FactCheck.org has brought to light some inaccuracies in McCain's recent attack ad. In it, McCain tackles the issue of offshore drilling:
Announcer: Gas prices - $4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil.
Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?
Chant: Obama, Obama
(image of Barack Obama is displayed on screen)
Announcer: One man knows we must now drill more in America and rescue our family budgets.
The implication here is that lifting the current moratorium on offshore drilling would lower gas prices, and those, like Obama, who've voted against offshore drilling are partially responsible for the recent spike in gas prices.
The problem is that none of this is true. The Energy Information Administration estimates that, were we to lift the moratorium on new offshore drilling, we wouldn't see an increase in the output of crude oil until 2030.
The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017.
So, the implication that Obama (or any senator who voted against offshore drilling) is to blame for high gas prices betrays a complete lack of understanding on McCain's part on how oil production works.
Furthermore, in a speech earlier this month, McCain contradicted the point his ad attempted to make:
"Let me give you a little bit of straight talk on energy. Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long term about the future of the country."
Obama, of course, was elected to his first term as a senator in 2004.