Blue Mass Group

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McCain Drills For, Strikes Oil Money

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John McCain rakes in the dough from oil executives (like Hess Oil) after McCain switched to favor offshore drilling. via Greg Sargent at TPM.

J. Barclay Collins  Hess Corp.  Attorney $28,500 19-Jun

John B. Hess  Hess Corp. Executive $28,500 24-Jun

Susan K. Hess  Homemaker Homemaker $28,500 24-Jun

Norma W. Hess  Retired Retired $28,500 24-Jun

John J. O’Connor  Hess Corp. Executive $28,500 24-Jun

Lawrence Ornstein  Hess Corp. Senior VP $28,500 24-Jun

John Reilly  Hess Corp. Executive $28,500 24-Jun

Alice Rocchio   Hess Corp. Office Manager $28,500 24-Jun

John Scelfo  Hess Corp. Senior VP of Finance $28,500 24-Jun

F. Borden Walker  Hess Corp. Businessman $28,500 24-Jun

John McCain straightened out his talk on offshore drilling on June 16, and the Oil money rolled right in.  

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  1. Obama has taken more money from Hedge fund managers than McCain. You know the evil people who are getting richer and who funded the sub-prime industry and have been speculating on oil prices.

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    p>Obama has taken more money from the evil HMO’s than McCain.

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    p>Barack Obama has taken more money from the evil pHRMA companies that want to give doctors horrendous gifts like stress balls shaped like a pill.  

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    p>Source: OpenSecrets.org. Which went through a kick ass redesign by the way.

    • Don’t deceive yourself, Eabo.  John McCain started out as a staunch Reagan Republican in the 80s, then remade himself as a pro-environment maverick around 2000–admit it, EaBo, some part of you was always embarrassed at how the dominant Republican ideology denied scientific truths like global warming–and now that the Presidency is within reach, John McCain has thrown his environmentalist beliefs right out the window because he needs that Oil Money to run negative ads day and night for the next 3 months.

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      p>It’s not that John McCain took the money–it’s that he pandered for the money.

    • Where has Obama come out in favor of the interests of hedge fund managers or the pharaceutical industry?  McCain came out for leasing more off-shore acreage, and the oil company executives bathed him and the RNC in money, over a million dollars so far, and some of it of questionable origin:

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      p>

      As we reported below, ten Hess Corporation executives and Hess family members each gave $28,500 to the RNC’s committee to elect John McCain president, just days after he reversed his previous opposition to offshore drilling.

      But the story gets better.

      It turns out that Hess executives aren’t the only ones who gave such huge sums to elect McCain — generosity towards McCain apparently extends down into lower levels of Hess staff. A lower level employee gave the same, too, and so did her husband, even though he works for Amtrak.

      The FEC filings show that Alice Rocchio, who’s identified as a Hess office manager, and her husband, Pasquale Rocchio, who’s described as an Amtrak “track foreman,” each separately donated $28,500 to the RNC-McCain fund, which is called McCain Victory 2008. They gave the money on June 24th, the same day that eight other Hess execs and family members each shelled out the same amount.

      So the Rocchios, who live in Flushing, Queens, donated a total of $57,000 to McCain’s efforts.

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      p>And now today, McCain is soliciting donations by offering a tire-pressure guage stamped with the words “Obama’s Energy Plan” for $25.  In doing so, they’re mocking a proposal that would save over 800,000 barrels of oil per day!  That’s 292,000,000 barrels per year, or four times as much as we are likely to get from off-shore drilling – is your candidate sytupid or something?  Anyone who drives knows that proper tire pressure can save gas – NASCAR has been advocating that on its web site for over 2 years…

      • No way an “office manager” and some schmoe at Amtrak have 28,000 dollars to donate.

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        p>No way.

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        p>And she went and taunted the IRS, saying “Nobody knows what is on anybody’s tax form.”

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        p>Huh.  The IRS knows.  And the FEC can subpoena it.  And I’m sure that quote is exactly what a Hess executive told her when he wrote her a check for $28,000 and asked her to donate the same amount to the RNC and she asked “Is this illegal?”

        • She made a donation of $28,500, and so did her husband – for a total donation of $57,000, or very nearly the median income for the neighborhood she lives in.  It stinks all the way to the bank…

  2. Obama suggested checking tire pressure because properly pressured tires are better for fuel economy.  McCain is mocking this even though it is correct.

    • …and before going on long trips, there would be an immediate reduction in gasoline usage.

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      p>A co-worker just got back from his vacation in Maine.  He took the wife and two kids with luggage in his Corolla.  Before he left, he over-inflated his tires by 2 psi.  He set the cruise control at 62 and drove on the right side of the right lane – he explained that the lanes get shallow grooves pressed into them by trucks and buses, and you make less tire contact by riding the crests between the grooves.

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      p>He drove 230 miles on 4.6 gallons of gas – 50 miles per gallon!  Admittedly, it’s anecdotal evidence, and not a controlled experiment since we don’t know about wind conditions, etc.

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      p>As part of my work for Obama this fall, I’m reaching out to the Boy Scouts in town to conduct voter registration drives – I’m also going to ask them to help distribute CFL bulbs and do tire pressure checks.

      • Just a word of caution that anything you do with the Boy Scouts needs to be strictly non-partisan, though it may help them with citizenship requirements.  I think it’s a great idea and I wish you luck with that.

        • I want them setting up registration tables at grocery stores in town – they’ll register the voters and turn in the forms to the town clerk in a strictly non-partisan fashion.

      • As part of my work for Obama this fall, I’m reaching out to the Boy Scouts
        (emphasis mine)

        They will politely, and appropriately decline.

        • …as a member of my town’s Democratic Town Committee, I’m pretty sure they’ll “find out” that I’m working to get Obama elected.  But if they can’t do a voter registration drive in a non-partisan fashion just because I asked them to do it, then their idea of civic participation merit badges is fatally flawed.  I’ll let you know what I hear back from them.

          • …as a civic participation merit badge.

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            p>The closest awards to that which you describe would be the three Citizenship merit badges (Community, Nation, World). None of which require participation beyond attending a selectman’s meeting and writing a letter to an elected official.
            All are individual, not group awards, and are designed to teach kids about government.

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            p>Direct participation in the political process by uniformed membership is prohibited. And in my many years as a volunteer, I have never seen it done.

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            p>  

            • Every time a Scout registers someone to vote, that Scout makes a positive influence on citizenship in our nation.  Every political party and candidate has a shot to earn the vote of that new voter.

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              p>Now, geo999, your comments suggest that registering a new voter shows some kind of support of Obama… but it doesn’t.  If Obama’s campaign is confident that it can win the votes of the newly registered, and McCain’s campaign is pessimistic that it can earn those votes, that’s not the Scouts’ problem!

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              p>McCain’s the one with the problem. He should do something to attract those new voters.  Instead of whining about Scouts registering people, Republicans should get out there and convince those new people that they ought to vote for a candidate who will cut taxes on the wealthy, subsidize Big Oil, and keep 100,000 troops on permanent bases in Iraq.

              • 1.) I’m not a Republican. I have too many issues with them to want to join their club.

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                p>2.) My comment went to the BSA policy regarding uniformed members engaging in political activities. And I corrected a misapprehension as to the requirements for and the the purpose of the Citizenship merit badges.

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                p>Half of your post misconstrues my comment, and the remainder has no relevance to it.

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