Placebo Drilling

thank you, First Read, for this fascinating glimpse into the McCain team's environmental policy wonks. i'm glad to see they're finding good weed on the road:

"In the short term I'd like to give you a little relief for the summer on the gas tax," McCain began, referring to his controversial proposal to temporarily suspend the federal tax on gasoline. But then he made a surprisingly candid admission: "I don't see an immediate relief, but I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist -- and in view of many experts that do exist off our coasts -- is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial."

(chop, chop....onwards to the Car Battery Challenge.)

"In a visit to Fresno on Monday, McCain did not bring up offshore drilling, instead emphasizing alternative energy sources such as alcohol fuels and announcing a $300-million challenge to develop a more efficient electric car battery."

Wow. What was that Ivan Drago said to Rocky? Oh yeah, it was, you will lose.