Green Options » 2008 presidential election

LCV Pokes at McCain’s Record on Renewables in New Ad

Timothy B. Hurst — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:17:28 +0000

We’ve written extensively here at Red, Green, and Blue about how John McCain’s claims of supporting renewable energy contradict his voting record in the Senate. Thankfully, we’re not the only ones who have noticed that when McCain says “of course I support alternative energy,” he really means he supports the idea of them, but that the market should be left to determine their future; the League of Conservation Voters has just come out with a new ad poking at McCain’s renewables rhetoric. Watch it:

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Presidential Debate: Did Anyone Else Hear McCain Say, ‘No one can be opposed to alternate energy’?

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:12:57 +0000

The theme of the first presidential debate on Friday night was set to be foreign policy and national security. However, with the current economy on everyone’s mind, the discussion delved fairly deeply into the economic crisis and possible solutions. And despite Jim Lehrer’s work to keep the discussion away from energy and the environment, Sen. Barack Obama made some connections between economic revitalization and rebuilding our energy infrastructure. In that particular exchange, Senator Obama raised the issue of McCain’s questionable support for renewable energy:

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The John McCain 100% Organic Cotton ‘Onesie?’

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 15 May 2008 06:46:59 +0000

Greenwash on warm and discard as needed

Has your newborn already outgrown those Ronald Reagan ‘Trickle-Down Diaper Covers’ that were hand-me-downs from your cousin? Well, the long wait is finally over, because you can now wrap your newest neo-cons in the soft organic cotton of the John McCain ‘Onesie.’ And no, I’m not kidding.

In conjunction with the unveiling of its climate change policy earlier this week, the McCain campaign has added a new “Go Green” section to its campaign store, where supporters can purchase various “eco-friendly items” to proudly display their political support for the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. No small children? Don’t despair. The collection also features the “men’s Bamboo Pique short sleeve solid polo shirt” and the “ladies’ Eco-friendly basic cap sleeve crew neck tee,” both of which are made in the USA with a 70/30 bamboo/organic cotton blend.

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Bill McKibben Discusses Obama, the Dems, and the Environmental Movement [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:04:58 +0000

I just stumbled across this video of the well-known author, activist, and environmental scholar Bill McKibben explaining that, while he has been actively supporting Barrack Obama as part of “environmentalists for Obama,” he thinks the most important task at hand is to elect a Democrat to the White House.

McKibben is a champion of the environmental movement and he made it clear that policy action on climate change will require broad-based and sustained political support for it. (Running time 4 mins.)

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McCain Begins Environmental PR Push Across West [w/video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:54:44 +0000

Tries to woo Western Dems by touting climate change as key

It might be argued, that the only way for John McCain to win in November’s general election would be by setting himself apart from President Bush enough to attract support from the middle - and one way he is doing that is by emphasizing his stance on environmental issues. Last week, the Straight Talk Express began a PR campaign aimed at courting independent-minded environmentalists, especially in the swing states.

In remarks he prepared to give at a wind technology firm in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, the Arizona senator said he would seek international accords to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and would offer an incentive system to make businesses in the United States cleaner. McCain said:

“We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great. The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge.”

The presumptive Republican presidential candidate is using his stance on energy and the environment to draw distinctions between himself and President Bush, whose approval rating has sunk to a near-record low of 28% (Pew , Gallup, USA Today).

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Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 Lacks Support

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:03:10 +0000

Six Democratic Senators joined together on Wednesday to announce a comprehensive energy bill that would tax windfall profits and “force” investment in renewable energy.

Among other things, the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008 would roll back tax breaks for oil companies and invest the money in renewable energy development and energy efficiency technology. It also would create a windfall profit tax on oil companies failing to invest in increased capacity and renewable energy resources.

According to one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.-VT):

“The bottom line is that at a time when this country faces a major crisis in terms of the price of oil, when many working families in our state and all over this country are hurting, I think we have brought forth a comprehensive piece of legislation, which begins to attack that problem with the result of lowering the price of oil.”
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Clinton Gas Tax Plan Doesn’t Need Economists, Just Good Implementation?

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 05 May 2008 09:27:21 +0000

I usually don’t watch the Sunday morning talk shows like Meet the Press or This Week. I’m not sure why. I think this is because I have a deeply ingrained aversion to them dating back to my childhood. You see, we really only had a handful of channels in those pre-cable days, and on Sunday mornings, before the cartoons really got going, three of those channels were running these incredibly boring talk shows - when they should have been running, at least from my point of view, cartoons. It was completely beyond me why they were running these shows at all, and not just doubling up on Superfriends or Scooby Doo! It seems I knew, even at that young age, that there were some things are just better off left till Monday.

What I’m getting at, is that I did not see Hillary Clinton on This Week with George Stephanopolous, on Sunday morning. But since we have a 24-hour media matrix covering every breath and every word in this presidential campaign, I was told all about it by all of my regular news outlets as soon as I got up. I was most struck by Senator Clinton’s reply to Stephanopolous’ question about the pushback her proposed summertime gas-tax holiday has received.

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Video: Obama on Climate and Energy

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:50:19 +0000

If you ask me, one of the best things about this election season thus far, is that voters who never thought their state’s caucus or primary would actually matter in deciding a presidential nominee, are finding out that they do matter - quite considerably. Our friends over at EnviroWonk did an excellent job of covering the recent presidential candidates’ whirlwind visits to Missoula, Montana. As a digital media addendum, I’ve posted a 3-minute clip of Barack Obama speaking on climate and energy policy from Missoula. A couple of nuggets from the Obama stump:

“Exxon Mobil made $11 billion last quarter; last quarter! And we’re melting the polar ice caps in the bargain. It’s a bad deal all around - unless you’re ExxonMobil”
“There doesn’t have to be a contradiction between good environmental policy and good economic policy.”

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Tangled Up in Green: The 3 a.m. Call That Didn’t Get Through

Ranjit Arab — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:15:43 +0000

It looks like Hillary Clinton has another “3 a.m.” political ad out. This time it’s about the economy.

I’m not sure what it is about these ads that have captured the nation’s imagination; John McCain has his own version of it, and, of course, it inspired scores of parodies on YouTube and among late-night talk show comedians.

Still, I wonder if the candidates will get around to making one of these ads about the environment.

It’d be really easy to do, actually. All you need is a ringing phone…and no one to answer it.

That’s because the environment has somehow become a non-issue during this campaign season. All three candidates have fairly progressive views when it comes to addressing climate change, and they all tout the benefits of weening ourselves off foreign oil, so we’ve basically been told by the media that there’s nothing more to discuss on the topic.

The only problem is that voters WANT to discuss it.

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