Flip-Flopping On Oil Drilling Proves Lucrative For McCain
By Nicole Belle Saturday Jul 26, 2008 8:50pmWaPo:
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 opposition to 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.[..]
McCain delivered the speech before heading to Texas for a series of fundraisers 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."
I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Of course, John McCain has been getting substantial donations from lobbyists all along. Methinks this report "Embedded or In Bed: John McCain and His Lobbyist Problem" (.pdf) needs to be updated.


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And I thought that was Brylcreem.
America continues to be for sale to the highest bidder.
No one can flip-flop like John McCain! He's going for the gold!
Off topic, but to counter the McCain's campaign whining about the imbalance in media coverage given to Obama, it turns out that the majority of that coverage was negative towards Obama and positive towards McCain:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia27-2008jul27,0,7129...
Even with the facts in, we can expect that the Corporate Media talking heads will not give up trying to convince us that the media is too Liberal and commit themselves to being much more critical of Obama.
That's the way the game is played.
No depth is too deep, to find McCain stooping even lower. This whack-job simply cannot be allowed to sit on the throne. We have barely withstood Bush's seven plus years of of assault against America. (Unfortunately, we still have ~177 DAYS LEFT TO DEAL WITH. McCain will hit the ground running, and with so much political debt, he would not have the freedom to make a decision on his own for years (longer than he will be breathing).
Flip-flopping on everything proves lucrative for McCain with all his 'friends' in the rightwing media always covering his back. Scumbags all.
MacDaKnife@5, right on! I can't beleive the rhetoric spewing from McCain's mouth! To say a fellow Senator wants to lose a war is nothing short of stunning! Bush at least had his mimions spewing the hate, but not McCain. As Hagel pointed out, McCain is on very shaky ground.
He's really sucking big oily dick, isn't he?
Mc Clueless might need a buck or two if this is right:
www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/27/obama-mccain-matchup-blow_n_115232.html
In any case we're talking about a Neocon here, who is a political prostitute first and foremost. Ethics? Scruples? To Neocons, those principles are for weaklings and cowards. Do whatever you must to grab the cash, man. Win at all costs.
All of the major politicos are for sale. Don't kid yourself that it is otherwise.
McSurge is surging to the oil companies.
John McCain of 2008 is the ultimate political sell-out of all time.
John McCain of 2000 would never vote for John McCain of 2008.
his bending over for the Oil Cartels shows you how far Bush/Chenney's true powers can stretch
this off shore drilling is a phoney political issue....i always thought it was and some are coming out making the same point. within the last 2 years additional acres have become granted to drill and no drilling has happened. most experts say if additional drilling was start now it would take 10-15 yrs. to see a drop. right now there is a backlog of drilling equipment. another thought if more oil becomes available who is to say we would get that oil.oil in the u.s. is not nationalized so it could be sold to china.
to drill in ANWR and to get it to the lower 48 they would need a pipeline very expensive at todays prices to build,maintain and provide security as it would become a potential terrorist attack.....ask big time insurance people if they have concern about that. this is being used for the quick fix seeking public. the republicans just blocked policy to regulate some the speculator action........this is phoney.
the gov. of california isn't going to allow off shore drilling...neither is new jersey or n.carolina. if there's a
major oil spill off the shore of s.carolina who's going to pay if that spill affects n.carolina beaches?
We're paying more at the pump just so these big oil executives can give the money to McCain.
ask airlines about crude speculators....
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69257
GOP=Grand Oil Party
What is the big issue for drilling off shore? It's all hype and Bullshit. It costs so much less to drill on land. They have the National Petroleum Preserve up in Alaska. Right next to Prudoe Bay. They don't have to drill in Anwar and they don't have to drill offshore. Yet they want to drill offshore. I say we drill across the street from his ranch and build a refinery right next door so he can get a feel for it.
Natural gas is a short term solution. Which is fine, for a short time. It just buys time for a better option to come along. It's not hard to convert a car to NG. And they run fairly well.
We really need to get rid of oil. The sooner the better. Other countries are already figuring out how to do it. We'll end up buying from them when we should have it here.
But, nooooo! There is no global conspiracy like a New World Order or Bildagerger Group. There is no Council on Foreign Relations or other groups or individuals like the Rockafeller's or Rothschild's pulling strings. There is no Trilateral Commission. There is no REX84 plan. There is no group of Illuminati or Freemanson's with tremendous power. And our politicians aren't told what to say about anything, by anyone. There is no hidden agenda where talking points and sound bites are invented to conduct campaigns of perception management. It's not true that both parties are nothing but two sides of the same coin. It's just a coincidence that Harvard and Yale have had at least the president or vice president over the last 28 years. He's not really told what to say or do, McGramps comes up with these ideas all by himself. It's just a coincidence that this "drilling for oil" talking point happened to be all over the corporate media, also a GOP talking point, and a marketing campaign at the oil companies simultaneously (like the BP commercials shoved up my ass during "Mythbusters" all fucking night). It's just a coincidence that we had the choice between two Yale Skull and Bonesmen in 2004. It's all just a coincidence. We're really a democracy. We're really led by good people in a transparent and open society.
