Pickens Ad Rejected By NBC And Other Highlights From T. Boone At The DNC

T. Boone Pickens, Carl Pope and John Podesta walk into a big tent.

OK, OK, the "isn't it weird that these guys agree?" joke is getting a little tired, so I'll cut it here. But the best take I've heard so far came from the Sierra Club's Carl Pope himself at a panel with Pickens the oil man and Podesta from the Center for American Progress.

Pope said that the fact that the three of them were on the stage meant that something was wrong with the government -- that if there was anything that the three men with divergent views on nearly everything but energy could all agree upon, it should have been acted upon long ago.

The star of the panel was, of course, Pickens. He said he'd met with Obama, McCain, Gore, Bush and others about his plan to reduce American dependence on foreign oil, or as he put it -- to stop "the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind."

He said President Bush asked him who could lead the way -- and Pickens responded "George Patton."

The joke was lost on the crowd of bloggers -- or maybe just not well-received, as Podesta, a former Bill Clinton chief of staff, pointed out that some in the crowd may have been skeptical of Pickens and his donations four years ago to the Swift Boat Veterans who slammed John Kerry. Patton, a World War II general, is of course dead. But the point Pickens was trying to make was that the government needed a "general" -- someone who would be able to take orders from the president and get things done.

"Tell 'em, 'There's the hill; take the hill,'" he said.

Pickens' TV ads have been running far and wide, but he said that NBC refused to run a recent ad that said Iran was switching cars to natural gas in order to sell more expensive oil to the U.S., and that the U.S. was doing nothing about it. According to Pickens, NBC wouldn't run the ad because Pickens couldn't provide proof that the U.S. was doing nothing.

Here's the ad that didn't run on TV:

Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

A couple of other Pickens highlights from the panel:

Pickens on offshore drilling: "This isn't about the oil industry wanting to drill offshore -- they don't think anything's there, just look at what they did and didn't lease when the western gulf tracts were offered up."

Pickens on Obama's plan to put one million hybrid cars on the road: "One million plug-in hybrids is nothing. We've got to get a hundred million."

Pickens on global warming: "Global warming is on page two for me." He elaborated, saying that first the idea was to reduce the dependence on foreign energy here in the U.S.

Pickens on people telling him his plan sounds so simple they can't believe it hasn't already been done: "Nothing is simple when you get to Washington."

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Comments

[mezz1962]

01:18 AM on 09/13/2008

when was the last time NBC cared about proof?

[joeneri]

11:35 PM on 09/08/2008

What Pickens also wants is the riparian (water) rights in the areas he plans to build the wind farms. The areas he talks about sit atop or athwart the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest underground reservoir of water in the lower 48 states.

You think he's rich now, wait till he gets his hands on that.

[Toonout]

02:28 AM on 09/07/2008

Hate to say this, he is 100% correct about the wealth transfer issue. We must find a way to stop the outflow of money to the Petro Dictators of the world. Sometimes you need to take the lesser of the evils and if that means the money is for him vs. being in the Middle East, I would take that risk. We can sit and wait for the politicians to find a solution while the money keeps flowing out the door.

[fiberoptimist]

12:40 PM on 09/06/2008

Until he apologizes publicly to John Kerry for funding the SWIFTBOAT ads, giving us 4 more years of greenhouse George, I seriously doubt Picken's motives. He's a long time oil investor who is just smartly looking to diversify. I guarantee he'll get even richer from any of the solutions he proposes. Notice how he doesn't mention solar, and still wants more drilling.

[Lion24]

02:31 PM on 09/05/2008

You want wind energy, Pickens? Build the wind farms yourself. You can afford it.

[MeanGreenMachine]

11:38 PM on 09/06/2008

He has, moroon.

[legalclubs]

01:20 PM on 09/02/2008

If you really want to solve the energy problem then we need to build about 400 nuclear power plants. This would supply all of our energy needs while phazing out coal powered plants. This is what Japan and France have done and they've operated these plants safely for decades. We'll also need this increase in power to power all the electic plug-in cars of tomorrow which will free us of oil dependency and greatly reduce CO2 output. Realistically, there is no possible way for "wind power" and ethanol (especially ethanol for corn - this is the dumbest thing we're doing in this country right now) to support our energy needs, especially given that mass influx of immigration we have a growing population putting more and more pressure on energy production.

