Has McCain Dropped His DisastrousCap And Trade Scheme? UPDATE: False Alarm

After noticing that McCain's energy plan made no mention of the cap and trade system and a conversation with a campaign official, Larry Kudlow at NRO seems to think so.

So then I asked this senior official if the campaign has taken cap-and-trade out behind the barn and shot it dead once and for all — buried it in history’s dustbin of bad ideas. The answer came back that they are interested in jobs right now — jobs for new energy production and jobs from lower taxes. At that point I became satisfied. Even though a McCain presidency might resurrect cap-and-trade, it will be a much different format. More important, the campaign is cognizant of the conservative rebellion against it.

Kudlow pronounces himself satisfied. Me? After McCain's 'lessons learned' spiel on immigration and his "glad to examine" ANWR and Juan Hernandez dodge, I'm not entirely sold but it's a start.

I'd like to see McCain out on record saying cap and trade is off the table and why. This way if he does try and resurrect it in the future we can remind him of what he said.

Still, it's nice to see that the Republican nominee might have come around to the idea that heavily regulating the economy in the name of global warming is not a good idea. Thank heaven for small mercies.

UPDATE: Apparently reports of McCain's sanity on this issue were greatly exaggerated. Marc Ambinder reports:

Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, calls the notion that McCain is abandoning or minimizing his support for cap-n-trade "totally false."

Well, that was fun while it lasted.

posted by DrewM. at 03:27 PM

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