Posted on 11/04/2008 3:51:40 AM PST by don-o
BRISTOL, Va. — U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher went on the offensive Monday defending Sen. Barack Obama’s voting record and stand on coal issues following comments made by Sen. John McCain.
“It’s an 11th-hour desperate tactic, but Southwest Virginians are not going to be misled,” said Boucher, D-Va., of comments made by the McCain camp Monday and late last week about a quote given by Obama to the San Francisco Chronicle in January about energy proposals that could “bankrupt” coal-fired power plants.
“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted,” Obama told an editorial board gathering for the Chronicle.
Boucher referenced another quote from Obama that stated the country must figure out how to use coal without emitting greenhouse gases.
“In no way did that quote suggest that Senator Obama is anti-coal. The quote is taken completely out of context,” said Boucher.”
San Francisco Chronicle political writer Carla Marinucci reported Monday that statements made by McCain vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin of the Obama coal comments “just coming to light” were not true due to the entire editorial board interview being posted as a matter of public record on the newspaper’s Web site since January.
The candidate voted into the White House on Tuesday will play a role in legislation Boucher says will be considered during the next administration for cap and trade program laws for carbon dioxide controls.
Existing laws dealing with carbon dioxide call for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions, and both McCain and Obama support adopting regulatory controls rather than putting that authority in the hands of the EPA, Boucher said.
Boucher, meeting with reporters in Bristol just a few hours after McCain addressed supporters at Tri-Cities Regional Airport, said Obama’s recorded stands on funding packages and legislation introduced on the U.S. Senate floor speak for themselves.
“He was the lead sponsor in the Senate of $200 million in funding to develop the critical clean coal technologies of carbon capture and sequestration which new coal-fired power plants will need to use in order to meet the CO2 reduction requirements of the cap and trade law,” said Boucher.
Boucher also noted Obama’s Senate sponsorship of a bill this year that would launch an industry that takes coal and converts it into a usable liquid that could be used to supplant gasoline as a fuel source for U.S. motorists.
Following his prepared remarks, Boucher told reporters the “last ditch” effort to sway Southwest Virginia voters with rumors of an anti-coal candidate would fall on deaf ears.
“I think people have already made up their minds on who they will vote for, and hopefully residents in Southwest Virginia know that Senator Obama is committed to the region. He has been to our region three times, and I think a stop in Tennessee (by McCain) pales in comparison to what Senator Obama has already showed,” said Boucher.
State Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Lebanon, said he questions the validity of a McCain statement saying Obama is not a friend of coal when the Illinois senator picked up the endorsement of the largest coal-mining group in the United States months ago.
“Can you explain to me that the United Mine Workers — and these are the men who go into the mines and dig — are nearly 100 percent behind Senator Obama? Some things had to be explained today,” Puckett said.
The lying bastard...
"Are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes and ears?"
No no ... I just can't imagine why a statement that he wants to bankrupt the coal business would be construed as anti-coal.
These people honestly think “we the people” are that frickin’ stupid. The nerve!
He’s a Rat, and the 9th is a combination of UMWA country and college towns. That’s the only explanation I ever came up with for how they could keep sending Mr. Peepers back time and again.
Boucher’s actually good on a few issues (he “gets it” in terms of technology issues like fair use and the DMCA most of the time) but this is just asinine.
}:-)4
What surprises me is West VA elects an elitist liberal Rockerfeller to the SENATE. He hates the people he represents.
“It’s an 11th-hour desperate tactic, but Southwest Virginians are not going to be misled,” said Boucher, D-Va., of comments made by the McCain camp Monday and late last week about a quote given by Obama to the San Francisco Chronicle in January about energy proposals that could “bankrupt” coal-fired power plants.
Mr Boucher. Seriously you can not be this stupid.. There is nothing misleading in the McCain ad. Obama made the statement. His record indicates that the statement fits into his agenda. It is YOU who are trying to mislead or re-direct.
We are not falling for it
What a maroon.
“Who exactly are the stupid ones again? “
I’d like to know so we could slap’em. I can tell you who they aren’t. FREEPERS!
How true! How true!Lies are the order of the day with the Democrats.Of course they speak for the coal miners.Liars all. They aren’t fit to even clean the coal dust off their shoes.
Oddly enough, THE COAL INDUSTRY DISAGREES.
(I like rocks and minerals too, but I have never made friends with one.)
Gotta love Democrats.
Obama’s own words are ‘11th hour desperate tactics’.
Your are totally correct.
BO is anti-business socialist/marxist/commie. And he will always be aimed at destroying U.S. in favor of the Oil interest.
They reportedly financed his education.
Bill Clinton did the same with western coal interests, placed them off-limits.
That may be exactly true but irrelevent. He wants that technology used in places like China, not here. Here he wants to use no carbon and a power source to be named later.
“The lying bastard”
Now, that is a terribly hurtful thing to say. Obama LIKES coal and doesn’t want it harmed. It saddens him when cool suffers terrible distress (like when it is burned or undergoes other harmful procedures, that change it very existence). He is most alarmed about the carbon emissions from such radical procedures. Now you just go over there and apologize for that vicious statement.
I guess he tells the miners that Obama is a friend of guns too. I was surprized to see Boucher has an A+ NRA rating. He’s liberal as hell with everything else.
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