McCain: Give Bush credit for oil price drop
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/07/19/art.mccainsat.ap.jpg caption="McCain said Pres. Bush deserves more credit for oil price drop Wednesday."]
(CNN) - John McCain — whose campaign launched an ad this week blaming Barack Obama for high prices at the pump — said Wednesday President Bush's new push for offshore oil drilling deserves the credit for the recent drop in crude oil prices.
"In case you missed it, soon as the President announced that we were going to end the moratorium on offshore drilling the price of a barrel of oil went down $10," the presumptive Republican nominee said at a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania town hall.
Crude oil prices are down about $20 a barrel from their record-setting intra-day high of $147.27 a barrel back on July 11.
President Bush announced on July 14 he was lifting executive ban on offshore drilling, although Congress has yet to act on his call to lift its own drilling ban.
Asked about McCain's comments today, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino replied, "I don't know that we fully deserve the credit, but I do think in was important to send a signal to the market that we are serious about moving forward."
Earlier this week, McCain's campaign released a new television spot blaming Barack Obama's opposition to offshore drilling for the nation’s rising gas prices.
For more on McCain's town hall event, tune into Campbell Brown: Election Center tonight at 8 pm ET.
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Blame Obama for the high price and credit bush for the slight drop? Is he on drugs? Are they trying to lose?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????
What ever happened to straight talk?
McCain is outdoing them all with distortions and outright lies.
Maybe it's just more of his confusion since he doesn't know his recent history on Iraq, what borders Pakistan, where Al Queda is based and on and on.
Old man yells at cloud no longer fits. He may not know which way is up.
Just get in bed with him already, McCain! Sheesh – what happened to McCain? I went to see him speak a few years ago, when he still made sense. Now I wouldn't walk across the street to see him. Perhaps it is age, but whatever it is, he can't be president!!
I credit Bu$h with high oil prices.
Remember 1.75/gallon before he took office.
Tired of high gas prices?
BLAME THE REPUBLICANS!
Are you kidding me. Right now, today, Congress is arguing over a bill to get speculation in the oil and gas market under control. The Republicans want to add 28 amendments to it even though most also agree with the speculation aspect. But just like children, if they don't get their way they are going to vote against this very important bill, not because they disagree with it, but because they are being childishly stubborn. People need to wake up and see what's really going on. They are playing child games in Washington at the expense of average Americans hard earned money.
give him credit for a couple of send per gallon drop but don't blame him for it rising about $3 per gallon since he took office?
Unbelievable. Imagine a burglar breaking into your house and not quite getting everything of value in the house. That statement would be like thanking the burglar for being gracious and leaving you something. How can you give credit to someone when they haven't done anything that has earned it? Talk about bad judgment. Bush's move was sole symbolic and would do nothing to ease the price at the pump...well maybe in 10 years or so. I don't know about you, but I need relief now...and I don't need empty gestures. Say no to 4 more Bush years...
"John McCain — whose campaign launched an ad this week blaming Barack Obama for high prices at the pump — said Wednesday President Bush's new push for offshore oil drilling deserves the credit for the recent drop in crude oil prices."
the scary thing is mccain is so completely mentally incompetent, he actually believes this is true. and that is INCREDIBLY frightening; but what's even MORE frightening are the people who would vote for him. mccain cant help it cuz he's old, but there's no excuse for his supporters continuing and worsening the downward spiral of our country-INSANITY is all it can be!
with mcCON we'd be going from total ignorance to dementia! and i dont want someone who's as mentally unstable as mcCON making decisions that affect me and my family!
Thank God so far he has not called OBAMA responsible for Hurricane Dolly.
Old man is nuts, calling OBAMA responsible for Oil price increase.
I give him credit for tripling its price since he took office.
Thanks!! I really needed that!
Incredible...simply incredible! Now it's clear, his name truly is McClueless.
Wow, this guy really doesn't understand economics. His advisers are either idiots or believe that the American people are idiots. Bush's pronouncement did nothing to increase the area that the oil companies are allowed to drill in because congress also has a ban thats not lifted. You may remember that last week's message was that congress is standing in the way of a reduction of prices. Furthermore, even if congress lifted the ban, buyers of oil know that the increased oil supply will not begin until at least 5 to 10 years.
I think McCain has been sniffing too many gasoline fumes. He's got to be kidding.
Baloney. The price of oil dropped because 1. people have FINAlLLY started driving less and more slowly, which is decreasing demand for fuel, and 2. because the speculators overplayed their hand and forced oil too high.
All Bush has ever done is make this country more dependent on its oil addiction. McCain and the Repubs will do more of the same.
Now that's funny.
O LORD, LOOK WHAT BUSH HAS DONE FOR US ?
AND LOOK AT WHAT MCBUSH WANTS TO DO FOR US ?
MORE OF WHAT BUSH DID. THEN WE CAN CALL OURSELVES
AMERISTAN, TO CORRECTLY REFLECT OUR ECONOMY, AND
WORLD STANDING. OIL PRICES ARE COMING DOWN BECAUSE
CHANGE IS COMING. NO MORE ADDING 30% SPECULATOR PROFIT.
I wonder if McBush will give the same credit if the price soars again!!
More proof that this man doesn't understand economics at all!!
It's his job. Isn't that what the leader of our country is supposed to do?
I don't care who you credit, but get the Congress on board and let them lift their ban ASAP. All you environmental whiners get back on your bicycles and let us save our oil based economy. Can't wait to see all the Bush/McCain crazy train haters spewing their bile on this one!
Wow, can these Republicans spew any more CRAP? The price of oil is going down because we have a glut of oil as a result of people forcibly driving less to conserve. These guys must think the average American is a TOTAL idiot!
why did the president do this sooner instead of letting the gas go up so high.Why does it sound like JM will say anything to get elected? what happened to the straight talk express?
Is this guy serious? The Straight Talk Express is lost somewhere in the wilderness.
Really, so when prices go back up we can count on Bush to bring them back down! Please, I thought they went down becuase of increased supply. Also Bush started talking to Iran just like Obama wanted to and the threat of Iran shutting off its supply was temporarly removed from market.
Futher, if elected McWar will bomb Iran and lets see how much we will be paying.
SO I guess I should be really mad at Bush for not exercising this incredible power he has over gas prices sooner and making me pay outrageous fees for the last four years?