Old Man McCain

Meet Your Future Presidential Candidates

2008-07-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

Expect to see Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell running for president in future years. After all, according to the McCain campaign, anyone in the military who gets into a plane crash in a foreign country and spends five years as a hostage/prisoner is unquestionably qualified to be president.

The men — Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell — were taking part in a counter-narcotics mission for the Pentagon in 2003 when their plane went down in the eastern jungles of Colombia, a dangerous region largely controlled by FARC guerrillas.

Don't question why their experience of five grueling years in captivity qualifies them to be president. If you even bring up a question, you are anti-troops, just like General Wesley Clark. If you ask McCain why such an experience qualifies them, he will get pissed off. Andrea Mitchell will get mad too. So shut up and don't question it. They are more qualified than anyone, it's not even an issue.

In fact, we should run one of these guys as president this year. Kick Obama off the ticket, put Stansell up there. After all, Obama didn't spend five years in captivity, so how can he seriously claim he is qualified to be president? Only somebody who spent five years under the control of foreign militants knows how to be a Commander in Chief. Therefore, the Democratic party should hold a floor vote at the convention, deciding which of these guys should be our presidential candidate, which should be our VP, and which should get the consolation prize of Secretary of Defense.

That way, we have 10 years of captivity on our ticket, whereas McCain only has five. Let's hope he doesn't pick another POW with more than five years of captivity experience. Hell, let's hope that Gonsalves, Howes and Stansell are all Democrats so that McCain can't pick them off.

And don't let anyone question whether these guys have the sort of executive experience or judgement needed to be president. Who cares what their policies are. Who cares whether they know anything about economics or the price of gas or how to use a computer. They were held captive for five years, they worked for the Pentagon. 'Nuff said.

John McWorried

2008-07-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

As I've written many times, John McCain is doing much worse right now than he needs to be. Obama has some great moments ahead, which can only increase his poll numbers: VP selection, overseas trip, convention speech, debate performance.

So the McCain camp should be damn worried that they are still trailing in the polls, sometimes by large margins. So it is no surprise that the McCain campaign is getting rid of their campaign manager and starting from scratch. This despite having a three month lead on Obama, a lead that they totally squandered.

Maybe this will turn things around. Hillary's campaign became much better when they got rid of Patti Solis Doyle. But I guess time will tell. No campaign manager can make John McCain a better candidate. No campaign manager can make him younger or less Bush-like.

John McStupid

2008-07-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Sounds like McCain's health care plan is a real winner:

But if the cost of health care continues to outpace inflation in the economy at large, McCain's health credit would morph into a tax hike for those who currently receive a tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage, according to a study released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress.

"For millions of middle class families, the credit is smaller than the current tax subsidies, meaning that it is in fact a tax increase," said Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Sen. John Edwards, D-SC, and a senior fellow at CAP. "I know he's pledged not to have any tax increases, but this in fact will work as a tax increase."

McCain's tax credit could morph into a tax hike because the credit grows only at the rate of inflation (about 2 percent a year), while current tax subsidies keep up with health insurance premiums (which are growing at about 7 percent per year).

For a couple earning $40,000 per year and paying an average premium of $13,800, McCain's new tax credit would cut their taxes by $50 in 2009.

"[B]ecause the credit quickly falls behind rising premiums that are the basis for the current tax break, the family would pay $1,169 more in taxes in 2013. The family would pay $2,809 more in taxes by 2018," write James Kvaal, Peter Harbage, and Ben Furnas, the report's authors.

The McCain campaign does not dispute the study's assertion that the Arizona senator's proposed tax credit would offer a smaller subsidy over time than the current exclusion if health premiums continue to grow more quickly than inflation.

Sounds like a typical screw-the-middle-class Republican policy proposal to me. If you like $4 gasoline, you'll love the McCain health plan.

Double Standards

2008-07-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

So John McCain fails to pay his property taxes for four years, and Newsweek writes a pathetic "move along, nothing to see here" three paragraph article about it. Other news organizations and TV shows avoid covering it, despite the lawbreaking involved. It's forgotten the next day, down the memory hole.

