McCain Dishonestly Wraps Himself in Wind Turbines

[webfarmer]

If he was actually supportive of wind energy, maybe he'd have some right to do so. Whereas you may recall from an earlier WSJ article I noted that he wasn't very keen on any energy subsidies except for nuclear, he now seems to want to associate himself in his television ads and elsewhere with the very things he doesn't want to support.

Straight B.S. Express at work. Seeing one of these McCain wind turbine ads on The NewsHour last night had me yelling at the television.

Speech, Part 1: Anti-Wind McCain Delivers Climate Remarks at Foreign Wind Company - ClimateProgress.org - 12 May 08

"Conservative presidential candidate Sen. John McCain chose a clever, but ultimately hypocritical location for his big climate speech. I hope the media aren’t fooled by his ironic choice of wind turbine company Vestas as the backdrop, but I have little doubt they will run enticing photos and videos of wind turbines. McCain, however, does not deserve to be linked to such images."

"Let’s be clear — conservatives like John McCain, or more accurately, conservatives including John McCain, are the main reason McCain has to go to a Danish wind turbine manufacturer to give a climate speech. With the major government investments in wind in the 1970s, the United States was poised to be a dominant player in what was clearly going to be one of the biggest job creating industries of the next hundred years. But conservatives repeatedly gutted the wind budget, then opposed efforts by progressives to increase it, and repeatedly blocked efforts to extend the wind power tax credit."

FactCheck: McCain's Wind-Power Puffery - Newsweek - 08 Aug 08

"A McCain ad shows pictures of wind-driven turbines while the narrator says: 'Renewable energy to transform our economy, create jobs and energy independence, that's John McCain.' But, in fact, his energy plan doesn't specify any new federal spending for renewable energy and says only that he'd 'rationalize' existing tax credits to provide incentives. In the past, however, he's opposed extending such tax credits when paid for by tax increases elsewhere."

"We're not sure what 'rationalize the current patchwork of temporary tax credits' means. And neither are wind or solar industry spokespeople. 'I don't even know what that means,' Frank Maisano, a spokesman for energy companies including utilities and wind, told us when we read that line from McCain's plan. 'It means that they don't want to tell people what that means.'"

Comments

[markmc03.livejournal.com]

I yell at my television too when I see stupid people masquerading as news reporters describing McCain in glowing terms. He's a doddering old man with no understanding of the economy, a man more concerned with gaining power than finding clean sources for real power.