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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Giving Bush credit for lower gas prices is like giving McCain credit for the "success" in Iraq: B.S.!
More than ever are Bush and McCain joined by the hips. We need a change in this country and McSame isn't the one to do it since he offers 4 more years of Bush!
Glad someone gives Bush credit for something. And McCain's correct, of course.
Offshore drilling would be an environmental nightmare. The Americans who support it don't realize that it would take seven years to hit oil and oil prices wouldn't be affected until 2030. Grandpa knows this but is lying to get votes.
Mccain is an idiot the price of gas was 1.60/gal in the Clinton admistration why he is giving Bush creadit for still the gas price is at 4.0/gal, all he is saying now he supports offshore oil drilling and he need credit too. what a loser what ever happen to his holiday gas gimmik no body bought it now he does not talk about it anymore.
PS Billy...you can blame the enviro-whacko's for the $4.00 gas, i.e. the DEMS.
You want to give him credit for the price that folks are paying at the pump today, Bush and McCains other republican friends made this mess and prices are still much, much higher then they were when Bush took office. Bush is a failure, and McCain will dig the country into an even larger hole.
Isn't this quite plainly an admission by John McCain that speculation, and not supply/demand, is playing a heavy hand in the increase of oil prices? I mean, if he's convinced that oil prices have dropped because George Bush went out and gave a speech about the possibility of expanded drilling... Perhaps we don't have to *actually* drill, but rather just talk about it ad nauseam!!
20 dollar drop a barrel = 1 penny at the pumps.
Thanks Bush, and McBush, but no thanks.
He's proven himself to be very, very right.
As he has correctly pointed out, he really doesn't know much about the economy. This is why he continues to keep Phil Gramm close to help with economic planning – er um, except Gramm already helped create the Enron loophole, helped get us high oil prices and helped set up the mortgage crisis. Ah, what the heck..
Stay the course!
McCain 08
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.
MCBUSH IS RIGHT FORE ONCE.
MARKETS ARE REACTING TO THE FACT THAT
BUSH & MCBUSH WILL SOON BE GONE.
AND GONE WILL BE CHANEY FRAUDULENT OIL POLICIES.
This is .. VERY funny... Grampy McCain needs to take his meds again... what price drop is he talking about
John McCain's complaceny will doom his Presidential run.
Next up: McCain says give Bush credit for babies giggling and puppies wagging thier tails!
The drop of the price of oil has nothing to do with Bush's decision. If you listen to the markets you would see that what drove the prices lower are:
1. More than expected drop in use of oil by consumers and thus larger amount of stockpiles of oil in US
2. The drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico will not be affected by the hurricane Dolly thus not disrupting supply
Again, Bush's decision had minimal at best influence on the price of oil. McCain is talking boloni!
It's supply and demand...simple as that.
I'm sure the announcement of off shore drilling did help but we need to be responsible and cut our dependancy on oil. Most importantly, people have stopped driving so much therefore the demand is not as high as it was. Therefore, if the prices do continue to drop, we need to continue driving less so they stay low until it even out.
Period end of story.
Whata pile of crap.
Apparently McShame has never heard of supply and demand. Demand goes down – price goes down. All Bush did was to crawl on his belly, sniveling, to his Saudi Arabian masters, begging and whining for another cup of oil. Does anybody remember the Saudis – the ones who bankrolled Bin Laden – whom Bush provided cover for by starting a phony war in Iraq – and who provided almost all the 9 / 11 hijackers ?
Yeah, those Saudis.
It is now obvious that McCain will do and say anything to get attention....Thank God for the opportunity to see McCain in pressure situations where his incompetence is revealed, and where his inability to understand a broad sprecturm of facts is shown....It is scary to think that a person like McCain, who not only cannot remember what he is told and does not understand what he remembers, could be president of the most powerful nation in the world....
Hey Grandpa McCain – CNN Business Section just reported today that the price of crude is down because inventories are high and demand is low. Dubya's pronouncements mean squat on the matter. Fact check Grandpa – FACT CHECK.
What next, the "surge" is making the price of crude go down too?
why wouldnt he? afterall arent they the same MCBush?
This guy is an utter and complete FRAUD!
Yeah, let's give Bush credit for having it at $128 a barrel... when it should be about $80 a barrel. Don't get it twisted America... when gas gets back down to $3.50 a gallon, that doesn't mean it's cheap again. Keep your SUVs retired, keep on riding your bike, continue to use public transportation, and enjoy more staycations. Stay focused on the goal, okay? ALTERNATIVE FUELS!!!
McCain is so going to lose. He can not win this election–and that's a fact. He will lose, lose, lose.
Obama 08
Finally Bush has done something honorable for the first time in nearly 8 years.
Ok McCain is trying to have it both ways. He wants to distance himself from Bush when it hurts, but be his best pal when it doesn't. When gas prices are high its Obama's fault, but when they get low again it's Bush's.
This is the same Bush who says our economy is "drunk".
The truth is, the reason for the drop in the price of oil is consumers are cutting back. Its simple economics. When demand is up prices are higher. When demand cools prices lower.