McCain backpedals on ethanol

It looks like John McCain is setting himself up for a presidential bid in 2008. Yesterday, McCain spoke in Cedar Rapids to help fundraise for Nussle–but also it seems to start ingratiating himself in a state that receives tax credits and subsidies that he has repeatedly criticized.

McCain acknowledged that he was considering running in 2008, and that in order to win Iowa he would need “an army on the ground.” He didn’t seem to care much about Iowa in 2000, when he skipped campaigning here altogether to focus on New Hampshire. However, now it appears that he wants our support. To that end:

“At $10 a barrel (for oil), I don’t think ethanol was a very viable option,” he said before an appearance to bolster the Republican gubernatorial campaign of Jim Nussle. “At $60 or $70 a barrel, I think it needs to be examined. There’s also national security implications.”

This is a big ol’ about face from the days when he called ethanol tax credits and subsidies “outrageous” and a “boondoggle.” Given that he is announcing this while in Iowa and campaigning for Nussle, it is hard to believe that his reversal is due entirely to economics and not politics, as he said that it was.

4 comments April 14th, 2006