Obama Meets With T. Boone Pickens, Avoids Swift Boat Question

RENO, Nev. — Democrat Barack Obama met Sunday with Texas oil baron and longtime conservative activist T. Boone Pickens to discuss strategies for developing alternative energy.

The presidential hopeful praised Pickens as a "legendary entrepreneur" and deflected a question about the billionaire's role in helping to fund a television ad campaign that undermined John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee.

"You know, he's got a longer track record than that," Obama told reporters when asked about Pickens' association with the ads by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "One of the things I think we have to unify the country around is having an intelligent energy policy. ... That's what we're going to be talking about."

During the 2004 presidential campaign, Pickens spent $3 million to help bankroll the Swift Boat organization, a group tied to supporters of President Bush that ran television ads questioning Kerry's record as a swift boat commander during the Vietnam War. The ads were believed to have damaged Kerry in several battleground states, contributing to his narrow loss to Bush.

Today, Pickens is bankrolling a much different kind of campaign. A critic of U.S. dependence on oil and a champion of wind power and other alternative energy forms, he has vowed to spend $58 million to promote his "Pickens Plan," which calls for the U.S. to generate 22 percent of its electricity through wind and other sources.

The high cost of energy has emerged as a central campaign issue between Obama and his Republican rival John McCain. Pickens met with McCain in Colorado last week to discuss his plan and requested a similar meeting with Obama. The two men talked privately for about 45 minutes, campaign officials said Sunday.

Comments

[littlepuffycloud]

O is tougher, smarter and more pragmatic than anyone has given him credit for. We ain't seen nothin yet. And he's one heck of attractive body surfer.

[loria]

I came to the conclusion with the bs that is being thrown out by some dems that if we can't win this election with Obama, Dems just can't figure out how to win elections. There is no way McCain should have a chance.s The media is giving him and many Americans are buying it. If you aren't better off today than you were eight years ago, what makes you think that there will be a change with McCain? Can you tell me how he differs from Bush? Both like to make threats and sound like cowboys. Both are happy with the trickle down economics that never seems to trickle to anyone but millionaires.


The sad thing is that Obama is battling Reps and Dems alike. There is the PUMA faction, but it doesn't stop there. There were the Strickland comments highlighted on Meet the Press. Last week it was Russ Feingold. These dems need to shut up. I am tired of hits by them. I don't know what is behind it, but they either need to get on board or shut up.

[wanj]

It scares me to see how easily duped people are.... Just the thought of paying $4 at the pump should make anyone want to change direction. But, naaah, people haven't had it bad yet. They'd like a little more pain in the wallet and toss in a few more wars while we're at it.

[SEQUOIABISON]

Wow, Obama is a much more pragmatic candidate than I could ever be.

I think we made the right choice he must be our next president if we want a more egalitarian America and a sane foreign policy.

Obama/Clark

[CindyKay]

Amen to that SEQUOIABISON , from Your lips to Gods ears !

[kissmygrits]

Everyone on here should go read the rec'd diaries on Daily Kos on J-Mc's solzhenitsyn (sp?) plagiary..­. very well researched­...

[loria]

We can read it and find out that there isn't an original thought that comes from McCain, but with the MSM it doesn't matter. McCain can do or say anything and people will believe he is a maverick. They will believe that he is better able to handle foreign policy because he has vowed to hunt bin Laden to the gates of hell. Why not the mountains of Afghanistan? Oh, because you are too busy with that Iraq War we should never have fought. McCain can say anything, back it up with little to nothing and get a pass. The sad thing is that Americans have been deceived before and many are right ready to go down the same road expecting a different outcome. Please wake up. We don't have another chance to screw this up. We did it in 2000 and 2004 and the country and the world is worse off because of it. If you've loved the last eight years, McCain is your man.

[TabysGrandma]

In reading the different comments here I have come to the conclusion that most people want an energy plan besides oil as long as it is not in their backyard. As long as we have that way of thinking we will never get any where.

People seem to be talking about wanting change but then fight the change. I don't get it.