I think the American public deserves to know what exactly the Bush energy policy is. After all, Cheney's closed door energy meetings from back in 2001 have never been discussed publicly. He won't officially say who attended or what was discussed. But we do know that oil company execs were there. That much has leaked out. I think we're seeing the results of those secret meetings today. I imagine it probably went something like this:
Cheney: Don't worry, we'll get Congress to give you those leases when we raise prices so high that they have no choice but to give in.
Oil Execs: Mr. Cheney, we will reward you and Halliburton greatly if you can help make this scheme a reality.
Cheney: Don't worry, you will be rewarded with even higher record profits before we leave office!
Oil Execs: What will we say that this meeting was about when asked? There could be Freedom of Information requests that will expose all of this to the public.
Cheney: National security - confidential. That ought to do it.
Oil Execs: What if we get interrogated by Congress?
Cheney: You will not have to testify under oath. We own the justice department.
Oil co. to McCain. If you go along with our plan you won't have to go to your grave with less assets than Cindy. You don't want to look like a chump, do you?
john mccain's campaign was d.o.a. last winter, when, at the behest of party "elder statesmen", the g.o.p. circled their wagons around him and made him the whipping boy.
because they rescued him, he has to do their bidding. hence, the off-shore drilling flip-flop. hence, mccain betrays everything he may have ever stood for.
when you really think about it, john mccain is the perfect republican candidate for 2008. an aloof, borderline senile figurehead for a dying cause, a happy-go-lucky pinata, who will gladly take an @$$-whupping for the team.
Fritz, you have it nailed. Cheney has been running this show from the beginning. He probably started planning it during the Nixon administration.
Please... i need HELP with You tube. i keep getting the message "we're sorry, this video is no longer available" with ALL you tube videos on crooks and liars.. can someone please help me fix this? djk422@gmail.com
Dan @ 23:
Try reloading the page....
(Although some videos DO get pulled every once in a while)
Fritz @ 19:
I, too, believe this is the crown jewel* of the energy policy discussed at that first meeting.
*meaning; to tie up all the federal lands (with leases) for oil EXPLOITATION before they left office.
Ron @ 20:
Looks like he's already well on his way! I see that the oil companies have officially bought his soul too. "Who's the man now, huh?" He'll show Cindy. His goal all along was to have more assets than Cindy. Maybe he's accomplished his true goal and that's why he's purposely trying to lose the election........naaa, the guy's just a rich dumb old timer with Alzheimer's.
BigD145 wrote: "He’s really sucking big oily dick, isn’t he?"
An no condom - yikes! Talk about unsafe politics.
McCain = Bush*2
Flip-flopping on FISA proved lucrative for the DNC.
Have you seen the AT&T bags to be given out at the convention?
Money talks in politics, for both sides.
JOHN MCCAIN’S WIFE HIDING WAR PROFITS, UNTAXED OFF-SHORE ACCOUNTS?
Federal agents: Cindy McCain’s full tax returns will show war profits, pre-9/11 insider trading, secret off-shore accounts linked to 1241 Class C Nevada corporation payoffs and bribes
Washington—June 18, 2008—TomFlocco.com—According to a high-placed federal agent actively based in Washington, DC who spoke with federal whistleblower Stewart Webb, Republican presidential candidate and Senate Armed Services Ranking Member John McCain’s wife Cindy Hensley McCain’s multiple undisclosed federal income tax returns will reveal millions in Iraq War military procurement contract profits involving Hensley & Co. (Hensley Beer), Mrs. McCain’s large Anheuser-Busch beer distribution firm.
In more shocking allegations which media and Democratic congressional leaders have failed to investigate, Thomas Heneghan, a U.S. intelligence authority with scores of federal contacts, said federal agents also know that Mrs. McCain made millions in insider short-sale profits involving Swiss re-insurance put option stock orders placed prior to the September 11 attacks—profits of death which have remained untaxed by the U.S. government and raise questions as to her 9/11 tip-off.
Heneghan alleges Cindy McCain’s complete 2001 tax return would also reveal that she has a secret offshore 1241 corporation set up with “private trust accounts established by Senator McCain’s late ‘Keating Five’ scandal and Bush 41 money launderer Leonard Millman who was also Stewart Webb’s father-in-law—all of which screams for a federal probe before the November 4 election.
Heneghan also alleged that Mrs. McCain has made millions from a joint business enterprise with both Hillary and Bill Clinton and Fox News billionaire Ruppert Murdoch which involves a pornographic website with its 1241 corporate headquarters in the Cayman Islands.
