For the second straight presidential debate, John McCain delivered a confused and misleading picture of his position on renewable energy sources. In the Oct. 15th debate, McCain said, "So the point is, with nuclear power, with wind, tide, solar, natural gas, with the development of flex fuel, hybrid, clean coal technology, clean coal technology is a key in the heartland of America that is hurting rather badly. So I think we can easily within seven, eight, ten years, if we put our minds to it, we can eliminate our dependence on the places in the world that harm our national security if we don't achieve our independence from it."
While this rhetoric is laudable, it simply doesn't reflect John McCain's actual record on alternative energy. Between 1992 and 2006, McCain voted against tax incentives for the renewable energy sector at least nine times, according to the Senate record. Between 2002 and 2005, as the public grew more in favor of promoting alternative energy sources, McCain vote four times to block renewable energy mandates. And between 1992 and 2005, McCain voted an additional 12 times against alternative energy proposals.
John McCain has insisted that he has supported "alternate fuel all of my time," but he just hasn't seemed to ever cast his Senate vote for it. A recent analysis of McCain's record by FactCheck.org showed that while McCain has lent rhetorical support for renewable energy, as a Senator "he has declined opportunities to support it.”
In fact, McCain has appeared to be more concerned with continuing the Bush administration's tax cuts for Big Oil companies than helping to pass a renewable energy package. This year, McCain opposed a bipartisan Senate effort to compromise on new offshore drilling combined with new investments in alternative energy resources paid for by ending the Bush tax cuts for Big Oil companies. McCain opposed the measure specifically because it would roll back the massive tax breaks for Big Oil.
Likewise in 2007, John McCain supported a Republican filibuster of the 2007 energy bill because it would have stripped Bush's tax breaks for Big Oil and used the savings to provide new tax incentives for renewable energy. McCain actually missed the vote on the bill, but his staff reported that had he been present in the Senate he would have voted to block the bill.
The bill McCain opposed would have basically ended $13.5 billion in tax breaks for the five largest oil companies. The money would have been redirected into tax incentives for solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, wave energy and other renewables.
Now, a Senate filibuster can be ended if 60 Senators agree to suspend debate and vote on final passage of a bill. In the final tally, 59 Senators agreed to end the filibuster. If Senator McCain had actually supported renewable energy, he might have made the time to return to Washington to cast a vote, at the very least, against the filibuster. McCain was the only Senator not present for that vote.
So despite his claim to have always supported "alternate" energy, it is easy to see why most people believe that McCain's words don't match his record. It is easy to see why so many people find it impossible to trust candidate McCain.
