McCain: "Now Is The Time to Drill"

McCain, visiting an oil platform (and visibly sea-sick?), said:

"Americans across our country are hurting, as we all know, because of the cost of energy. Gas prices are through the roof. Energy costs have seeped into our grocery bills, making it more expensive to feed our families. Now as we prepare for the winter, it's time for us to be more serious about our home heating oil needs. ... And that means we need to start drilling offshore, at advanced oil rigs like this one."

Umm... winter comes every year. When was it time to become more serious about offshore drilling? I don't know, maybe 10 years ago, when McCain opposed it?

More from the oil platform:

"Our nation is sending $700 billion overseas every year to countries that don't like us very much. When I'm president that's going to stop. We're going to achieve energy independence, and we're going to do it by using every resource at our disposal to get the job done, including new offshore drilling."

I think the term "flip-flop" is thrown around way too much these days. People should be allowed to change their mind when the situation changes. In fact, this is how McCain has defended his change of heart. He claims his new position is based on two facts:

1) The cost of gas has increased, which is an immediate hardship on American families, and the cost is likely to continue increasing.

2) We are sending $700 billion overseas to "countries that don't like us very much." That money should be staying here.

I agree with both of those points. The problem, though, is that those facts aren't really different than they were 10 years ago. Did anyone seriously think that oil prices weren't going to increase? Did anyone seriously think that there wasn't going to be more demand, forcing us to import more oil from foreign countries? These realities are not new. McCain should have recognized them 10 years ago, and advocated more drilling then. So I don't let McCain off the hook with the "I change my mind when the facts on the ground change" excuse. This seems like a classic example of "lack of judgment" if I ever saw one. Of course, the democrats claiming, "it won't help for 10 years" isn't any better, considering they opposed it 10 years ago too!

Wrong Rating: 2 out of 4 (misrepresentation)