Barack Obama gets a perfectly normal 5.625% interest rate on his house in 2005. Considering that he made millions from his bestselling books, and both he and his wife are in very high-paying and steady careers, there is nothing shady about this. Hell, I knew people who got 0%, no-down-payment loans around the same time despite making less than $100,000 per year! They are called no-doc liar loans, feel free to Google it. It was quite common for banks to throw money at homebuyers during the housing bubble years.

Yet the Washington Post flips out, writes a 27-paragraph front page story on it, making it sound as if something shady or corrupt happened. Yet another stain on this storied newspaper.

If you want a debunking of this bullshit attack article, go here. And expect to see more of this garbage as the election nears. Such as the bogus "Obama avoids fist bumping story", which was also false.

John McElitist

2008-07-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

You gotta be shitting me. The McCains racked up $500,000 in credit card debt in one month? And that's only on one of their credit cards!

Who is the elitist? The guy with 10 houses, $100 million dollars, the heiress wife, millions in credit card usage, and $273,000/yr worth of household servants, or the guy with one house who only finished paying off his student loans a few years ago?

If this were Europe, John McCain would be considered aristocracy. You don't get any more blue-blooded and privileged than John McCain.

John McLiar

2008-07-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

This isn't his first lie, and it sure won't be his last. The guy is a serial liar.

Coincidences

2008-07-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure it's nothing.

John McCrazy

2008-07-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

More proof that McCain is too mentally unstable to be president:

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., told a Mississippi newspaper that he saw McCain, during a trip to Nicaragua led by former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., grab an Ortega associate by his shirt collar and lift him out of his chair....

"McCain was down at the end of the table and we were talking to the head of the guerrilla group here at this end of the table and I don't know what attracted my attention," Cochran said in an interview with The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. "But I saw some kind of quick movement at the bottom of the table and I looked down there and John had reached over and grabbed this guy by the shirt collar and had snatched him up like he was throwing him up out of the chair to tell him what he thought about him or whatever ...

"I don't know what he was telling him but I thought, 'Good grief, everybody around here has got guns and we were there on a diplomatic mission.' I don't know what had happened to provoke John, but he obviously got mad at the guy ... and he just reached over there and snatched ... him."

McCain is denying this, of course. It doesn't look very presidential if you are roughing up people while on diplomatic missions. But why would a fellow Republican senator make up such a damaging story?

I should mention that McCain is known to have scuffled with a fellow Republican, Sen. Strom Thurmond, in 1995. Thurmond was in his 90s at the time. So random acts of violence in professional settings are not out of character by any means.

Right Now, McCain Is Losing The Election

2008-06-30T19:33:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry, I just can't get excited over all this Wes Clark/FISA/campaign finance b.s. This is the end of June, and none of this stuff's gonna matter come August, much less election day. Wes Clark committed a gaffe, the media pounced, it will be old news by next week. Clark isn't running for president. FISA pisses off highly-informed liberals and civil libertarians, but it's not the end of the world. Those telecom companies are still open to criminal liabilities, and Obama isn't going to continue Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. Obama's decision to decline public financing and raise money from small donors was his best decision of the month. Who cares if McCain whines about it, he would have done the same thing if he were in Obama's shoes.

What I'd like to do is step back and survey the landscape. I've got some interesting stats for you, courtesy of Real Clear Politics.

For example, did you know that McCain has not led in a national poll since May 3rd? Since then, Obama has led or tied in 30 straight polls.

Since February 1st, Obama has led in 62 polls. John McCain has led in just 10. That's a 62-10-5 record for Obama.

Obama's largest lead in 2008 has been 15 points. He has led McCain by double digits six times this year.

McCain's largest lead was 7 points. He has never led by double digits.

Since Obama announced his candidacy on Febuary 10th, 2007, his record against McCain in head-to-head polls is 95-21-12.

Exclude the ties, and Obama is winning 82% of the head-to-head polls since he started running for president, 86% in 2008, and 100% in the last two months.

For comparison's sake, I looked at the 2004 polls. From around Feb 1st 2004 until July 1st, Bush led Kerry in head-to-head polls 53-36-9. John Kerry took the lead in July and August (33-10-6), but swiftboating and the RNC convention knocked him back for good in September and October. Kerry only led Bush by double digits in a single February poll, and Bush only led Kerry by double-digits in two polls.