[Shannon2008]

Change only happens at the ballot box. McCain has been in the US Senate for 25 years. He's a major reason our energy policy has not progressed. He has been a roadblock.

If Americans like self identified PUMAs can't vote for the interests of the candidate they supported, then we will continually vote for the candidate that runs the most attack ads or the party that raises the most money.

[ibsteve2u]

And that is what makes a mockery of PUMA...

PUMA counts many women among its members who consider themselves to be "libbers" and "activists", yet because they are miffed at Obama for winning, they threaten divide the Democrats and the convention and even to put the man who believes that human rights begin at "the moment of conception" in the position of dictating future appointments to SCOTUS.

How unholy is that, that PUMA's "libbers" would work to ensure that their younger sisters are stripped of the ownership of their own bodies?

[ibsteve2u]

They can put a nuke plant in my backyard..­.as long as they give me free electricity.

To borrow a term from my military years, I would consider it to be "hazardous duty pay".

[mairs]

Hey, I'll put a wind generator in my own back yard if it would help.

[Viper]

You will find that your zoing or home owners association will not allow it in most cases.


Things have to change!

Regards

[janiejones]

It's important to differentiate between small wind energy systems designed for on-site home, farm, and small-scale commercial use. Small scale individually owned wind generators connected to the existing grid will probably become more and more popular and towns will revise their codes accordingly.

The wind turbines (NOT windmills) proposed by Pickens are over 400 feet tall. I doubt you'd want a turbine the height of a 40-story buidling in your backyard. Consider the noise, lighting, shadow flicker, ice throws, drainage and erosion issues, danger to wildlife, and the huge transmission lines needed to carry the engery produced -- it's easy to see why wind energy isn't the benign answer to all our problems it might appear.

Perhaps in the wide open spaces of Texas? I don't really know. But I'm glad that many small rural towns, in upstate NY, for example, have battled back against large energy companies and their investment bankers trying to push "wind farm" down our throats.

[EricHayes]

I'd love to put a turbine in my back yard (I live in a town nicknamed McWindyville) but the CC&Rs in my neighborhood prohibit it. Attitudes are going to have to change.

[Horace McMillon - Huffpost Blogger]

If we as progressives don't want more drilling, oppose nuke, oppose more coal clean or otherwise, then we better get on board with a program like BP's. In politics, ones friends shift with the issues of the day. BP is no longer the enemy. At some point it is useful to have someone who has played on the big stage pushing policy that is closer to what we want. If he happened to get even richer... so be it.

[Shannon2008]

You are so right. I credit the decrease in the price of oil to a decrease in demand, a glut of oil supplies, and infomercials run by Boone. This election should be about the issues. Where we agree with someone like Boone or Chuck Hagel, we need to make sure that people understand why we're in agreement and to show that bipartisanship is not just talk.

[Destin]

There was already an oil glut before the price even went up. Supply/demand didn't have anything to do with gasoline hitting $4 a gallon everywhere. They did it, cause they could. "They", being the market.

[GreyFlcn]

Well, you also have to take Pickens with a huge grain of salt.

The real question is if the benefit of his ad campaign outweighs his ulterior motives.
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1951/

Especially when you consider the natural gas end of his argument.
Where Boone proposes getting natural gas from oil shale, and tight sands. (carbon intensive)
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/05/23/autobloggreen-podcast-22/
http://greencarcongress.com/2008/08/study-unconvent.html?cid=126105634

And would eat up all the natural gas that would otherwise go to electric power.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/7/8/15835/74508

_

Great ad campaign to be sure.
However we need to keep the focus on dealing with Global Warming.

And that means our primary focus should be on fast-tracking electric transportation, and renewable electricity (Such as baseload SolarThermal, and baseload GeoThermal)
http://greyfalcon.net/ausra
http://greyfalcon.net/geothermal

[foreffectivegovernment]

I fully support the Natural Gas portion of T. Boone's plan for this reason. I just happen to have acreage leased for drilling in the Barnett Shale region of Texas and stand to make a fortune on a much smaller scale than Pickens if cars are converted to LNG. I sure don't care if he gets richer off your tax money as long as I get mine.
That attitude became bi-partisan many years ago and has always been the policy of both Democrats and Republicans.
Maybe T. Boone Pickens should be our President because he supports a policy of both Parties.

