Lots O' Thoughts: Straight Talk

16 August 2008

John McCain (R-AZ), the most absent Senator this session, recently said this at the Aspen Institute:

McCAIN: I have a long record of that support of alternate energy. … I’ve always been for all of those and I have not missed any crucial vote. But my citizens in Arizona know that when I’m running for the President of the United States I have to be out campaigning.

Here is the video:

This claim is simply untrue. As the Center for American Progress points out:

McCain’s has actually missed several “crucial” energy votes. In July alone, he missed every single energy vote brought to the floor. This session, McCain has skipped votes supporting renewable energy tax credits four times, all of which were filibustered. In June, for example, McCain missed a vote on the landmark Lieberman-Warner climate change legislation.

McCain has also been the “crucial” absent vote on key legislation. In December, legislation stripping tax break giveaways to Big Oil and investing in cleaner sources failed by one vote, 59-40 (Vote #425); McCain missed that vote to campaign. In February, McCain skipped a vote on extending tax credits to renewables, which also failed by one vote (Vote #8). Both times, McCain was the only senator absent.

“It’s interesting to hear Sen. McCain talk about bringing Congress back” for a vote on offshore drilling, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said this week. “He wasn’t even in Congress when we had two very important bills on energy.”

As far as him being "for all of those" alternate forms of energy, it's worth pointing out that McCain is willing to heavily subsidize coal and nuclear, but not renewables. When asked by Grist Magazine, he said this:

Grist: What’s your position on subsidies for green technologies like wind and solar?
McCain: I’m not one who believes that we need to subsidize things. The wind industry is doing fine, the solar industry is doing fine.