Yes, yes, I know that Michael Dukakis had a bigger lead on George H.W. Bush than Barack Obama has on John McCain right now. But as I've said before, Obama is not Dukakis and 2008 is not 1988. Right now Obama is crushing McCain in the polls, and nothing seems to have given McCain any signs of life.

Will McCain come back to life in July, August, September? We'll see. But to do so, he'll have to turn around a situation in which Obama has regularly led him from day one, despite being the lesser known candidate. I wouldn't want to be in the McCain campaign's shoes, that's for sure. No wonder they are so whiny.

60

2008-06-30T10:56:00.001-07:00

Today marks 60 days until John McCain turns 72 years old.

NY Times Backs Up Obama

2008-06-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is a fairly important story, one that completely backs up Obama's criticisms of Bush foreign policy. We took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan and Pakistan, diverted our attention to Iraq, and allowed Al Qaeda to grow stronger.

Good job, Bushie.

Come On, John, Don't Make Us Laugh

2008-06-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

This is rich:

"You know, this election is about trust, and trusting people's word" McCain told a crowd of donors to his campaign. "And unfortunately, apparently, on several items, Sen. Obama's word cannot be trusted."

McCain’s remark came at the conclusion of a number of examples of what McCain said were Obama's changes in position. McCain cited a proposal that he and Obama appear together at town hall meetings -– which Obama originally seemed to be in favor of, but has not agreed to yet -– and Obama's reversal on whether or not to take federal financing for his campaign as signs that Obama's word could not be trusted.

John McCain is just like George W. Bush and the rest of the Republicans. They will lie and cheat and smear as much as possible to win an election. They will sell their soul, sell off their dignity, sell out their principles. It's fascinating.

John McCain is breaking campaign finance laws right now. Yeah, I know the media hasn't told you about it. But it's happening, it's real. John McCain said he would take public financing for the primary, he used that promise of financing to gain ballot access and some big loans, then backed out of his promise as soon as his fundraising kicked up a notch.

Obama expressed a desire to engage in public financing, but it wasn't a promise. And seriously, he's not breaking the law or doing anything underhanded. He's saving taxpayers $85 million, and instead raising money from millions of energized small donors. That should be applauded, not criticized. He's not gaming the system like McCain did.

And no, Obama never promised to meet McCain in these townhall debates. He looked into it, he offered two debates before the conventions, and McCain turned him down. End of story.

This is all very predictable stuff. But Americans are tired of the same old bullshit coming from Republicans. John McCain needs better ideas, not better smears.

Idiot Of The Day

2008-06-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

"I wouldn't characterize anybody who fought in Vietnam as a war hero." Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink.

I used to have some respect for Medea Benjamin. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention to her actual statements and views. She's a fucking idiot.

Ask Obama To Get FISA Right

2008-06-30T09:05:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged much about this, but the liberal netroots have been pushing (so far in vain) for Obama to vote against the upcoming FISA legislation. Basically, the new FISA bill gives retroactive immunity to telecom companies who spied on Americans illegally for President Bush.

Once you give immunity, you can't take it back. Senator Obama opposes the immunity, but it's an election year, and so he says he would vote for the bill even if he can't get the immunity provision repealed.

I'm hoping that Harry Reid slow-rolls the legislation so that it never comes to a vote. But if it does, you should push Obama to oppose it. I don't have high hopes, since I think Obama has various political reasons not to oppose anti-terrorist legislation during an election year, but it is still worth making your voice heard.

You can join an anti-FISA group at my.barackobama.com by going here.

You can also call the Senator's campaign to politely express your opposition to telecom immunity: (866) 675-2008.

Ultimately, I've decided that there is almost nothing Obama could do that would lessen my enthusiasm this year. We all learned that lesson the hard way in 2000. Al Gore wasn't exciting enough, he wasn't fresh enough, and so we didn't work our hearts out to get him elected. Ultimately, that enthusiasm gap allowed Bush to squeak by, and the country hasn't been the same since. We can't make that mistake this time. John McCain would be a disaster.

But it's still worth taking a stand against a bad Republican-written bill.

McCain Fails To Pay His Taxes

2008-06-30T08:43:00.000-07:00

The McCain's appear to be horrible at managing their own finances. Why should we let people like this take control of the country's economy during a time like this?

