McCain Traveling To Oil Rig (Partially) Owned By... Exxon

Sometimes political attacks materialize all by themselves.

John McCain is set to board a helicopter today and travel 150 miles off the Louisiana cost to host a campaign event on the Genesis Project oil rig.

The overarching point is to stress the Senator's newfound commitment to offshore drilling. But the stop also plays into a meme critics have been pushing for weeks.

The oil rig on which McCain will be speaking is partially owned by Exxon Mobil. According to the website RIGZONE.com, the energy giant has a 38.38 percent share in the Genesis Project, topped only by Chevron's 56.67 percent.

The coincidence is surely music to Democratic ears. After all, the DNC has been calling the Senator "Exxon John" for weeks in response to McCain's refusal to support energy legislation that contains a windfall profit tax on oil companies.

Of course, the attack is muddled a bit by the fact that Barack Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has received more money from Exxon employees: $42,100 to McCain's $35,166 (though McCain has received far more from the oil and gas industry as a whole and his joint committee with the RNC has received more from Exxon than Obama). Nevertheless, expect this oil rig blunder to make an appearance in a DNC or Obama campaign attack ad in the future.

UPDATE: And indeed... the DNC sends out an email hitting McCain for his oil rig visit, adding, among other things that "on that rig, it took 10 years from the date oil was discovered until the rig he will be standing on today produced a single drop of oil."

LATER UPDATE: The Obama camp joins the fray.

"For three decades, as our energy crisis grew, decision-making in Washington has been rigged against our national interests and the interests of American consumers," emails spokesman Tommy Vietor. "And for almost that long, Senator McCain has been part of the problem. For decades, he has stood with the big oil companies and voted against the development of the alternative energy we need. When a critical proposal came before the Senate late last year that would have provided tax incentives for the development of alternative energy by revoking $13 billion in giveaways to the oil companies, he was the only Senator who didn't vote - and we came up one vote short."

Comments

[Actionmac]

john was so winded from walking the stairs he gasp for air to give stump speech.

[Actionmac]

mcsad was gasping for air from walking up the stairs on the rig to give his stump speech.

[patriotic008]

Jo h n M c Ca i n = the gift that keeps on giving

[littlepuffycloud]

Watch out McOily...your link to BigOil is showing. I want to drink your milkshake. Oh gross, what am I saying?!

[leftoflennon]

Nice move Johnny War Note. Nice !

[Bitsko]

The majority of the rig is owned by Chevron, which is every bit as evil as Exxon. But I get your point.

[Masterhook]

Well John just helped with the DNC's Exxon John Campaign. How nice of him.

[moxieme]

We need to pay attention to the real agenda, the Repubs have one objective which was articulated very succinctly on PBS NOW or Bill Moyers' Journal expose on convicted incarcerated felon Jack Abramoff and defrocked religious right fanatic Ralph Reed. tha is for the Repubs to have permanebt control of the WH. I suspect the vast majority of the late Lee Atwater's imps can't stand John McCain. Did any of them serve in the military? I think Rove, Reed, and Abramoff were too consumed in earning their bones as college Repubthugs. If elected, he will most assuredly, follow their marching orders. The Obama campaign needs to announce his veep selection and let's get to it, locally, statewide, and nationally.

[DaOne]

From Ralph Greed on Monday to Exxon on Tuesday.

Thank you for our new ads Old Yeller!

[8yearsoffear]

The same dumb people who voted for Bush are now voting for Mc Cain! They have learned nothing from their mistakes and are doomed to be ignorant fo life. Stupid is as stupid does!

[Bitsko]

Wait until you reach my advanced age, and you'll discover that most folks will vote for any old panderer, or even a wet twig if it brought home the bacon. Unfortunately, stupid is what this country often does best.

[Heaphy]

The Center for Responsive Politics is reporting that Exxon employees have donated less than $80,000 to Obama and McCain. If that is correct, then that is surprisingly low when you consider that these two campaigns have raised about $500,000,000 so far. And I don't think the fact that Obama received about $7000 more than McCain is any indication that Exxon favors Obama. $7000 is chump change in this campaign - it is barely pocket lint. This figure almost certainly indicates that Exxon top management is sitting out this election, at least when it comes to direct donations to the two Presidential campaigns. The money is coming from lower level employees who aren't influenced by top management.
- Jim Heaphy

[firewmn]

*
Is this the same oil rig he was suppose to land on last month before the barge/tug crash that caused an oil slick in the Mississippi River..??

[RENREVARD]

Chevron is that Hugo,s company?

[Heaphy]

The answer is no, RENREVARD. Chevron is not controlled by Hugo Chavez. Citgo is the U.S. oil company that is controlled by the state-owned Venezuelan oil company. Citgo is headquartered in Houston, has 4000 employees, and annual sales of about $32 billion.
- Jim Heaphy

[Podewumun]

No, Citgo is the Venezuelan national oil company.

[loax]

A fund raiser on an oil rig? Another shot of proof that big oil owns McCain. By the way, keepthemhonest is 100% correct! How come the MSM did not pick up on that. that alone proved he heard the questions and prepped for them. Once again, the MSM lets McCain skate!

[Norsky]

Senator for sale. Now he can try to sell the Presidency as well.

[CtJean]

If that fails he can sell his wife

[keepemhonest]

In Transcript: Rick Warren TOLD McCain during Saddleback, that McCain was jumping ahead & knew ALL the questions.

Read the Transcript:

"McCain: Are we going to get back to the importance of Supreme Court justices, or should I mention it?

REV. WARREN: We will get to that.

SEN. MCCAIN: Okay. All right. (Laughter.) Okay.

REV. WARREN: Man, you're jumping ahead. You know all my questions."

** It is obvious NOW even Warren thought McCain knew ALL the questions in advance.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/08/transcript_of_obama_mccain_at.html

[Charmed]

Rev. Warren really can't be trusted. He sat on Larry King last night and still acted like he believed John McCain didn't take advantage of being 2nd.

[IraqVet04]

I agree. He said he was in a cone of secret service, and if he had been listening, the secret service would have told on him. What!?? Hello, SECRET Service. They are very good at keeping secrets. It's not their job to tell on the person they are protecting. It's their job to protect. Get it? Protect.