Blah Blah blah, I'm in Italy, it's gorgeous, I'm supposed to be on vacation, but I want to talk about John McCain and how I heard him say off shore drilling was a States rights issue that was a short term solution for a long term problem, and yet AP today tells me that he's signed on with President Bush's offshore drilling plan and made it the center of his energy policy. JIGGA WHAT?
I have lots to catch up on, but I thought I would just start with my time on the McCain campaign. I won't say much, because the piece is coming out in the Fall in Glamour (print!) but I will say Meghan, and her crew of people who work on her blog, are very cool people. If you want to see a pic of me with Meghan in the motorcade you can click here and scroll.
Meghan is young, funny, smart, and hip to why people think the Republican brand is broken. She also has very personal, very valid reasons for truly believing her father is the best choice for the next American President, all of which I deeply respect. Until recently she was a registered Independent. (She just switched to the GOP, which is... interesting....) In general, I think she's what the Republicans must become in order to survive: social liberals, fiscal and foreign policy conservatives who know that gay's aren't out to kill the world.
Even though I was only on the trail for about 24 hours, it was eventful. It was at the Town Hall I attended where McCain said, "We have drawn down to pre-surge levels. Basra, Mosul and now Sadr City are quiet."
Hrm. Well, except for the fact that that day there was violence in Mosul (with fatalities). The quote set off a huge back-and-forth between campaigns about troop numbers, so it was pretty interesting to see how that all happened behinds the scenes.
I'll also say that during that town hall, someone asked the senator about off-shore drilling (to thunderous applause). McCain answered that not only was it a states-rights issues, it was also a short term solution to a long term problem, and that American ingenuity and renewable resources must be the future of American energy policy -- rather than fossil fuels which are not only wallowing in the tar pits but dragging us, our economy and our foreign policy down with them.
I thought, "Now here's the maverick thing everyone keeps talking about." Telling a room full of Middle American Republicans that the idea they find so appealing (namely, drilling off coastal states like Florida and California, ahem) is... Not a good idea. He sounded honest, gutsy, and sure that he was right.
You can read more about it over at the HuffPo.
Well, fuck me if he didn't just come out for Bush's batshit insane plan of pushing Congress to drill just about everywhere on this god-damned forsaken planet. Not only did he come out for it, he made it a central part of his energy plan.
Straight talk, WHAT?
HOWEVER, my story for Glamour isn't on the Senator, it's on his daughter, and since I know a little something about how daughters are not the same as their fathers, there's a difference between how I feel about John McCain's energy plan, and his daughter and her blog.
Keep your eyes peeled for that story come autumn. But keep your eyes REALLY peeled for more Bush/McCain shenangians.
From Caserta, over and out.
Impudent Ways: Busy Nothings From EA Hanks
