Another McCain LIE: Offshore Drilling Can Lower Prices In Months

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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/07/28/mccain-offshore-drilling-could-provide-relief-in-months/

McCain: Offshore Drilling Can Lower Prices In Months

July 28, 2008
McCain: Offshore drilling could provide relief in 'months'
Posted: 03:03 PM ET

(CNN) — John McCain again pushed for offshore drilling Monday, and suggested it could provide relief to American consumers "within a matter of months."

"There are some instances within a matter of months, they could be getting additional oil. In some cases, it would be a matter of a year," McCain said at a press conference in Bakersfield, California. "In some cases, it could take longer than that depending on the location and whether or not you use existing rigs or you have to install new rigs. But there is abundant resources in the view of the people who are in the business that could be exploited in a matter of months."

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan called the proposal a "gimmick.

"By handing out $4 billion in tax breaks to the biggest oil companies and proposing gimmicks like offshore drilling that won’t produce a drop of oil for seven years, Senator McCain’s energy plan fails to provide short-term relief to consumers or long-term independence from foreign oil," he said.

Bought and sold by the oil companies. They're happy.

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Oil dollars gush after McCain backs drilling

Matthew Mosk, Washington Post

Monday, July 28, 2008


(07-28) 04:00 PDT Washington --

Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his position on the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month - three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban - compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.

McCain said the policy reversal came as a response to rising voter anger over soaring energy prices. At the time, about three-quarters of voters responding to a Washington Post-ABC News poll said prices at the pump were causing them financial hardship, the highest in surveys this decade.

Opening vast stretches of the country's coastline to oil exploration would help America eliminate its dependence on foreign oil, McCain said.

"We have untapped oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production," he said. "It is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions."

McCain delivered the speech before heading to Texas for a series of fund-raisers with energy industry executives, and the day after the speech he raised $1.3 million at a private luncheon and reception at the San Antonio Country Club, according to local news accounts.

"The timing was significant," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group that conducted the analysis of McCain's oil industry contributions. "This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money."

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/28/MN4I120EGN.DTL&type=politics