Eight strikes and you're out
By Thomas L. Friedman
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
John McCain recently tried to underscore his seriousness about pushing through a new energy policy, with a strong focus on more drilling for oil, by telling a motorcycle convention that the U.S. Congress needed to come back from vacation immediately and do something about America's energy crisis. "Tell them to come back and get to work!" McCain bellowed.
Sorry, but I can't let that one go by. McCain knows why.
It was only five days earlier, July 30, that the Senate was voting for the eighth time in the past year on a broad, vitally important bill that would have extended the investment tax credits for installing solar energy and the production tax credits for building wind turbines and other energy-efficiency systems. Both the wind and solar industries depend on these credits - which expire in December - to scale their businesses and become competitive with coal, oil and natural gas. Unlike offshore drilling, these credits could have an immediate impact on America's energy profile.
McCain did not show up for the crucial vote July 30, and the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. In fact, John McCain has a perfect record on this renewable energy legislation. He has missed all eight votes over the last year - which effectively counts as a no vote each time. Once, he was even in the Senate and wouldn't leave his office to vote.
"McCain did not show up on any votes," said Scott Sklar, president of The Stella Group, which tracks clean-technology legislation. Despite that, McCain's campaign commercial running during the Olympics shows a bunch of spinning wind turbines - the very wind turbines that he would not cast a vote to subsidize, even though he supports big subsidies for nuclear power.
more at
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/13/opinion/edfriedman.php
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