Oil Import Lies and the Stretched Truth

I arrived home from our trip to celebrate our friends graduation from boot camp just in time to miss the town-hall style debate. I tried to push our departure time so that I could get here in time or at least close enough for radio reception while we were on the road but as with many things in life it was not to be. The call of the Pacific Ocean, the crash of the waves, the kids screaming to surf just one more time were all to great and overpowered my desire to be in front of the tube.

From the information that I've been able to scour this morning it looks like there were no real surprises. Obama rocked, McCain looked like a grumpy old man.

MCCAIN VS. OBAMA the battle of stretched truths

Oil imports

• When speaking about energy costs, McCain says: "We've got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries who don't like us that much."
  
  
• The facts: This claim is often been criticized as exaggerated.
  
  
  • The United States spends about $536 billion a year on imported oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
    
    
  • For crude oil alone, last year the United States imported about 3.7 billion barrels at an average price of $67.97 per barrel, for a total of about $250 billion, Energy Department statistics show.
    
    
  • Nearly one-third of that goes to close U.S. allies of Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
  (source: factcheck.org)

While not only does the math not add up to the claim repeatedly made by McCain, if you simply look at the statement "..$700 billion a year to countries who don't like us that much..."- and compare it to the distribution of energy funds - "1/3 goes to CLOSE U.S. ALLIES", it makes one wonder if we're looking at yet another pattern of deceptive leadership, you know, the kind that made this country believe that IRAQ had WMD and that they were the "booger-man" coming to get us in the night!

It's simply another "The Economy is FUNDAMENTALLY strong.." statement only this time it's designed to allow Oil companies to keep doing the same old crap, Drill for Oil. Here's an idea for the oil companies and their lobbyist, put your billions of dollars in profits in to developing, designing, implementing, and lobbying for alternate fuel sources; wind, solar, bio-diesel and maybe even some that haven't been discovered yet.



town-hall, McCain, Obama, Oil imports