McCain flip flop yielded big oil money

According to his advisers, John McCain’s flip-flop on offshore drilling was a recognition of “a great crisis in energy.”.

Turns out, they weren’t talking about the kind of energy that powers American homes and businesses. They were talking about the fuel that makes Republican campaigns tick: oil money.

Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month — three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban — compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May.

If you’re too lazy to do the math, here it is:

John McCain: total oil money in three and a half months=$882,000

John McCain: total oil money in two weeks=$825,000

He was able to raise a quarter year’s worth of money in two weeks. And you can bet your bottom dollar that money kept rolling in this month.

And where did he go immediately after his brave call for more drilling? To get paid:

McCain delivered the speech before heading to Texas for a series of fundraisers with energy industry executives, and the day after the speech he raised $1.3 million at a private luncheon and reception at the San Antonio Country Club, according to local news accounts.

When Barack Obama decided to forgo the public finance system, letting the American people finance his campaign, he took a big hit from the media.

Now that we know John McCain is not only playing loose with the facts on oil, but he’s doing it to finance a campaign short on money.

I’m sure this is all that the media will be talking about this week. McCain’s craven flip flop just to get financial support from oil men. Right??? Right???