The problem is that noboby wants a nuclear plant near them, however, just as the politicians are talking about giving states incentives to permit drilling (i.e. like Alaska taking a percentage of the oil revenue thereby allowing them to have a reverse tax system - the government cuts you a check each year, not the other way around) we should allow the local towns or cities which the plants are closest to take a similar "royalty" of the profit produced thereby giving local government incentives to want the plants. The other issue is we will need sometype of federal law to streamline the process or the environmental lawsuits will tie the whole thing up for 20 years.

[AlieNation]

01:41 PM on 09/02/2008

immigrants and environmentalist, they're what's wrong with this country, yup.

Thanks for educating us, no one has ever heard this argument before.

[legalclubs]

04:23 PM on 09/02/2008

Think first then write. The average American uses far more power than the average person immigrating to America. This isn't a rip on immigrants (immigration has been a historic economic benefit to America), it's simply a fact of life.

And exactly why don't you think we've built a nuclear power plant in 30 years? Again, it is an unquestionable fact that environmental lawsuits have made opening such a plant a practical impossibility.

You can't argue with either point.

[truthyguy]

01:26 PM on 09/05/2008

Great. Can we store the nuclear waste in your house?

[mezz1962]

01:22 AM on 09/13/2008

Get some info. The french get 80% of their power from Nuclear and they have a system to recover the used rods so there is very little actual material that needs to be buried

[mamacat]

07:12 AM on 09/01/2008

Prius has said it will sell its one millionth car this year. It's pretty lucky for us that we don't have to depend on Detroit to get anything right.

I think we should go ahead on all fronts. Where CNG infrastructure exists, encourage cars to be converted to CNG. However, at this time, PHEVs and EVs seem to have the inside track. If we do the first part of his plan, build the windmills, it will make it all the easier to convert to PHEVs.

It has been reported that we have the capacity today to power 3/4 of all of our cars, were they suddenly replaced with PHEVs. We don't have to replace all of our cars overnight. If good cars (CNG or PHEVs or EVs) are available when the current models are no longer useable, usually within less than 10 years, that means we could stop importing oil within 10 years.

[Kenack]

03:52 PM on 08/29/2008

Talk about a “conflict of interest.” How could anyone believe that T. Boone Pickens has a sincere desire to help the “middle class” from being “fleeced” by the oil companies. He’s an oil and NATURAL GAS man, and would reap enormous profits if we converted to his plan. Does he think we are that easily duped.

[mezz1962]

01:24 AM on 09/13/2008

Obama has endorsed his plan so I assume you think he is easily duped YES!!! McCain was right Obama is not ready to be president whoo whoo

[SeenItBefore]

10:44 AM on 08/29/2008

Why can't the government get into the energy business. Stop pissing away 50-60 billion in Iraq every year and use that money to build and install renewables. The same folk who build tanks and fighters could easily retool to build wind generators and solar panels. The American taxpayer could easily foot the bill of the grid and it's upkeep. Nuclear could be an option and the net result would be no electric bills because it was financed by our taxes. Meters would still be in place to heavily penalize over consumption, but it could work. But it won't happen.

The folk who monger war have a finite shelf life for their products; unlike energy sources. No one is going to bomb the be-jeebers out of a windmill farm, thus allowing the company to rebuild every 3-4 years. Wars do a lot for the bottom line of world corporations and they like the fact some of their products go a long way toward curbing overpopulation.

As far as T-Bone wanting to help, HAH! As my Mom used to say..."I wouldn't trust that SOB to walk my dog."

[Wilburrr]

10:11 AM on 08/29/2008

Pickens will do anything to put money in the pocket of..... T. Boone Pickens. Who owns all of those natural gas rights? T. Boone Pickens.... Is he right on energy change? Yes. Is he right for America? NO!

[mezz1962]

01:25 AM on 09/13/2008

Um Nancy Pilosi just bought $200,000 worth of Natural gas rights and now is trying to push only Natural gas

[pnd]

09:23 PM on 08/28/2008

Why isn't anyone talking about Flex Fuel Vehicles?! Look how spectacularly it has worked for Brazil!!
www.huffingtonpost.com/paige-donner

[JimboSlice]

12:13 AM on 08/29/2008

Because EtOH doesn't work in the US as currently produced. Brazil gets their EtOH from sugar cane, which is far more economical than our corn derived, 700% better. Brazil has the climate and the land to grow the sugar cane, we do not. Until we can get ethanol that has similar efficiency as Brazil either from cellulose or other means Flex-Fuel cars are NOT the answer.

