Subject: [big campaign] WR: McCain Heads To Texas To Sell His Soul To Big Oil
From: "Adam Jentleson (CAPAF)" <[email-masked]>
To: "big campaign" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:48:11 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

McCain Heads To Texas To Sell His Soul To Big Oil
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/16/mccain-texas-sellout/> 

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is heading to Texas today for a series of
fundraisers with the Texas GOP elite
<http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=ea0c0b28-
5a8d-4f2f-b642-d46465d2a7fd>  in Dallas
<http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=b795adfe-
23da-467f-a59d-e31b8d384375> , San Antonio
<http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=6a98219e-
bbb7-4cb9-9898-f46847a3005c> , and
<http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=a3377b3d-
3105-4bc9-a07c-a6da69bd9c64>  Houston
<http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=76734400-
6e7a-4795-af48-7c05710c9c27> . Wedged between the multiple money events
will be a speech in Houston, which McCain has indicated will be on
energy policy. Today, McCain told reporters that he will call for
<http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjVhZjQ1NGRjNTZjM2MzMDk4
YTRmMjRmZjY3YzNiMjI=> :

	- Lifting the federal moratorium on off-shore drilling
<http://resourcescommittee.house.gov/images/stories/Documents/truth_abou
t_americas_energy.pdf>  established by President George H.W. Bush,

	- Providing incentives
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/21/mccain-nuke-subsidies/>
to states to commence off-shore drilling, and 

	- Suspending the gas tax
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/18/mccain-vs-gastax/> .

This suite of proposals adds up to a big fat kiss to Big Oil and its
conservative allies - at the expense of everyone else. Unrestrained
fossil fuel use
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/25/big-oil-future/>  delivers
obscene profits for Big Oil but is a threat to the planet
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/10/global-boiling-signs/> .
McCain's strong talk
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/05/12/mccain-warming-both-ways/>
on global warming is proving unserious - much as candidate Bush's
campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide in 2000 turned out to be
false <http://thinkprogress.org/2006/07/07/co2-pledge/> . At the very
same press briefing, McCain backtracked
<http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/6/16/124515/466>  from his
vaunted mandatory system to reduce greenhouse gases.

Strapped for cash and surrounded by Big Oil lobbyists, McCain is now
embracing Bush's Exxon-Halliburton energy policy
<http://action.foe.org/t/4027/pressRelease.jsp?press_release_KEY=382> .
Although a "megabucks" fundraiser with Midland Texas oilmen was
postponed
<http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/15/mccain-event-with-fundraiser-who-jo
ked-about-rape-has-been-postponed-not-canceled/> , $1.5 million
<http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/06/15/news/top_stories/doc4855
134f3c4c5977465576.txt>  in donations have already been pledged. Midland
County GOP Chair Sue Brannon told the Midland Reporter-Telegram what
will happen at the fundraiser: "When the 15 oilmen giving big time money
<http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/06/15/news/top_stories/doc4855
134f3c4c5977465576.txt>  meet with McCain, all we'll ask is that he be
fair." The millions McCain is raising in Texas will be added to his
impressive haul of oil industry cash this campaign season - 74 percent
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/04/polluter-mccain-cash/>  of
his lifetime receipts:

Big Oil Contributions To Sen. McCain
<http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/04/polluter-mccain-cash/>

1990 to 2008 cycle (April), Center for Responsive Politics, compiled by
Center for American Progress Action Fund.	 

According to a Campaign Money Watch analysis of campaign finance data
provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics Center, John
McCain and his leadership committee have accepted at least $1,069,854
<http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0014>  from the oil and gas
industry since 1989. Despite his mediagenic but inconstant
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_gw_record.html
>  opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
McCain's voting record on energy policy has been consistently friendly
to Big Oil - and since his campaign for president began last year, he's
been steadfast: 

McCAIN'S RECORD OF CODDLING BIG OIL.

- McCain Voted Against Reducing Dependence on Foreign Oil. In 2005,
McCain voted against legislation calling on the President to submit a
plan to reduce foreign petroleum imports by 40 percent. [Senate Roll
Call Vote #140, 6/16/05
<http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cf
m?congress=109&session=1&vote=00140> ; DNC 6/22/07
<http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/06/bush_republican_1.php> ]

- Candidate McCain's "Zero" For Energy Future, Billions For Big Oil.
Since launching his campaign for president in 2007, Sen. McCain has
skipped out on every key environmental vote the Senate has considered,
earning him a zero on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard this
session. In one such instance, his absence killed the rollback of
billions of dollars in oil subsidies for renewable energy investment.
[LCV 2008
<http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=192&congress=1102&lvl=C> ]

