For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: McCain calls Obama's energy policy Carteresque...
Speaking in Houston, where many energy companies are headquartered, McCain said of Obama, "He supports new taxes on oil producers. He wants a windfall-profits tax on oil, to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas. "If the plan sounds familiar, it's because that was President Jimmy Carter's big-idea tool - and a lot of good it did us. "I'm all for recycling - but it's better applied to paper and plastic than to the failed policies of the 1970s."
How do you like this strategy? Could high energy prices be a major campaign issue in November, and one that McCain can decisively win? With 67% of Americans favoring offshore oil drilling -- including 57% of Democrats and 60% of Independents! -- and energy prices now squarely in the minds of voters, could this really make Election Day 2008 look more and more like 1980 with the edge going to McCain?
Or will this strategy fail as Obama and his media minions cast McCain as doing the bidding for the big, bad oil companies?
