I've been noticing a trend as of late. It's becoming more and more apparent the strawmans being thrown out there by the left when it comes to the right and energy policy. For example, I was watching Larry King Live(With Glenn Beck filling in since King's on vacation) and he had three other people with him. Jamal Simmons(democratic strategist,) Ben Stein(actor, economist, director, etc,) and David Gergen(CNN Political consultant, so forth) and the talk got to this point:

SIMMONS: This is exactly on your point, why is it that McCain isn't getting the same attention as Barack Obama? Because I think the American people recognize this is an extraordinarily historic moment, and they have one candidate who is offering the same tired policies they have had for the last eight years, John McCain. They have another candidate who is trying to take them some place completely different.

STEIN: To Anwar.

SIMMONS: And one of those questions is about whether or not we're going to actually spend 150 billion dollars investing in renewable fuels and energies, which is what Barack Obama wants to do, and whether or not we are going to give an energy rebate to people, which is what Barack Obama wants to do, or we're going to try to just drill our way out of the problems, which even T. Boone Pickens, with those ads running every day, has said we can't drill our way out of this problem. And as Al Gore asked the other day, does anybody think we will bring gas prices down by helping oil companies make more men.
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You can notice how he goes into this strawman. Making it seem like McCain wants to drill our way out of our energy situation. When anyone on the right can tell you that this is very untrue of McCain. You need not be even on the right to see how wrong Simmons is here. If you spend five minutes doing research, or have just been paying attention to what McCain has said, you'd notice that drilling is only apart of his plan, and is infact a recent position. McCain was the one who proposed 45 nuclear plants by 2050. He has also proposed the Lexington Project which has Investing in Alternatives a key point. Here is more of what Simmons said, I decided to keep Gergen in since it'll keep things in context, and Simmons was responding to him.
BECK: David Gergen, let me go to you. I have to tell you, I feel like the average viewer when I watch these two go at it. My head will explode. There's a difference between can't drill our way out of a problem and won't drill our way out of a problem. Americans believe that oil is in our near future and not too distant future, and new technology is in the long run. We have to do all of these things. And yet nobody really wants to talk about it. Everybody wants to position themselves. Nobody really wants to cut things through. Maybe it's time for a third party in this country.

GERGEN: You and I have finally reached a point of agreement about doing all these things on energy. There's a real danger. I think Ben is right. Of course we can survive 10 dollar oil, as other countries have. But it makes it a lot harder to get the public to go along with some of the tough things that need to be done on energy when the price gets this high.

I do think John McCain represents a break from the George Bush past, in contrast to Jamal. He is talking -- he takes climate change very seriously. He is moving not only on the drilling question but he's also pushing on nuclear power, which Barack Obama frankly will not confront and take into account seriously enough. John McCain Is also saying we need to do something to cut down carbon emissions. He's far ahead, in a far different position from George W. Bush in saying I want the position that Joe Lieberman has staked out, and some Republicans are staking out in a lonely way, to somehow cut carbon emissions, under programs. It's a very complex program called cap and trade.

I also think that Ben Stein is right. We don't want to spend a lot of money picking winners and losers. But I do think we need to spend some money and we should not be dismissive of the capacity of government to bring change. It's not just that the space program, if you'll recall, Ben -- you know this as well as I do -- that the Internet is here today not because of Al Gore, but to a very considerable extent because the Defense Department spent money trying to develop a communication system under something called DARPA, and it led to the creation of the Internet.

There are times when government, as it does through the NIA, through the National Institutes of Health, or the NSF, the National Science Foundation, makes basic investments, as it should in alternative energy, that would be helpful. I think Ben would support that. I think he's right though. We don't want to pick winners and losers at the end.

SIMMONS: I hate to disagree with David because he's a professor at my school. Here's the point I'll say, John McCain is not running on those things. He's running on gas price holiday and he's running on drilling. Those are the two points that --

(CROSS TALK)

SIMMONS: Even if you drill, it will be 10 years before we get to the well.
BECK: Gentlemen, I have to run. Jamal, not a McCain supporter at all, but he is running on much more than that when it comes to energy.
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Sorry Simmons, but McCain IS running on those things, you just haven't been paying attention. Glenn Beck rightfully corrects him.



Sadly, This is only an example of how some on the left do this for those on the right. To me, those on the right are all for the alternatives that the left want. Wind, solar, and so forth. the difference is, the right considers oil to be our life blood, and that even if alternatives started up, oil will still be needed. And if somehow, the alternatives don't pop up, at the very least, we'd have the drilled oil to fall back on. And personally, I'm seeing their point on this one.

One more thing, since it's a personal pet peeve of mine. I detest it when someone uses the argument that it will be 10 years before we get that oil. Because it assumes we should give up because it's not instant and that other alternatives are faster, neither really having much truth to them. And the time it takes to get that oil could be remarkably shorten by removing various gov't restrictions to get the oil.