New McCain Ad: Obama To Blame For High Gas Prices

John McCain is out with a new campaign ad (his second attack spot in less than a week) with a message that is hardly discreet: Barack Obama is to blame for skyrocketing gas prices.

The spot, entitled "Pump," will air on national cable and in key states according to the campaign. And it is a doozy. Opening with a picture of a solitary pump -- for some reason positioned in the middle of a river -- a narrator chimes in:

"Gas prices -- $4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?"

In the background comes an ever increasing chant of "Obama, Obama," followed by a picture of the Illinois Democrat.

"One man knows we must now drill more in America and rescue our family budgets. Don't hope for more energy, vote for it. McCain."

Ignoring, for the moment, the idea that high gas prices are the fault of one senator as opposed to, say, the President of the United States, there are other objectionable aspects to McCain's latest spot. For starters, McCain is a recent convert to off-shore drilling, so his opposition (if it had an effect at all) is as responsible for our country's energy problems as Obama's. More significantly, of course, the implicit message of the ad -- that more drilling will lead to short-term relief at the pump -- is a notion disputed by every credible economist, including many of the 300 McCain claims support his candidacy.

Update: The Obama campaign responds, with a statement from spokesman Tommy Vietor.

"John McCain said recently that 'our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington.' As someone who's been in Washington for 26 years, Senator McCain is one of those politicians, and he's consistently opposed investments in renewable energy that would reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Now he's proposing nearly $4 billion in tax breaks for the oil companies and Washington gimmicks that he admits will only provide 'psychological relief' to consumers. Barack Obama has fought for energy independence in the Senate and has a plan to invest $150 billion in renewable sources of energy that will create five million new jobs and provide struggling families with an immediate energy rebate and a $1,000 middle-class tax cut."

Comments

[RatgurlSD]

OMG! This is really getting embarrassing! I can't believe the politicians that have been running this country for so long actually think the average American's IQ has dropped 80 points. That's how stupid we'd all have to be to fall for this crap!

Please note, rest of the world, we're ALL not this stupid, and we didn't ALL vote for Bush!

[Teritt]

Most of the Repubs I know have double digit IQs....unl­ike oil, there will never be a lack of stupidity in our good old US.

[mostlybluedot]

It is hard to defend NOT drilling for oil off the coasts and in Alaska. Obama should support it with a few caveats. Of course it will be years and years before anything ever comes of it. But as important, unless there are (a) loads of oil and (b) it is easy to extract, it will not affect the supply and demand situation appreciably, if at all. The result is that the price of gas will not be affected by it. This is a tough argument to sell though and Obama should agree to explore for oil, but saying it is but one potential solution. Gore has another idea and so to others. All deserve to be looked into and not only offshore drilling. Maybe our money would be better spent on alternative sources of energy unless - as noted - there is really a lot of oil out there and it is cheap to get, both unlikely scenarios. So lets start by reseaching the availability of the oil and cost to extract it. That is not the same as drilling. Be smart not on someone's bandwagon like McCain and Bush.

[SWEETPB307]

WHEN THE HELL IS MSM GOING TO CALL OUT THESE LIEING ADS, IT A WORLD VIEW SHAME TO ALL OF US!

[orangepetal]

Yes Obama, Pelosi, Dean, Reid and the enviromentalists are all orgasmic at the price of gas.
Listen carefully, Europe this, Europe that. We are playing follow the leader. How much do they pay for gas in Europe?
All the Democrats policies are against promoting real energy independence, they cannot negotiate investment to green energy ( because they are intolerent to anyone with an opposing view ) so they will charge public taxes and fees. They will promote projects that erode our rights and they will call our daily activities excesses and limit our choices.
Wake up America before YOU are FORCED to ride a bicycle.
Mc Cain Democrat

[Schnitzel]

I wonder what a moron such as yourself considers "energy independence". Do you think re-empowering the petrolium industry is likely to make you "independent"?

Let the free market rule: if the oil industry is unable or unwilling to provide it's commodities to the consumers at a stable and fair price without resorting to extortion they deserve to undermined and destroyed. Yes it's going to hurt initially, but the free market will rise to the challenge of renewable, smarter energy. And that's exactly what the servile republican sycophants for the oil industry are afraid of.

