Why Does Bill Clinton Love McCain?

Bill Clinton is one of the two Democrats to serve as President living. He is an important person in the Democratic party and someone admired by many Dems even after the contentious primary. So i have to wonder why he continues to give comfort and aid to John McCain.

Former President Bill Clinton on Monday praised Senator Barack Obama’s energy policy at the opening of the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas.

“Obviously, I favor Senator Obama’s energy positions, and Democrats have been by and large the more forward-leaning actors,” Mr. Clinton said. “But John McCain has the best record of any Republican running for president on the energy issue and on climate change.” He added, “I’m very encouraged about where the presidential rhetoric is in this campaign.”

The first thing to point out here is that Bill Clinton is wrong. John McCain is not good on energy policy. He is more about using Global Warming to make him look good in the way Bush used education, to make him look like something other than the typical Republican he is.

But, when he wasn't safeguarding Arizona scenery, McCain usually held the conservative line, voting to hollow out clean-water and health protections or to expand offshore drilling. He also famously agitated for the construction of a controversial telescope atop Arizona's Mount Graham--which meant the razing of a forest containing an endangered species of red squirrel. When a Forest Service supervisor wanted to halt work on a road into the area, McCain was livid, according to a later investigation, threatening that, "if he did not cooperate on this project, he would be the shortest tenured forest supervisor in the history of the Forest Service."

McCain is not committed to the environment. He puts a bill forward but ends up sabatoging it when he could not get enough of his parties backing. He was not willing to go against his party for it. He uses the environment as cover,

"A lot of us were saying it privately, but he was one of the few willing to voice it publicly," says Riggs. "The Republicans could not be seen as anti-environment." McCain's gambit worked: The press hailed him as a kinder, gentler Republican in 1999, even as he was promising to repeal a Clinton-era ban on new roads in protected forests and skipping key votes on fuel-efficiency, wildlife, and mining bills.

...Yet it's hard to shake the feeling that McCain may have been more interested in using global warming to burnish his maverick reputation than in passing legislation. "[T]he day-in, day-out negotiations you normally see--those weren't taking place," says Steve Cochran of Environmental Defense. Indeed, just last year, McCain refused to endorse a similar cap-and-trade bill sponsored by Lieberman and Virginia Republican John Warner--which actually has a shot at passing this year--just because it doesn't mention nuclear power. It's an absurd quibble for someone who thinks global warming is a colossal problem (the nuclear industry hardly lacks for subsidies as is) but a fine pose for someone who wants to be seen flouting conventional wisdom.

So Bill Clinton really needs to stop plugging McCain like he is equal to the Democrats on Energy policy. It is bad politics and totally disloyal coming from such a prominent Dem. If Bill is bitter over his wife's loss he needs to keep it inside for the sake of the country. It's not like this is the first time he has elevated McCain. March 27,

But McCain, who Mr. Clinton said is a "moderate", "has given about all you can give for this country without dyin' for it."

He said McCain was on the right side of issues like being against torture of enemy combatants and global warming, which "just about crosses the bridge for them (Republicans)."

Bill also got into hot water for saying,

"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country. And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."

Suggesting that Obama was not one of those people. Bill has a bad record when it comes to supporting Obama in the election and it makes me slightly nervous anticipating his DNC speech. Bill stop the McCain love unless you follow it up with a blistering critique.