Using an arm’s length distance from his wife’s assets to shield himself from conflict of interest problems, McCain released only a two-page summary from his wife’s separate 2006 federal income taxes which were filed six months late via an IRS-approved extension, after which Mrs. McCain received a 2007 tax extension until October 15, 2008—just 19 days before the November 4 presidential election—unless she files for an additional extension to hide the profits until after the election.
HIDING WAR PROFITEERING CONFLICTS?
Heneghan told TomFlocco.com last week that Anheuser-Busch is one of a number of companies under a widespread federal investigation over the last few months into bid-rigging, bribery and kickbacks by members of the military and civilians connected to the Pentagon purchasing system involving Iraq War profiteering.
Webb, who said he was illegally imprisoned by President George H.W. Bush just prior to the Bush-Clinton election from 1992-1993 as a political dissident in order to obstruct justice and suppress his knowledge of Bush 41 Iran Contra drugs-for-weapons evidence, alleged to us that last week’s offer by a European company to purchase Anheuser-Busch could be a pre-arranged attempt to hide evidence of wartime beer company profits tied to Mrs. McCain’s reported $100 million-plus financial empire and untaxed off-shore income linked to 9/11profits—all of which could expose conflicts of interest and threaten the viability of John McCain’s presidential candidacy.
While complete income tax transparency would reassure the public that the McCains and their family members have not profited either directly or indirectly by the sale of Anheuser-Busch nonalcoholic beer and bottled water products in war zones, Democratic party leader acquiescence and U.S. media recalcitrance in exerting enough pressure on Senator McCain and his wife has resulted in the release of incomplete data regarding Cindy McCain’s vast beer fortune and alleged untaxed off-shore finances.
According to reports, Senator McCain began an extramarital relationship after meeting Cindy Hensley in 1979, after which he divorced his first wife Carol in April, 1980 and married Hensley the next month in May, 1980 after signing her prenuptial agreement which allowed Mrs. McCain to file separate taxes for 27 years which effectively helped avoid continued public financial scrutiny while her husband sought elective office.
The heiress originally said she would never make her tax return public but decided to disclose her $6 million total income from 2006 via the top two summary pages which included $4.5 million from rental real estate, royalties, partnerships and trusts, $300,000 in salary income, $280,000+ in dividends and $740,000+ in capital gains—part of her reportedly vast personal holdings which include Arizona’s Hensley Beer and a total $100+ million net worth.
The McCain presidential campaign took advantage of the Memorial Day weekend to make Mrs. McCain’s incomplete tax disclosure, also waiting to make the two pages public after releasing Senator McCain’s medical records—making the tax issue almost a complete afterthought.
GENERAL SHELTON AND ANHEUSER ‘BUSH’
Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser beer is sold on military bases throughout the world and its nonalcoholic beer and bottled water products are contracted to the Afghanistan and Iraq war zones.
Military beer sales leave Cindy Hensley-McCain open to questions about war profiteering since Hensley Beer is the third largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the U.S. while Senator John McCain sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee with war oversight and Democrats look the other way.
While the military has tried to discourage heavy drinking among the troops, beer and wine distributors have lobbied the House of Representatives to increase the number of military stores that sell beer and wine.............
alot more but too long to post :^)
McCain's "integrity" has always been for sale to the highest bidder.
McCain should simply wear a large Exxon/Mobil patch on his suitcoat so everyone knows which corporation pulls his strings...
A man I once repsected. Now I ask how could I have been so wrong and can he possibly become more pathetic?
Why does Pelosi say she won't allow any vote on offshore drilling, regardless of the recommendations of the bipartisan energy committee?
The fact that she's unequivocally blocking a vote on drilling, even if the committee comes up with a bill that includes billions of dollars in incentives for green alternatives, makes it look like she's just trying to win political points or is a slave to the environmental lobby. Big bucks to be had in environmental fascism - just ask Al Gore.
Why does Pelosi say she won't allow any vote on offshore drilling, regardless of the recommendations of the bipartisan energy committee?
The fact that she's unequivocally blocking a vote on drilling, even if the committee comes up with a bill that includes billions of dollars in incentives for green alternatives, makes it look like she's just trying to win political points or is a slave to the environmental lobby. Big bucks to be made in environmental fascism - just ask Al Gore.
Just how is this not a bribe? Don't worry, Iam sure that a mill or two would not effect his vote, after all he's our" friend", right? Lets face it, if mccain sat down next to you in a bar you would tell him someone is sitting there, or pretend you have small-pox so you would not have to be around him. We should pick our leaders more carefully than our friends. Mccain has creepy rat stamped on his fore-head for all to see, just look.-CEO
Thanks #30...this could cost John-boy the election!
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