You already know that the McCain's have racked up about over $100,000 in credit card debt.

And now, thanks to Newsweek, we learn that they haven't paid property taxes on one of their homes for over four years:

San Diego County officials, it turns out, have been sending out tax notices on the La Jolla property, an oceanfront condo, for four years without receiving a response. County records show the bills, which were mailed to a Phoenix address associated with Mrs. McCain's trust, were returned by the post office. According to a McCain campaign aide, who requested anonymity when discussing a private matter, an elderly aunt of Mrs. McCain's lives in the condo, and the bank that manages the trust has not been receiving tax bills on the property. Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. County officials say the trust still owes an additional $1,742 for this year, an amount that is overdue and will go into default July 1. Told of the outstanding $1,742, the aide said: "The trust has paid all bills shown owing as of today and will pay all other bills due."

Dan McAllister, treasurer- tax collector for San Diego County, said that about 3 percent of San Diego's approximately 1 million property owners default on their property taxes each year. The county assesses a 1.5 percent penalty for each month that goes by unpaid and puts houses up for sale after five years. "We do hear an awful lot of excuses for why people don't pay," McAllister said. "Under the law, the property owner is responsible for keeping the address current. We're only as good as the information we are given."

First of all, I'm shocked that a La Jolla condo could have such low property taxes. But as I've learned from Redfin, the McCains are benefiting greatly from Proposition 13, which keeps home valuations almost flat no matter what happens with real estate prices. So the McCain condo is valued at a mere $140,855, even though the unit next door sold for $998,000 in 2004, and another condo on the property sold for $1.1 million just this year.

So even though the McCains are required to pay 1/6th the taxes that a new buyer to this condo would have to pay, they still failed to even pay those discounted taxes for the last four years.

Already it looks like the media is overlooking this story. What a disgrace. If Barack Obama had huge credit card debts or had failed to pay his taxes for four years, you'd better believe it would become an issue. But when multimillionaire John McCain does it, all you hear is a big yawn.

McCain The Misogynist

2008-06-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

Watching TV yesterday and today, I saw the gasbags talking about how many former Hillary voters are considering voting for McCain because of the sexism in the campaign.

It's both laughable and shocking. As Hillary herself said, let's get real, folks. McCain is perhaps the most misogynist candidate since...hell, probably the 19th century. You worried about sexism? Let's look at McCain's record.

The LA Times:

Soon after the Gulf War in 1991, a group of military women pressed Congress to allow female pilots to fly combat missions. But a Vietnam War hero in the Senate, John McCain, pushed back hard.

"The purpose of the military is first to defend this nation's vital security interests throughout the globe and only second to ensure equality," the Arizona Republican argued on the Senate floor, framing the issue in a way that infuriated feminists....

Women's groups say he has a weak legislative record on such issues as equal pay and workplace discrimination, and his support has lagged among female voters.

As a lawmaker, critics say, McCain sometimes has had strained relations with women in power. Former Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), who spearheaded the effort to grant women the right to fly in combat, called McCain a product of a "guy culture."

"He has always had trouble dealing with women as equals," Schroeder said.

How about his record on Roe v. Wade?

John McCain has a consistent 0% record from NARAL, and his record on women's issues is abysmal.

You want to talk about sexism against Hillary Clinton? Look at how McCain laughs and says "excellent question" when a supporter refers to Hillary Clinton as a "bitch".

McCain doesn't admonish the women, he doesn't ask who she is referring to, he just thinks it is common knowledge that the "bitch" is Hillary Clinton.

And that's not all. McCain cheated on his first wife and ditched her because she put on some weight, he called his second wife a "cunt", he referred to Chelsea Clinton as the "ugly" bastard child of Janet Reno, and he has refused to return $300,000 from a Texan Republican who said women should lay back and "enjoy" rape.

And just today, while being grilled about his connection a scandal-plagued Nevada governor, McCain joked "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago."

McCain Does Vogue

2008-06-26T17:41:00.000-07:00

Words fail me:

I Heart San Francisco

2008-06-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Still can't get enough of this story:

Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital, and a state, too. But President George W. Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.

From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

I can't imagine anything more fitting.

