In His Big Speech, McCain's 10 Energy Lies Top Palin's 4 Energy Lies

From McCain's prepared text we see the Arizona Senator easily top Palin's lies (see "In her big speech, Palin repeats the GOP's big energy lie -- plus three other energy lies, too"):

My fellow Americans, when I'm President, we're going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much.

LIE #1: McCain has no plan to reduce oil imports -- indeed, throughout his career he has explicitly rejected every plan that might reduce oil imports substantially, including fuel economy standards, biofuels, and renewables. Heck, he even rejected the plan offered by billionaire conservative oilman T. Boone Pickens to aggressively deploy clean energy and alternative fuels over the next ten years (see The real, Luddite McCain: "The truly clean technologies don't work").

We will attack the problem on every front.

LIE #2: This is, of course, the GOP's Big Energy Lie, widely debunked (see "The Big Energy Lie -- Blog round-up").

We will produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells offshore, and we'll drill them now.

LIE #3: No, we won't drill them now. We might drill these new wells in 10 years, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration expert on offshore drilling explained to me (see "The cruel offshore-drilling hoax, Part 1").

We will build more nuclear power plants. We will develop clean coal technology. We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas.

LIE #4: McCain has fought against wind and solar and alternative energy for his entire career because he genuinely but mistakenly believes "The truly clean technologies don't work" (see "Anti-wind McCain delivers climate remarks at foreign wind company" and "Why McCain hates renewables but pretends he loves them.")

We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.

SEMI-LIE: I'm gonna give this to him on a technicality. While he has traditionally opposed government programs to push fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels into the marketplace (the only possible strategy the could lead to energy independence), he has announced a pointless gimmick that makes the statement technically true (see "McCain proposes another energy gimmick, Part 1 -- pointless battery prize. Is this another $300M to ExxonMobil?").

Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power.

LIE #5: Senator Obama has made quite clear that he supports nuclear power and is open to an "all-of-the-above" compromise that includes drilling.

But Americans know better than that.

(hopefully) LIE #6: Let's all hope Americans don't buy McCain's lies.

We must use all resources and develop all technologies necessary to rescue our economy from the damage caused by rising oil prices and to restore the health of our planet.

LIE #7: This is a repetition of the Big Energy Lie. But by nature the big lie only works if you repeat it, so I'm counting it. The only energy resources McCain has ever pushed are drilling and nuclear.

It's an ambitious plan, but Americans are ambitious by nature, and we have faced greater challenges.

LIE #8: There is nothing ambitious about McCain's plan. It doesn't even include strategies to promote the most important energy source, energy efficiency -- a source McCain doesn't even pay lip service to in his big speeches, a source he actually mocks (seem "McCain on energy efficiency: He is Cheney's third term!" and "Will McCain's cynical lies destroy the chance for serious energy and climate policy?")

Earlier in the speech, McCain said of Palin:

She's tackled tough problems like energy independence and corruption.

LIE #9: Palin has done nothing to help achieve energy independence because there is nothing the State of Alaska can do. As Pickens and EIA and every independent expert keeps telling us, this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of.

McCain also said:

We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies.

LIE #10: The 2005 Energy Bill was certainly imperfect, but it contained more clean energy and energy efficiency incentives than any bill in more than a decade, so of course McCain opposed it. Ironically, it also contained more nuclear energy incentives than any bill in more than a decade -- and yet McCain opposed it and keeps claiming that those who voted for that bill don't support nuclear power. Now that is chutzpah.

Can you beat a liar if the media don't call him or her out? It is very, very tough, but it can be done. I'm gonna remain cautiously optimistic.

Comments

[Craig]

There is no oil in the drill drill drill areas (OCS, ANWR, NPR), only estimates by the USGS. Their estimates are based on statistical and probability studies of available data and comparison with similar geologic settings where oil has been found in other remote areas. but there has been no commercial oil found to date. It could take decades to prove if there is anything at all. Is it really responsible for McCain and Palin to base an energy policy that is not proven?

[Democrab]

CNN reported last night that Palin didn't actually sell the jet on Ebay for a profit, no-one bought it. So someone from the legislature sold it to a private businessman for considerable less than the taxpayers paid for it. A blatant lie. Here we go.

[suvbaby]

Palin is nothing but a GOP puppet. Why do you think that she is not allowed to talk to the press and is being wisked back to Alaska immediatly?
Maybe its because she is not qualified to speak to the press on any issues. So far I have heard nothing from her other than McCain's/Bush speech writer words, delivered with great gusto...but if you do your own investigation you will see that just about everything that comes off theire lips are lies.
It's an insult to the American people and to woman in particular. If she was middle age and not as attractive do you really think there would be this much hoopla?

[DS1Roger]

Right now it's a game to decide who can waste our money.
Our only choice is determining who gets to do it.
The true path lies between the two extremes.
We need the military and social programs.
Without military security social programs have no meaning.
Notice the illegal alien problem isn't talked about by either party?
What happened to acid rain? Did we remove the problem.? No it was the cause of a few years then got replaced by a bigger and badder threat global warming.
Hold on if the sunspot cycle doesn't get started up again we might be entering another extreme cooling phase. Read the real news about it.

[sagopalm]

McCain is old and doesn't think alternative fuels work...just like he doesn't understang the internet. His influences are from a by-gone era. He longs for the days of Frank and Dean and the rest of the Rat Pack. His brain is finished processing new information and grasps desparately to the old notions that are becoming obsolete. Alternative fuel sources can and will work if only they would be given the chance. The world is moving on without him and his antiquated sensibilities. Let's just hope the country moves on without him as well.