- McCain's Absence Allows GOP to Filibuster Oil-For-Renewables. By a
roll call vote of 59-40 on December 13, 2007, Senate Democrats failed to
muster the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster threatened by
Republicans of compromise energy legislation with an oil-for-renewable
tax package. The tax package rolled back $12.7 billion in tax breaks on
the oil and gas industry to invest in renewable energy tax credits. Sen.
John McCain, on the campaign trail, was the one senator not voting. [CQ
12/12/07
<http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=1&docID=cqmidday-0000026411
10> ] [Vote #425 12/13/07
<http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cf
m?congress=110&session=1&vote=00425> ]

-McCain's Tax Policies A Boon For Big Oil. Sen. McCain's plan to cut the
corporate tax rate to 25 percent is worth $1.2 billion a year to Exxon
Mobil alone. In addition, his plan includes a massive new corporate tax
shelter. His call for a gas tax suspension would funnel money - about
$11 billion - to oil refiners and producers. [CAPAF 3/27/08
<http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/pdf/oil_tax.pdf> ,
4/18/08 <http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/04/18/mccain-vs-gastax/>
]

http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/03/27/mccain-petroleum/

BIG OIL LOBBYISTS RUN McCAIN CAMPAIGN.

At least fourteen Big Oil lobbyists
<http://mccainsource.com/corruption?id=0014>  hold top positions in the
McCain campaign, including his top adviser, Charlie Black.

- McCain's Senior Adviser Lobbies For Foreign Oil Interests. Charlie
Black (lobbying firm: BKSH), McCain's senior campaign adviser, is a
registered lobbyist for two Russian oil companies - Yukos Oil and
Occidental International Corporation - and his lobbying firm was hired
in 2005 by the China National Off-Shore Oil Corporation. [Roll Call
7/18/05, Senate Lobbying Disclosure Records
<http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=choosefields> ]

- McCain's Campaign Liaison to Congress a Million-Dollar Big-Oil
Lobbyist. John Green (Ogilvy Government Relations) - the "full-time
liaison between McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans in the
House and the Senate" - has made over $7.6 million dollars since 1999
lobbying for petro-industry giants such as Amerada-Hess, Chevron Texaco,
the American Petroleum Institute, Reliant Energy, PJM Interconnection
and First Energy. [Politico 3/4/08
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8814.html> , Senate Lobbying
Disclosure Records <http://soprweb.senate.gov/> ]

- Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Everywhere in the McCain Campaign. Frank
Donatelli, McCain's RNC liaison to the Republican Party, has lobbied for
ExxonMobil, Dominion, and Eastman Chemical. Jerry Kilgore, co-chairman
of McCain's Virginia campaign, has lobbied for Shell Oil and coal
company Alpha Natural Resources. Nancy Pfotenhauer, a policy adviser and
spokeswoman, has lobbied for Koch Industries. [Washington Post 3/12/08
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR20080
31103134.html> , O'Dwyer's 8/9/06
<http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:XBgalxiFNIIJ:www.odwyerpr.com/memb
ers/washington_report/2006/0809loeffler.htm> , Media Matters 2/26/08
<http://mediamatters.org/items/200802260009> , Senate Lobbying
Disclosure Records <http://soprweb.senate.gov/> ]

UPDATE: At Climate Progress
<http://climateprogress.org/2008/06/16/memo-to-media-mccain-doubletalks-
to-woo-conservatives-and-independents-at-the-same-time/> , Joe Romm
suggests questions for reporters to ask McCain. Confused, Marc Ambinder
<http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/driving_around_vir
ginia_this_a.php>  writes, "I am NOT an expert here; maybe I'm missing
something, so feel free to read me in, as they say. But hasn't McCain
already endorsed mandatory emissions caps?"

At Liberal Oasis
<http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mccains-incoherence-global-warming-
continues>  Bill Scher explains: "He wants to tell moderates that he has
a serious plan for our government to act against global warming. And he
wants to tell conservatives that no government action will be involved.
It can't be done."

According to the Politico
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/McCain_muffs_descript
ion_capandtrade.html> 's Jonathan Martin:

	The McCain campaign called to clarify his remarks. "John McCain
was correctly reflecting his position, he just inadvertently said the
word 'cap' instead of 'target,'" said spokesman Tucker Bounds. 

	Today's comment was a response to a question about mandatory
"targets" for renewable energy - McCain believes that a cap-and-trade
system provides enough market incentive for investment in renewables. If
that's the case (and many environmentalists would disagree), then
mandatory targets wouldn't

http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/06/16/mccain-texas-sellout/

-----
Adam Jentleson
Communications and Outreach Director Action Fund
The Hyde Park Project, Center for American Progress
202-247-8614

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