Giving these dirt bags from Exxon what they want won't solve the problem; it will simply prolong it. If conservatives are so mindful of not appeasing terrorist organizations why are they falling all over themselves to make the economic terrorists in the oil business happy?

[CitizenFace]

Forced to ride a bicycle? Ha! Horror of horrors!

Eavesdrop on my emails; banish abortions; jack up the price of healthcare; give every penny I earn to China; shred the Constitution! But for the love of GOD, don't make me ride a bike! I need at least one hand free to hold my Big Mac!!

[SFkid]

Gas prices will never go back to $2 or $3 dollars, so suck it up America. We've had cheap gas for decades, time to pay up for your damn SUV's.

Bicycles are awesome, and you get a great looking body, you should try it sometime ;)

[Birdman]

Who has stopped ever attenpt at alternative energy? REPUBLICANS, one of those happen to be McCain. Do you relaize that there is a surplus of oil on the market? Yes there is about 4 million barrles worth but the price keeps going up. All McCains precious drilling will do is give more money to the oil companies and not lower the price. Hell if we drilled every inch of this country it would barely replace 5 years of oil consumption in this country. That is if we could get it all. The much bally hooed north slope in alaska has a reserve of a little over 6 months of consumption. So do the math there, we need alternative energy but as long as we have republicans in charge that will never happen. The last 15 years proves that.

[Teritt]

I think 'intolerance' is part of the repub anthem when it comes to any opposing view.

[wolf58]

John McCain
Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR. (Nov 2005)
Voted NO on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
Voted NO on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
Voted NO on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Voted YES on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
Voted YES on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
Voted NO on drilling ANWR on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
Voted NO on terminating CAFE standards within 15 months. (Mar 2002)
Voted YES on preserving budget for ANWR oil drilling. (Apr 2000)
Voted YES on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
Voted YES on approving a nuclear waste repository. (Apr 1997)
Voted NO on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994)
Sponsored bill for greenhouse gas tradeable allowances. (Feb 2005)
Rated 17% by the CAF, indicating opposition to energy independence. (Dec 2006)

[eden4barack08]

Thank you!

[confuseddemocrat]

Your post should be a DNC commercial. After listing all his votes, the narrator should ask: Who is tresponsible for $4.00/gall­on gas?

[SILVANUS]

I said that 4 years ago.
The Toby Keith crowd is pretty stupid.

[Bluejay00234]

Hmm before BOOSH took office gas was an average of $1.47 a gallon NOW its over $4.00! Tsk tsk some of us actually reamember FACTS from 8 years ago, kinda like how you remember vivid details of your childhood.

[Beka13]

Yea remember the Bushies attacking Al Gore?...Bl­aming the high oil prices on the Clinton Administraiton not having an energy policy? It was a crock then and its EVEN more of a crock now that they have quadrupled!

[windwalker1984]

What did you expect from an administration headed up by 2 guys with ties to big oil? They planned to disrupt oil supplies by invading Iraq from day 1 and we pay at the pumps. So now gramps wants to follow in their footsteps. Who is surprised by this one?

[CocteausTwin]

Well I blame McCain for this extra skin on one of my toes. I guess they are entitled to such a ridiculous claim as well.

[wolf58]

I guess he looking for the stupid vote.

[rich3324]

That's right John, blame it on the black guy.

[runnerin1]

Who in the world is running this campaign?

[Syco]

monkeys

[robiform]

If it wasn't for the fact that the Bush Kool-Aid drinkers are going to believe this ad, it would be utterly hilarious! I suppose the next McCain ad will blame Obama for the Johnstown flood and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby--two events that are in McCain's frame of reference!

[PaulRaymond]

Typical. Distract, distort, deny. And if that doesn't work, just out and out lie.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's blame the skinny black guy! They'll believe it".

[mercuryguy]

Comedy at its best. 2 yr old wrote that ad??

[emmaspeaks]

Please don't put this man in charge....­we'll have to start a new country...­He'll destroy it. he's so out of touch with how things work with economy, oil, war, countries that don't exist anymore...­.