It takes political courage to call for sacrifice, and I’d respect Obama more if he called for more sacrifices. Too much of his energy plan is give-aways for hybrids and using the government spending power. I understand that campaigning for a higher gas tax may be suicide, but there are other steps he can call for to move the number of miles Americans drive down.

For instance: Insurance reform — giving more discounts for fewer miles driven. Pushing warranty claims up - so a car driven 10K miles in three years doesn’t necessarily go off warranty. And immediate implementation of the tire pressure monitor and fuel computer displays in all cars sold in the US. Easy aftermarket tire pressure monitoring for older cars.

PS: I’m also a hypermiler but not the kind that drafts 18 Wheelers.

This ties into the concept that we need to better fund our mass transit systems so that we continue to lower our GHG emissions while we provide excellent options for those who don’t want to sit in traffic for an hour or two a day…nor monitor their tires constantly…

http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/ climateatlas/ 2008/ 07/ 17/ gas-prices-up-3-out-of-4-cities-in-the-us-have-seen-increases-in-public-transit/

Corn ethanol is a climate and environmental horror story. It should not be subsidized.

You may not know that I strongly favor replacing fossil fuel. Pretty soon my name link will be to a page describing an organization I have created to push that replacement at the consumer level.

You can’t equate McCain and Cheney. Remember, Obama voted Cheney’s way, McCain didn’t.

http://climateprogress.org/ 2008/ 08/ 14/ why-mccain-hates-renewables-but-pretends-he-loves-them/

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/ issues/ 2008/ mccain_gw_record.html

I would say that McCain’s record is pretty pathetic.

“The public, however, is not presented a realistic picture of how science works on such matters. Instead public discussion of global warming is befogged by contrarians, whose opinions are given a megaphone by special interests that benefit by keeping the public confused. Some of the contrarians were once scientists, but now they behave, at least on the topic of global warming, as lawyers defending a client. Their aim is to present a case as effectively as possible, citing only evidence that supports their client, and making the story appear as favorable as possible to their client.”

Obviously he’s talking about cherry picking data.

Any chance you’re cherry picking voting records rather than giving a true representation of the two candidates?

I do think McCain is the candidate for climate voters. Can you pick any cherries in Obama’s record - as opposed to rhetoric and campaign promises - that balance out the negatives I’ve identified?

[JR: Funny stuff, Paul. McCain is a candidate for voters who don’t care about the climate (see “No climate for old men: Why John McCain isn’t the candidate to stop global warming.”]

Very true

The record makes McCain look better.

Only superficially. You continually portray McCain’s vote as a stand against world hunger. But in 2005 officials had no idea that US farm policy changes could become so harmful.

McCain has opposed support for all alternative energies- wind, solar, ethanol with equal vigor. He is sure that The Market will ’solve’ our problems, so why worry? His proposals are inadequate and his party lacks the awareness, much less the discipline, to pass meaningful climate measures.

In the future, cellulosic ethanol will play a useful part of climate policy. If Senator McCain is still around then, he’ll work against those plans too. He hasn’t the slightest concept of how to help fold alternative energy policies into the economy.

Thanks, Paul. You have finally pushed me to make a substantial contribution to the Obama campaign for president.