The Reagan era needs to come to a close. The alternative energy bill signed by Jimmy Carter would have put the United States in a far stronger position than it is now had Reagan not stopped it. Carter has been the republican whipping boy for decades. He wasn't a great president but he had vision on alternative energy and it should have been followed. He's one of the few politicians who actually learned something from the 1973 Oil Embargo.
This has always been my great disappoinment with Bill Clinton. He did very little in this area.
We shouldn't be following Brazil's lead.
The United States should have led on this issue. It's inexcusable that we aren't.

During his address McCain went on ad-nauseum about winning the war in Iraq.
Nothing was said of course about how Iraq did not attack us!
Why does this little detail consistantly escape these people?

[sagopalm]

I couldn't bear to listen for more than a few minutes.
I saw the body language and heard the voices of both McCain and Palin. Both told me "LIAR".

This convention caused the republicans to "run for cover", and avoid being swamped by Hurricane Gustav. If ever there were an arena full of the faithful that appeared to have dodged a bullit, it was this.
I suspect few, if any words were mentioned throughout the entire convention that addressed global warming and all those OTHER hurricanes that have been forming in the Atlantic as a direct result.

[hosshoss777]

OF course it's a lie, because it's really about a monetarist policy, the idea of the US Dollar being the world reserve currency and of course, the petro dollar. All these things are about oil imports and it's the one truth you will never hear from any candidate from any party. And it's the only thing that explains inflation and FEDS sometimes seeming contradictory actions.

It's just like Israel, we don't talk about it.

[Kwaayesnama]

JESUS WAS A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

[JayDDrew]

Excellent point. The Dems should put this on a billboard. Only the neo-cons would belittle helping the less fortunate.

[shadowbee]

AND PONTIUS PILATE WAS A GOVERNOR

[OpusIsUnderTheBed]

We should remember that none of this is about the welfare of our country and it's citizens. It's about a game. A game to keep the Republican party in power. So, the Republican rules of the game require constant, blatant lying. Campaign by lying and slandering. Now once the campaign ends and any American asks about any or all lies, why the liars grin, wink, and say "all part of the game".

[jazzman]

Lies don't matter. It's the conviction with which you deliver them that counts. Most American citizens aren't going to check out if anyone lied or not. If they like Palin, they'll believe anything she says. If they like McCain, they'll believe anything he says. Republicans know this and that is why they lie with such impunity.

[TexasAmerican]

Are you kidding me. Don't just look at the lies you think the RNC is talking. You need to look at DMC and the lies and exagerations they spoke at their convention. McCain isn't my choice but at least he's not an empty suited self gratifing

[idest]

1. There is a very real difference between lies and exaggerations, let's not conflate the two.

2. Name one lie from the DNC.

[steve-annie]

Did you notice that McSame referred to Russia specifically as "oil-rich Russia" when criticizing their behavior toward Georgia? What does their "oil-richness" have to do with it? Maybe 8 years of wilfully manufactured war in "oil-rich" Iraq has made me paranoid, but that sounds suspiciously like code-talk for "I'm gonna trump up an excuse to invade Russia and steal their oil too!"

[KarlaElisa]

Keep counting the lies...there are bound to be more.

[JayDDrew]

Two-thirds of oil drilled in the US is sold overseas, meaning Big Oil sells to the highest bidder, no discounts to the USofA. So more oil from the USA will only be a drop in the global bucket, a minimal impact to the American citizen, but a boon to the oil companies when they can refine or sell their own. Plus, while OPEC deos manipulate supply, the cost of a barrel of oil depends more on speculation and the strength or weakness of the dollar, not how many barrels come out of the earth.
The most limiting factor in getting gasoline to the pump is at the level of refining, not the actual supply of oil.
And don't fall for the lie about government refusing to allow new refineries. Big Oil adds on to the refining capacity of current refineries. That's cheaper to them than building new refineries from the ground up.
-

[twohearts]

The creepiest thing for me was hearing the chant "Drill baby drill!" on Palin's speech night. Oh, no - it the next night, one of the also-rans for president who ranted and raged.

Obama & the Dems have to start fighting back on that and not get too mad at her idiotic ideas about being a Community Organizer.

They GOP is so angry & despicably dishonest this year.

[access2narnia]

WHEN did the media agree to just "laugh at" the LIES and ignore these dangerous "sound bites" -----If she wants to be a Comediane, then send to the Daily Show and Colbert Report and see how she does with these hypocritical distortions.

While respecting John McCain for who he is ---or at least WAS before buying into being managed by the Rove/Bush pliticians in order to get elected---I GRAVELY FEAR what can happen if he is elected. Whether the Palin choice and the hatefilled, attack posture of Wednesday night was orchestrated by power politics, poor judgement or poor vetting, or some other form of subtle or actual control,the fact is that McCain the man and former maverick seems HOSTAGE to the control of the power brokers who have nearly destroyed America over the last 8 years ----and putting him into the White House WILL NOT SOLVE their continued control over the MASSIVE WASHINGTON BUREAUCRACY which is one of the greatest barriers to change. If they can control his appointment for even the highest office (VP) by either coercion or false or distorted information, then they can control his choices for his Cabinet, Supreme Court, major Federal Agencies, and so on.