Hell No

2008-06-26T16:30:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I hate, it is debates where the opposing candidates are sitting at a table. It doesn't give you a sense of their podium presence, it makes things too friendly and non-confrontational, and it is visually boring.

Just compare the Obama-Clinton debates where they were standing to the ones where they were sitting at a table. No comparison. No sparks flew at the table debates. The same goes for those terrible VP debates between Cheney and Lieberman in 2000, and Cheney and Edwards in 2004.

Plus, with Obama standing at 6'1" and McCain at 5'9", podium debates would give Democrats a definite advantage this time around.

For that reason, I hope the Obama campaign shoots down this horrible idea:

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama would sit at a table at two of three presidential debates this fall, according to a formal proposal unveiled Thursday, which, perhaps unintentionally, would neutralize Obama’s height advantage.

The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed the less formal, more conversational talk-show format for two of three 90-minute debates it's seeking this fall. The third debate would be a town hall-style session in which the candidates would be free to get up from high stools and walk around the stage.

The two presumptive nominees haven't yet responded to the commission's proposal.

Sorry, but this isn't the Late Show with David Letterman. This isn't the View. Give us a goddamn real debate with podiums. I don't want to see John McCain and Barack Obama sitting next to each other at a table, patting each other on the back, talking about how much they agree.

I want a real old school debate. I want sparks flying. It was bad enough that Dick Cheney got to sit down at his lame debates; please don't do it with the presidential candidates too.

More Polls

2008-06-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Today McCain has a few "good" polls to hang his hat on. Since I usually profile the polls that are good for Obama, here are two that McCain is probably crowing about today:

Gallup:
Obama: 44%
McCain: 44%

Missouri:
McCain: 50%
Obama: 43%

And yes, McCain is leading in red states like Tennessee (51-36) and Nebraska (52-36), but such leads are completely unsurprising.

And yet, there are also some very bad polls for McCain:

Rasmussen:
Obama: 49%
McCain: 45%

Michigan:
Obama: 48%
McCain: 42%

Minnesota:
Obama: 54%
McCain: 37%

Wisconsin:
Obama: 52%
McCain: 39%

Colorado:
Obama: 49%
McCain: 44%

California:
Obama: 58%
McCain: 30%

And check out these two dark red states:

Mississippi:
McCain: 50%
Obama: 44%

Texas:
McCain: 43%
Obama: 38%

The question remains: is this Obama's high water mark? Al Gore improved his standing from summer 2000 to Election Day, while John Kerry went in the opposite direction. Personally, while I see definite room for Obama to grow (by exposing McCain's odious positions, by delivering a knock-out speech at the DNC convention, by doing well in debates) I'm pretty sure we won't see any Obama leads larger than the 15% range we are seeing now.

But I'd love to be proven wrong. Time will tell.

Obama Is Not Dukakis

2008-06-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

Following the two recent polls showing Obama with a 15-point lead over John McCain, the Republicans and the media have been quick to point out that Michael Dukakis had a double-digit lead over George H.W. Bush in June of 1988, but lost the election by 7 points.

This is true, and is a reason why June polls aren't very reliable about election outcomes. Even when you see massive double-digit leads.

But let's not kid ourselves too much here, folks. Barack Obama is not Michael Dukakis. Not even close. Obama has more money, better campaign skills, better speechmaking abilities, better policies, and he is going up against a Republican party that is totally in the dumps. Dukakis, meanwhile, was going up against the VP of a fairly popular president (Reagan's 55% approval vs. George W. Bush's 23% approval).

And while Dukakis had his primary mostly wrapped up fairly early against flawed competition, Barack Obama had to campaign vigorously in every state in the country against the Clinton powerhouse. It was down to the wire, with every state involved. More Americans have paid attention, more folks know his strengths and weaknesses, he is much more of a known quantity than Michael Dukakis in June of 1988.

The whole reason Obama was nominated is because he opposed the unpopular war in which the country finds itself. His opponent, John McCain, thinks that war should continue for another 100 years. It sounds to me like McCain is the one on thin ice, not Obama. It is McCain that many voters are just starting to get to know. They are learning that he is 72 years old, that he voted with Bush 95% of the time during the last two years, that he is always getting confused about basic facts, that he is anti-choice, that he's a horrible speaker on the stump.

