the 60 cent tax big oil would simply raise gas prices by 60 cents they know we are willing to pay it so they are going to charge us. Thats what would happen.

James Danley: The math to my point one is simple: Annual gas consumption in the US times $2 a gallon