Rasmussen reports that 67 percent of Americans favor offshore drilling, while 18 percent oppose. McCain is now calling for an end to the federal ban on offshore drilling, but he still thinks the decision to drill should be up to coastal states. Fred Barnes writes that McCain’s position doesn’t make much sense:
A federalist on what he regards as a grave national security threat? That’s an odd stance. It seems more like a dodge–a very un-McCain-like tactic–than a logical position. Nor does he take into account the new technology that allows drilling for oil and gas in deep waters far offshore with little risk of spillage or pollution of beaches.
Barnes concludes:
House Republican leaders John Boehner and Roy Blunt have done an extremely effective job of connecting limits on domestic production with high gasoline prices. In the Senate, minority leader Mitch McConnell has jumped on the bandwagon. But congressional Republicans can attract only so much attention. They have, in effect, teed up the issue for McCain. They’re willing to forgive him his apostasy on ANWR. According to Blunt, “ANWR is part of the solution, but it’s not the only part. There’s plenty of evidence [of other oil reserves] for him to move toward more production even if he doesn’t on ANWR.” The offshore oil reserves and the untapped oil shale in the west have even more potential and wouldn’t require a McCain flip-flop. On this issue, Republicans need McCain, and he needs them. With gasoline at four bucks a gallon and more and money flowing to America’s adversaries, McCain has a legitimate excuse for becoming a strong promoter of greater energy production at home. In fact, he’s laid out the national security rationale for it and persuaded nearly everyone but himself.
