John McCain's now infamous speech in response to Obama's clinching of the nomination contained the following tidbit:
Senator Obama voted for the same policies that created the problem. In fact, he voted for the energy bill promoted by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, which gave even more breaks to the oil industry. I opposed it because I know we won't achieve energy independence by repeating the mistakes of the last half century.
On the face of it it appears true, after all the Senate version of the Energy bill did retain the tax breaks for big oil and Obama voted for it while McCain did not vote. (We'll take his word that he would have opposed it had he bothered to show up.) However this superficial truth conceals the deeper lie that John McCain was instrumental in blocking the removal of those tax breaks to fund alternative energy investments.
What I refer to is the one dramatic vote of the energy bill debate in the Senate where the Republicans successfully filibustered an amendment that would have replealed those tax breaks that McCain was slamming Obama for supporting and used the money to fund renewable energy instead. This vote failed by a margin of 57-36. Once again Obama voted yes while McCain did not bother to show up.
So what? What's the big deal? The vote would have been 58-36 and still failed? Right?
In fact, it was much closer to passage than it appears. Reid voted no for procedural reasons and Boxer, who certainly was a supporter, wasn't present. Presumably if he had the votes, Harry Reid could have held off until Boxer could get back into town and then voted yes bringing the total to the magic 60. So the upshot is that McCain single handedly could have repealed those tax breaks that he now unfairly derides Obama for, but chose not to, presumably because he didn't want them repealed. He then has the chutzpa to try to use it as a talking point in his all out attack.
This is part of a larger strategy of distorting his record to make himself appear moderate and independent. We cannot let McCain get away with this lie and his many others.