Here is a post-debate roundup on last night’s presidential debate. If you missed the debate, you can see the full video of presidential debate here. So, what did you think? Was there a winner? Did you like what you heard? Can one of these candidates fix our economy? What about our healthcare system? The war? Let me know what you think in comments.
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Earlier today, I posted on the surprise announcement by John McCain, of his VP pick – Sarah Palin. Since then, I have collected several media/blogger responses, along with interviews by Palin, and her speech today. So, here is what others are saying about Sarah Palin as VP…Please also let me know what you think in comments.
What I think: Personally, I have told many people that I believed if Barack Obama did not pick Hillary as his VP, that John McCain would jump on the “historic election” bandwagon by putting a woman on his ticket. However, I do not believe that by doing this he will get any more of the Hillary vote. I do believe, that many Republican women will be fired-up by this, and turn out to vote for the first woman VP…Those women are not conserned with her ultra-conservative viewpoints, in fact, they will revel in it.
So, that’s what I think. What do you think? Check out the rest of this post, and let me know in comments.
Sarah Palin on energy, environment, and national security…
Oil and gas companies want you to believe that alternative sources of power (such as wind and solar), are not cost effective. They want you to believe that renewable power will be more costly for the consumer. And, in today’s bad economy, that can be quite troubling for most of us. But now, the truth is being revealed, in Colorado of all places.
From The Washington Post…
In Colorado — a state historically known for natural gas and fights over drilling — wind and solar power are fast becoming prominent parts of the energy mix. Wind capacity has quadrupled in the past 18 months, according to Gov. Bill Ritter (D), and Xcel has become the largest provider of wind power in the nation.
The politics and economics of energy are shifting here in ways that foretell debates across the country as states create renewable-energy mandates and the federal government moves toward limiting carbon emissions. One advocate calls Colorado “ground zero” for the looming battle over energy.
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Ten years ago, Xcel began offering wind-generated electricity, but it was a niche market for eco-conscious customers willing to pay extra. That changed in a significant way after 2004, when Xcel lost the referendum fight.
After legislative efforts failed, proponents of renewable energy turned to the ballot that year. The initiative, Amendment 37, required the state’s biggest utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. Advocates found themselves facing off against Xcel, which said it feared for its bottom line.
“We ended up opposing that amendment. In retrospect, I wish we hadn’t,” said Frank Prager, Xcel’s vice president for environmental policy.
After months of following the debates on the US “oil crisis”, watching gasoline prices rise and then slowly decline and, spending most of July watching the endless parade of charts and graphs pro and con offshore drilling on C-SPAN, I’ve come to the conclusion that self-interest is clearly winning out over common sense.
Here’s why I’ve reached this conclusion.
1. A recent Rasmussen Report poll* found that 64% of the American public now supports opening up protected coastal areas to off-shore oil drilling. I suspect that many in this group are the same people who still don’t believe in global warming, still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 bombings and, now believe that China is drilling for oil off the coast of Florida.
2. I’m willing to guess that the vast majority of the aforementioned 64% probably doesn’t own coastal property or work in the fishing or resort industry. I suspect that they have an image that coastal residents all live like residents in Malibu. NOT!
3. I’ll go out on a limb and say that the 55% of Americans (as cited by the Rasmussen poll) who agree with the Republican proposal for building more nuclear plants probably won’t want to have one of these new plants placed within 10 miles of their home or have the nuclear waste stored within a hundred miles. I also suspect that they would be highly upset if someone proposed placing a wind farm near their home. Too unsightly.
4. I suspect that the vast majority of people who now support off-shore drilling might be a little upset if their community was re-zoned or their property declared as eminent domain in order to build all of the support facilities for the new off-shore drilling platforms.
5. You don’t have to try to fool all of the people, all of the time. You only have to feed them enough mis-information to get them to put self interest ahead of common sense.
As Peter Dizikes pointed out in his article, “Did you hear that Alaska has more oil than the Middle East?” for Salon.com there are probably more myths, half truths and twists of science being pumped out about offshore oil drilling than there will ever be barrels of oil pumped from the sea.
The Onion has made a video that takes a serious (yet satirical) look at the Bush presidency. It would be a lot more funny, if it wasn’t so true. But, I guess it is important to lighten things up from time to time. So, here goes.
This is really funny. Paris Hilton Responds to John McCain’s Smear Ad on Barack Obama…
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Just in case you haven’t seen the controversial video and commentary, here is a video clip…
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So…What do you think? Does this help or hurt McCain? What about Obama? Or, is it just plain silly? Personally, I hate attack ads, especially when they provide no helpful information for voters, at least the Hilton response, had addressed an issue. Let me know what you think in comments.
See more on this at BlogHer.
Provide short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
Put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
Implement an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
Obama has previously said he was opposed to using the strategic reserves, but on Monday he proposed selling 70 million barrels of oil from the reserves in order to lower gas prices.
Speaking before a crowd in Lansing, Michigan, the senator from Illinois said the country’s “addiction to oil … is one of the most dangerous and urgent threats this nation has ever faced.”
Obama unveiled his energy plan, which includes a windfall profits tax on big oil corporations that would be used to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.
Here is the full video of speech…
— Here is what other bloggers are saying about Barack Obama’s Energy Policy…
BlogHer Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest…
As the Senator discussed his very detailed New Energy for American plan, touted by Climate Progress as “…easily the best energy plan ever put forward by a nominee of either party…” republicans were emailing me to let me know they were handing out tire gauges to mock Obama’s reminders that keeping your tires properly inflated saves gas.
Answering the question, Where are all the women political bloggers? Well, if you are here, you have found them. We are dedicated to giving women bloggers a voice, starting with our list of over 500 women political bloggers. And now, in addition to guest bloggers, and our growing community, we will also feature regular contributing editors.
