McCain: I still hate planetariums (and other debate points) - October 08, 2008
The men who would be President went head to head last night in Nashville, Tennessee. Here’s the long-distance information from their debate (transcript extracts from CNN).
First up, as noted by blog commenter Theropod, John McCain is still bashing planetariums. Having previously called Barack Obama’s support for one such venue “foolishness” he was at it again last night, saying:
He [Obama] voted for nearly a billion dollars in pork barrel earmark projects, including, by the way, $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?
Below the fold: more highlights from the debate include both candidates making noises about green energy and feedback.
McCain said, “We can work on nuclear power plants. Build a whole bunch of them, create millions of new jobs. We have to have all of the above, alternative fuels, wind, tide, solar, natural gas, clean coal technology. All of these things we can do as Americans and we can take on this mission and we can overcome it.”
Obama called for more energy efficiency and incentives for US made fuel-effiecint cars. He also called the development of clean coal technologies. On oil he backed offshore drilling and “telling the oil companies, that currently have 68 million acres that they're not using, that either you use them or you lose them” although he did say “we have three percent of the world's oil reserves and we use 25 percent of the world's oil. So what that means is that we can't simply drill our way out of the problem.”
Feedback
Nature's energy correspondent Jeff Tollefson says:
Last night’s presidential debate was enlightening. Energy repeatedly came up as a top priority for both candidates, even in the face of – and sometimes in response to - the economic crisis. Obama made it his top priority, above even health care, and McCain hammered on it several times as well. Interestingly, neither candidate really addressed the issue of greenhouse gas regulations. There was one question on the topic, and Obama cleverly avoided the issue by talking about clean energy; McCain talked about his climate legislation a bit but did a little dance of his own. Neither explicitly mentioned the need to cut greenhouse gases.The take home message is that green jobs and energy security, as opposed to climate, are going to be the selling points for any kind of action on global warming moving forward. Politicians in Europe can talk about halting global warming as a primary concern, but that does not appear to be the case here, at least not right now in the minds of the candidates. And that’s fine as far as it goes, but it certainly puts environmentalists on the defensive against dirty domestic energy (think coal-liquefaction).
More
During the town hall-style debate in Nashville, Tennessee, the candidates tied US energy development to their solutions for an ailing economy and overseas challenges, putting Russia, Iran and some Middle Eastern energy exporters on notice that cutting US and European reliance on their oil is a top foreign policy priority.- Platts
Perhaps McCain’s sharpest attack on Obama came in his discussion of energy legislation that “was loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies.”
“You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one,” he said, pointing dismissively at Obama. This kind of impersonal dig was unusual in a presidential debate, especially for one between two senators, who normally address one another with particular decorum.
Obama, meanwhile, seemed to see innovations in energy use and production as critical to economic success at home and diplomatic advances overseas.
"We're going to have to come up with alternatives," he said, with the U.S. government "working with the private sector to fund the kind of innovation that we can then export to countries like China."
- AP
Comments
The problem with the McCain campaign is his focus on the trivial while the major issues are not addressed. Obama supported an ear mark. Obama voted for this or that. Obama didn't support my surge idea. It's as though McCain can't grasp the deteriorating economy and problems in foreign policy. It is as though he sees only the minor issues as the basis for his being a better person to be President.
The debate was awful and neither candidate did a good job of defining how they would change or fix anything. A number of times they did not even answer the question being asked. I hope one of them would tell us, "What are you going to do to help working Americans to recover from this financial mess?"
Posted by: PJW5552 | October 8, 2008 03:42 PM
I am still trying to figure out WHY my tax dollars should go to Chicago. Why can't the Chicago taxpayer PAY for things like this instead of me?
McCain is right... the federal government needs to cut down on its boondoggles. Let the local governments pay for such things not the tax payer at the federal level.
Posted by: Dennis | October 8, 2008 03:45 PM
Dennis -
The Adler Planetarium is a National Historic Landmark. It received this designation because it is the oldest planetarium in existence today, and has made an important contribution to science education.
There are NHLs in all fifty states (2,400 or so total).
Why anyone would be opposed to preserving our heritage or promoting education is beyond me.
Posted by: Ian | October 8, 2008 11:46 PM
Just shows how out of touch, out of date and technology illiterate McCain is. Being a 1960s war hero is clearly not enough to lead America in the 21st century.
Posted by: David Zimmerman | October 9, 2008 05:05 AM
Re dismissive McCain and planetaria: the very valuable role of astronomy for society is even recognized by the American Congress re the upcoming International Year of Astronomy, search thomas.loc.gov for bill H. CON. RES. 375. As for the international IYA2009 see http://astronomy2009.us/
Thanks. B Fenerty, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
Posted by: B Fenerty | October 10, 2008 07:30 PM