[AddictedToHope]

07:09 PM on 09/03/2008

We probably could, were it not for the import tariffs and duties put in place to protect the domestic corn-based ethanol industry.

"the domestic ethanol industry also enjoys protectionist tariffs that keep it from having to compete with foreign providers. Foreign ethanol is subject to a 54-cents-per-gallon tariff and a 2.5 percent duty."

"Several recently introduced bills would either temporarily or permanently repeal the tariff and allow free trade in ethanol."

"Needless to say, agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland and the rest of the ethanol lobby, which is strongly supported by Midwestern legislators, oppose to these measures. Proposals to repeal the tariff definitely face an uphill battle."

Thought the repubs were all for free trade??

Source: http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm1074.cfm

[Destin]

08:33 PM on 08/28/2008

I'm not sure I buy anyting this guy says. He's got to prove he's sincere and that he's not in it for another get rich quick scheme. As I've posted before, he's been buying up water rights in Texas. And if people want water, they gotta pay him. ;) Well, it's gonna be no different with his wind power and natural gas ideas. Get rich quick scheme. What he's not letting on is, if it all goes bust, he's not out anything as it becomes one huge writeoff and largely will probably be subsidized by taxpayer money anyways. He's taking 0 risk with his so-called "plan". And that probably why he wants the President involved, so he can get the government money in the form of subsidies that he won't have to pay back. Notice also, he says this is all still a plan. Which means nothing has been spent by him, except the barrage of tv advertising.

And lastly, he needs to admit that the Swift Vote Vets were the outright liars that they are, and to publicly say that before I national tv audience. And he needs to reveal all his dealings with that political action committe. Otherwise, he's nothing but a propaganda artist looking to make a quick buck.

[smokiejjj]

04:50 PM on 08/28/2008

It is a no-brainer to convert cars to natural gas. It is a very practical solution. You cannot run all cars as electric cars right now. That would be ideal but the energy would have to come from coal/nuclear/wind/solar etc which is years and years to produce that much capacity. Plus it would cause trillions to have everybody buy a pure electric car. Just multiply 200 million cars * the price of a prius - that is expensive ! ( trillions ) Converting cars to natural gas is the quickest and cheapest way and keeps the money in the country since we have lots of natural gas. It is NOT a long term solution, nobody claims it to be, long term is electric cars that get electricity from plants that are enviro friendly but that is far down the road - one thing we don't have is time on our side. We cannot keep sending 700 billion a year overseas for oil, that money can be saved to build enviro friendly plants and on social causes instead of making russian billionaire oil tycoons richer. Natural gas is the way to go in the present day. It is a no brainer. Also a no brainer is tougher millage standards or at least a very heavy tax on suvs and gas guzzling sports cars.

[TrooAmerican]

03:20 PM on 08/28/2008

Pickens on people telling him his plan sounds so simple they can't believe it hasn't already been done: "Nothing is simple when you get to Washington."

Thats the point. Pickens wants a General to take orders from a president "theres the hill, go take the hill." but its not that easy.

To businessmen, they are used to that dictator style leadership. Either they are right or wrong but they move fast and hard and to heck wtih any details or consequences...why? because they still make their money.
Well news flash, the government is not a business and its purpose to to help the people of America.
Not to be a profit machine for the top officials like businesses are.

Its the classic Red-tape argument. But the problem those types dont understand is that if you just Randomly cut out all the red tape, you get a free for all ..... by rich billionaires with personal agendas.
And us consumers always get in the way and get mowed down.
Govt. is there to protect us from predatory businesses and wealthy despots.

[way2muchsense]

02:04 PM on 08/28/2008

I would be happy as hell to buy a CNG powered car if I could go to any gas station and get CNG. But I can't. I can, however, get all the propane I want for my gas grill, packaged in nice, convenient standard-size bottles. I wonder if someone were to retrofit a lawn tractor (for example), how long it would run on a bottle of LP gas that lasts me a couple of months when I cook with it.

The nice thing about CNG is that it burns clean and doesn't leave a bunch of gunk in your engine like gasoline does. So your engine runs forever as long as you keep oil in it. You probably wouldn't need a catalytic converter or anything in a CNG car.