John McCain will surely win more than the 33% given to him in yesterday's LA Times poll. But will he reach 48, 49, or 50% needed to win the Electoral College? That is much dicier. Republicans can unleash Reverend Wright nonstop in October, but that's old news and may actually backfire if it looks too desperate and dirty. Already every American under 50 is laughing about the moronic "terrorist fist-jab" bullshit. That shit is weak. And while negative Swift Boating can move poll numbers a few percentage points, they don't give you a 15-point swing. Not when said smears have already been given a month of airtime and the victimized candidate is STILL leading by 15 points!

Obama is not Dukakis. He could lose this lead, he could lose this election. But right now, I'm having a tough time seeing how. Should be an interesting four months.

McCain Is Breaking The Law

2008-06-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

Will the mainstream media ever notice?

The Obama campaign has noticed:

David Plouffe brought a prop to his briefing with reporter: a copy of John McCain's signature on a state election document in which he attested that he'd be taking public financing.

"John McCain is spending tens of millions of dollars, we believe, unlawfully,' he said, waving the document.

The details of the argument over whether McCain used an acceptable or unacceptable loophole to secure a loan with the possibility of public financing is now before a court in a DNC lawsuit and subject to the FEC's consideration.

"John McCain signed his name, 'John McCain," Ploufe said. "He got on the ballot attesting he would be in the primary system."

"They’re out there throwing stones in glass houses on this," he said of McCain's attacks on Obama on public financing.

If John McCain really does face criminal penalties or sanctions before the election, he's toast. But chances are the FEC will slow-roll this thing until after the election, when it no longer matters.

Our President

2008-06-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

What an idiot:

Tool Of The Day

2008-06-24T18:25:00.001-07:00

Richard Cohen.

McCain Stumbles Again, This Time On Drilling

2008-06-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

According to John McCain, his drilling plans won't actually lower the price of gas, but they will have have a "psychological impact". In other words, it will make you feel good.

Obama is much better at talking about these issues. I'm gonna quote a big chunk from First Read, because it is definitely worth seeing where Obama stands on this:

The presumptive Democratic nominee called oil a “a 19th century fossil fuel that is dirty, dwindling, and dangerously expensive” and said a renewable energy economy was not “some pie-in-the-sky, far-off future, it is now." He said making progress toward energy independence and encouraging clean energy was one of the top three goals of an Obama administration -- along with ending the war in Iraq and reforming the healthcare system.

“I have a very different vision of what this country can and should achieve on energy in the next four years -- and in the next 10 years,” he said. “My entire energy plan will produce three times the oil savings that John McCain’s ever could -- and what’s more, it will actually decrease our dependence on oil while his will only grow our addiction further.”

Obama's discussion with a group of about 100 people here, roughly coincided with an event his McCain was holding on the environment in Santa Barbara, CA and the Illinois senator drew laughter at times as he sought to draw contrasts with his rival, criticizing the Republican's record on clean, renewable energy and his current proposals. He slammed McCain again for proposing a gas tax holiday and for his opposition to the 2005 energy bill that increased investment in renewable energy, saying the Arizona senator had voted against biofuels, solar power, wind power -- “some of the very same projects and businesses he’s highlighting in his campaign.” He seemed to mock McCain for saying yesterday that lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling would have a mainly “psychological impact.”

“A psychological impact. In case you were wondering, that’s Washington-speak for, “It polls well.” Obama said to laughter in the crowd. “The American people don’t need psychological relief or meaningless gimmicks to get politicians through the next election cycle, they need real relief that will help them fill up their tanks and put food on their table. They need a long-term energy strategy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the renewable sources of energy that represent the future. That’s what the American people need.”

Obama talked about his own plans to invest $150 billion over ten years to develop alternative energy sources and his plans to raise vehicle fuel standards and help car companies make the transition to more fuel efficient cars. He said McCain’s offer of a $300 million reward for the developer of a better car battery was too small-scale, suggesting it was another example of Washington’s failed approach to the issue.

“After all those years in Washington, John McCain still doesn’t get it,” he said. “I commend him for his desire to accelerate the search for a battery that can power the cars of the future. I’ve been talking about this myself for the last few years. But I don’t think that a $300 million prize is the way to go. When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn’t put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win – he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people, not just in the private sector but also in the public sector.”