Just before heading to Texas on June 16 to raise funds from energy industry executives, John McCain announced his solution to high gas prices: Let the oil executives drill for oil off our beaches, including California's. Two weeks later it was clear that oil and gas industry executives and employees had picked their candidate -- they had donated $1.1 million to McCain's presidential bid, three-quarters of which came after his June 16 "solution" to lessening our dependence on oil. According to the Washington Post:
"Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling." Industry Gushed Money After Reversal on Drilling By Matthew Mosk, Washington Post Sunday, July 27, 2008; Page A10
But the biggest news is, this isn't big news. It's standard operating politics in America. And it's legal bribery. With stories like this, why wouldn't the "reasonable person" believe that the oil industry has been running the country from the White House for eight years? Years of rule by:
- a Failed oil man -Bush
- a former oil industry service conglomerate CEO who holds secret energy industry meetings his first year in office - Cheney; and
- a former Chevron director who had a Chevron oil tanker named after her - Rice
Make no mistake, big oil has chosen their man - McCain.
