KO not amped over McCain's battery plan

I don't completely agree with what Keith Olbermann and Chris Hayes from The Nation Magazine about John McCain's battery proposal. It seems to me that Olbermann is sniping here a little, but I do agree that McCain seems to be offering this as some sort of magical solution to our energy problems. It's not - it's one of dozens and dozens hundreds of possible technologies that are going to be needed to kick our addiction to foreign oil.

However, they both Olbermann and Hayes do make a very good point about McCain's parade of proposals regarding oil: first, it was the gas tax holiday, and that one faded. Then, it was offshore drilling, and now that one is falling by the wayside, especially given the political calculations and riskiness of such a move in Florida (and, to a lesser extent, California).

My favorite bonhomie from the above clip is when Hayes says that "drilling off our coasts for oil is like digging for change in your couch to pay for your mortgage." That's absolutely right - the amount of ignorance on drilling for domestic oil is more staggering than gas prices themselves these days. Drilling off our coasts is going to expose tens of thousands of miles of coastlines to potential spills and accidents, with little benefit for a decade, or more. What's more, I don't think for a nanosecond that oil prices will go down if the oil companies are permitted to drill. The rich will simply get richer. If we were to drill and hit major oil, we would just be getting our oil from a different source, but the price isn't going to change. In addition, it will simply prolong our destructive and mindless addiction to oil.

Electric cars and hybrids are an important part of a multi-spoked solution, though. I really would like to hear more ideas coming from Barack Obama about oil. So far, I'm not hearing much - he needs to step to the forefront on this issue, now.

Oh, and that $280 million bridge? One would assume that McCain is talking about the notorious proposed Gravina Island Bridge, endlessly pimped by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the longest tenured Republican Senator in Congress. (The actual proposed cost, before the project was mercifully canceled by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, was $398 million.) Stevens (of "Internet Tubes" fame) threatened to quit Congress if the funds were withdrawn a few years back. Promises, promises, senator.