[research]

We had better burn up the readily available methane or it will kill us all in another methane extinction event. It has happened before.

Methane is the cleanest of all the natural fuels. Methane is renewable. We probably will need methane for quite awhile as we more to wind and solar.

TBP may be a ruthless capitalist, but he is exactly right about the future of energy.

[lboucher]

"What would you do to reduce abortions?" Obama answer-"trust women who have abortions to have them only when they need them".

[cbates]

God is the judge of every person, so it does not matter what is done on earth except for what we need to feel as though we are reconciled to God. I find it hard to believe that anyone would just have abortions to have abortions. I would rather think that evil drives men to take advantage of young women and young women are sometimes too gullible.

[Viper]

From the Dark Ages to your lips...

Yep woman are so much less than men, that they get taken advantage of and are thus innocent..­. you know not as smart as us men and stuff like that.. second class citizens who accoringly should be paid less and should not be allowed to control their reproductive systems and walk behind their man as the good book says... Just kidding!

Eh Gads

Regards

[chitown8]

There is a difference in having an abortion as birth control and having one that is needed. If a woman is raped and incested they should not have a right to abort a child? If a woman got pregant and her and her hubby go a divorce is that a good reason for a abortion? The is only answered by the woman having the abortion and her God. NOT by you, me or the Government. Obama response is trust the woman not the system.

[StillIRise]

Like Senator Obama, I am also pro-choice and yet not pro-abortion, and I support Senator Obama wholeheartedly. Now that that's out of the way ...

Are you really suggesting that women only get abortions because men take advantage of them, because they're young and because they're gullible? As a woman, I find your remarks very immature and disturbing. First of all, blaming men for the abortions that women choose to have virtually negates the pro-choice premise amd also negates the intellectual, emotional and spiritual foundation that gives wome the wherewithal to make this very critical decision about our own bodies. Also, not every woman who chooses abortion is young. Many older, even married women, and many professional women, have found themselves in this situation, and do not choose abortion simply because they're gullible, nor do I believe that any sane woman, no matter how old, is just getting pregnant to abort her babies. The reasons women choose abortions are far more complicated than you've concluded, but just as we do not want men or anyone else to make this choice for us, neither can we blame men when we make this choice. We can't have it both ways. It's our bodies ... and it's our choice!

[Marlyn]

OT

[loria]

I don't think that is the extent of his plan to reduce abortions. How about making birth control readily available and make sure birth control pills are covered by insurance? How about education about STD's and pregnancy? Let's quit thinking that this issue is going to magically resolve itself. It won't. Women I would be afraid of McCain's stance. Without a pause he said that life begins at conception. Does he consider the pill or IUD abortion? I want to know.

[oscartucker]

Did you hear all of his answer. Women who choose to have abortions go through much physical and mental stress. The decision is one that haunts and lasts a life time. Explaining anything to you isn't going to help.

[Lion24]

Off topic.

[lboucher]

I think ah that whether you are looking at it from ah theological perspective ah or a scientific perspective, answering ah that question ah with specificity, you know, is ah above my ah pay grade.

[cbates]

Only God can actually say when life begins. If we are playing a game then McCain wins. He turned a "Civil Forum" into a stump speech. I did not learn anything new from or about John last evening. If he has it all figured out just let us know so we will not have to think and struggle with lifes questions. No one wants abortions and at the sametime we can not tell a person what to do with their body, so it is a matter of choice. The preference is to say that we would like ot reduce unwanted pregnancies so that a person does not have to make a choice. Producing more kids that are not being adopted is not the answer. I think to ease the adoption process would help and at the same time more focused opportunities for our young folks and disadvantaged citizens will aid in this effort. Money is paper until you spend it to create a memory. Remember God does not need us we need God.

[Marlyn]

An individual life begins at conception. There is no need to introduce vague uncertainties by bringing up God.

