For McCain, rising cost of oil has an upside

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, didn’t even bother to campaign for president in corn-rich Iowa in 2000 because of his opposition to federal subsidies for ethanol, on the grounds that the alternative fuel is too costly to produce. But last week he was able to campaign in Cedar Rapids and newly finesse his ethanol stand in advance of 2008’s first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses: “At $10 a barrel (for oil), I don’t think ethanol was a very viable option. At $60 or $70 a barrel, I think it needs to be examined,” said McCain, adding that he still opposes subsidies. He also may have realized that only 90,000 of nearly 3 million Iowans farm these days, and that, as Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen observed, “it’s not necessary to engage in agri-pandering to win Iowa.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman

9 Comments

  1. mrcontroversy
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 1:06 am | Permalink

    If there’s PAC money, McCain’ll figure out what–and how–to pander it.

  2. CF
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 7:51 am | Permalink

    mrcontroversy,

    Truly. It may not be necessary to engage in agri-pandering to win Iowa, but as McCain showed when he went to speak at Falwell’s ‘university’, there are no limits to how far he’ll go to pander to the fundos.

  3. LeftHook
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 11:28 am | Permalink

    “Straight talk express” my @**.

    I’ve wanted to like this guy for so long, and he keeps acting like a typical Republican.

    If we just had ONE candidate who would stand up and be a MAN (even if she’s a woman), the whole country would vote for him (or her).

  4. Gary C.
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 11:33 am | Permalink

    Yep I have lost alot of respect for McCain in recent months. Why on earth does he support Bush, when Bush/Rove drug him through the mud in 2000.

    I guess hes doing anything to get elected.

    Watch out because he is turning out to be another warhawk who could give us another 4-8 years of the misery were going through right now.

  5. ksfarmgrrl
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 11:45 am | Permalink

    Misery? Not if you are haliburton or one of their stockholders…

  6. steve
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 3:29 pm | Permalink

    He’s just more of the same.

  7. Brer Rabbit
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 6:09 pm | Permalink

    Ah swar, dat man got cheeks lik Brer Squirrel! I wondr who nuts he got in his mouf.

  8. J R
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 6:51 pm | Permalink

    I wonder who’s got Mc Cains nuts.

  9. Brian
    Posted April 21, 2006 at 8:01 pm | Permalink

    Biodiesel from spent cooking oils could supply, in principle, up to 15% of this country’s diesel needs right now. And biodiesel burns more cleanly with few particulates. The only “problem” with it is that the whole country would smell like a McDonald’s fryer or a Chinese wok.

    Brazil has pretty much switched over entirely to ethanol derived from sugar cane. The interesting thing here is that the leftover fiber, called bagasse, can be used as a fuel to run the ethanol plants, and also supply extra electricity.

    Having can or corn based ethanol as an alternative fuel source..perhaps even raised on land put out of production by the government, would be a wise strategic and long term, renewable resource.