McCain confused about his own energy policy
By: Steve Benen on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
It just keeps getting worse with the Arizona senator. From his press conference yesterday:
QUESTION: The European Union has set mandatory targets on renewable energy. Is that something you would consider in a McCain administration? […]
MCCAIN: Sure. I believe in the cap-and-trade system, as you know. I would not at this time make those — impose a mandatory cap at this time. But I do believe that we have to establish targets for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions over time, and I think those can be met.
As Kate Sheppard explained, McCain new position is “completely out of line with his own proposal for a cap-and-trade scheme, both the plan he proposed with Joe Lieberman last year and his own presidential plan, released last month. They both would, by nature, be mandatory — hence the ‘cap’ in the name.”
In other words, McCain doesn’t understand his own policy. Or, as hilzoy noted, “The best you can say for McCain, on this point, is that he is completely unfamiliar with what is supposed to be one of his signature issues. Not knowing what ‘mandatory cap’ means, in this context, is like not knowing what a ’strike’ is in baseball.”