Thursday, June 12, 2008

McCain Conference Call on Gas Prices   [Rich Lowry]

A little earlier I listened in on a McCain conference call on gas prices with Rep. Eric Cantor and McCain's (highly regarded) policy guru Doug Holtz-Eakin. The occasion was this Obama statement that Mitch McConnell has been hammering away at:

“I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money into their pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more quickly, particularly US automakers, then I think ultimately, we can come out of this stronger and have a more efficient energy policy than we do right now.”

Cantor started with a stirring statement about the need to fight higher gas prices, which are a drag on everything from rural hospitals to local police departments. It sounded like the warm-up for a pitch for more drilling, but then Cantor handed over to Holtz-Eakin and it was a pitch for . . . a summer gas-tax holiday. Holtz-Eakin answered a question about whether McCain's cap-and-trade plan would increase energy prices by saying it might not increase them that much and it would only happen over time. I'm with the Journal today — McCain should use the $4-a-gallon gas prices to pivot in favor of more drilling. Then, his people might have something more meaty to offer during these kind of calls.

06/12 02:29 PMShare