The issue is whether or not a woman may have control over her own body, or does the state own it.

[CindyM2008]

My friend, if you want to hear a gorilla ra pe joke, I'm the person to tell it! Chel sea Clinton is ugly. I know how to win a war---by winning it right! Gates of h e l l. Oh and war, war and more war, my friend!

[LiberTLover]

And oh yeah, noun ,verb, surge, surge, SURGE!!!

[cbates]

I think it is a good idea to put wind farms out in the ocean as long as the aluminum/metal will stand up to the salt water.

Unfortunately these guys (TB, Gates, Turner, Buffets, Soros, etc.) wait until they have one foot in the grave before thinking about the country and how an industrial society affects the other life forms and our longevity. Well at least ehy are giving away their fortunes while those in other countries are not about such philantrophy. I guess after 30-50 years some other country millionare­s/billiona­ires will start to do the same.

[Shannon2008]

It's the thing to do. Passing laws, and doling out subsidizes to oil companies to provide oil domestically wastes resources that could be used for new energy sources. China is far more committed to offshore wind farms than we are.

After we stop buying oil from the middle eastern countries, we'll start buying energy off of a global grid controlled by China. California will be the first state to buy the cheap Chinese electricity.

[EricHayes]

I hope you were being facetious. Are we going to give General Cable a contract to build a 4000 mile extension cord? Or charge up huge batteries and haul them over on giant barges?

[Marlyn]

"I think it is a good idea to put wind farms out in the ocean" ???

I think you underestimate the power of the ocean. T. Boone Pickens is doing America a favor. Texas panhandle is nothing but flat nothing, a great place for a wind farm.

[BethStuart]

Obama may be more farsighted than I am in this case. I haven't forgiven Pickens for his swift boat shenanigans in 2004. If Obama can defang Pickens in 2008, that may be the better strategy.

[Marlyn]

Obama is not "defanging" Pickens. This is Pickens' plan and it fits right into Al Gore's plan for a national high voltage DC electric grid, which was also recommended to Congress by NASA's James Hansen.

Pickens has supported Obama and says we must put politics aside and come together if we are to survive the global warming crisis.

[Superbus]

Obama shows good sense in meeting with and listening to Boone T. Pickens. He may not be the socialist that the moonbats are hoping for.

[alguien]

he's not a socialist at all, for that matter.

[CindyM2008]

I hope he is a socialist, I love a good party! Wooooo!

[kay]

Nasty old nitwit. We'd be 4 years closer to an energy plan had T. Boone not put his own profit before country in 2004 and bought George W an election.

Now that he's cleaned up, he's had a change of heart?

Consider anyone's energy plan but this guys. He's a crook.

[Marlyn]

You don't know that.

[heyjoe]

Watch your back, Obama.

[alguien]

keep your friends close and your enemies in your pocket!

[November2008]

You can hold the Swift Boater, the Republicans and their party members, and the conservative evangelicals and the likes for the mess that this country is in...they all teamed up to get Bush and Cheney in office...l­ay this mess at their feet

[Whinger]

Good ole BP and his wind turbines!

He should park one in front of FlipFlop's mouth he would generate enought energy for Las Vegas!

[23000Days]

MoSame would never have enough breath....

[BlackWidowPilot]

Naw, just get ole' "Hundred Years War" McCain to start talking about what he did during the war... ask him *anything* and I can guarantee you he'll start in with another war story...

Before you know it you'll have more wind than you'll know what to do with...

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen

[Budokan]

Pickens is another redneck hate-monger. Forget him.

[teron678]

co-sign

[Shannon2008]

As long as T. Boone is trashing drilling, we're going to have to support him to that end. We have to keep throwing his expertise back in the face of the republicans because drilling is a farce and they all know it. It's not going to lower the cost of gasoline at the pump. These gas stations are going out of business because they're small business owners and the republicans couldn't give a flip about them. The republicans are in bed with the credit card companies and the oil companies. Everybody in the chain is going to get theirs before consumers see a change at the pump.