It’s been a rough week for John McCain, with images of Barack Obama before cheering troops and heads of state. Foreign policy was supposed to be Obama’s weakness. So how is McCain responding? By blaming the media. His campaign produced two videos mocking the media’s love affair with Obama. It also tried to play the bias card when the New York Times asked that a commentary by his campaign be redone to provide new information. The Times may have overdone it, but as it later noted, it is common practice for newspapers to request that submissions be reworked, and the Times has published at least seven other commentaries from McCain since 1996 and said it was eager to publish him again.
“There’s nothing new about narcissism in politics,” columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote. “Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?
“Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted ‘present’ nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.”
Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said at a press event Monday that gas prices could drop dramatically if America increased its domestic oil drilling and expanded oil refineries. But most experts say it could be a couple of decades before offshore drilling came on line, and once it did, it would only reduce the price of gas by a few pennies.
The Bush Energy Department reported last year that “access to the Pacific, Atlantic and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.”
What’s more, four-fifths of all known offshore deposits are already available to industry exploration efforts, columnist Carl Hiaasen noted, yet oil companies aren’t drilling. Instead, the vast majority of their record profits is going to stock dividends and buybacks, Associated Press reported.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., used to be better known for heckling the Senate than for influencing it, but McCain emerged from his failed 2000 presidential run with new political sophistication, the New York Times reported. Interestingly, his rise was helped by Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., whom McCain defended when Lott was pushed out as Senate majority leader. Here is an excerpt:
“Over the next eight years, he mastered the art of political triangulation — variously teaming up with Mr. Lott against the president or the new Republican leaders, with Democrats against Republicans, and with the president against the Democrats — to become perhaps the chamber’s most influential member.”
General Motors was the corporate villain in the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” It’s hoping to be the hero in the sequel.
After years of ignoring trends and losing market share on hybrid cars and green vehicles in general, GM has been racing to develop a plug-in electric car, the Chevy Volt.
It’s good to hear that GM is racing to do anything these days. U.S. automakers of late haven’t been known for their vision or sense of urgency — and they’re paying a steep price as the SUV market tanks.
Expectations for the sleek plug-in Volt have been sky-high. “The eyes of the world are now on the Volt,” John McCain told a GM crowd last week. “It’s the future of America and the world.”
But the Volt business plan is said to be shaky, with the car potentially costing upwards of $48,000, twice as much as its hybrid competitors. GM is seeking generous buyer tax breaks to offset the price.
And here’s a story about GM working out electricity infrastructure issues for the car, which is scheduled for release in late 2010.
Your thoughts?
One of the reasons that former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller complained about the United States torturing detainees was that it could taint future legal proceedings. That happened this week, as a military judge ruled that prosecutors in the trial of Osama bin Laden’s former driver could not use some statements obtained from him using “highly coercive” interrogation methods. In May, the Pentagon had to drop charges against another detainee who had been tortured at Guantanamo Bay.
It’s been a rough week for John McCain, with images of Barack Obama before cheering troops and heads of state. Foreign policy was supposed to be Obama’s weakness. So how is McCain responding? By blaming the media. His campaign produced two videos mocking the media’s love affair with Obama. It also tried to play the bias card when the New York Times asked that a commentary by his campaign be redone to provide new information. The Times may have overdone it, but as it later noted, it is common practice for newspapers to request that submissions be reworked, and the Times has published at least seven other commentaries from McCain since 1996 and said it was eager to publish him again.
