FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 31, 2008
CONTACT: Josh Dorner, 202.675.2384

New McCain Ad on Global Warming
a Shameless Halloween Trick

Washington, D.C.--John McCain today released a new ad on global warming that shows archival footage of  Obama praising the McCain-Lieberman global warming bill.  The Sierra Club offered the following response. 

The ad can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqaoSzSGFNw

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

"While this is not the dirtiest trick that the McCain campaign has pulled in the waning days of this election, it is certainly one of the most desperate and disingenuous.  John McCain can't just throw on clean energy credentials like a Halloween costume.  He has unfortunately abandoned what was once one of his signature issues in favor of solidifying support from the Big Oil companies who are still raking in record profits.  Even if McCain had not abandoned his support for meaningful action on global warming, his plan is outdated and far inferior to that of Barack Obama.

"It is particularly outrageous that McCain would run this ad just days after his chief economic adviser denounced the landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the government must take action on global warming--making the ridiculous claim that upholding the High Court's ruling would result in Soviet-style central economic planning.  This is the same argument cooked up by polluters and ceaselessly advanced by the Bush administration, which has now unlawfully defied the High Court for over a year. 

"The John McCain of yesterday--the one Barack Obama is shown referring to in this ad--would undoubtedly be ashamed of the John McCain of today for aligning himself with the richest polluting companies and the radical anti-science agenda of the Bush administration. 

"The ad also continues the shameful and deceptive hoax that John McCain has perpetrated on voters all year long: that he supports clean energy.  While the ad claims John McCain supports renewable energy, he has actually said that clean energy technologies ‘don't work.' More importantly, McCain has consistently voted against renewable energy whenever he's taken the opportunity to vote, and his failure to support clean energy tax incentives earlier this year put more than 116,000 hardworking Americans in the wind and solar industries on the brink of layoffs.

"Voters should not be fooled by John McCain and his false rhetoric and misleading ads.  Barack Obama is the only candidate that has said clean energy is his number one priority.  Barack Obama will use meaningful action on clean energy and global warming to jumpstart the American economy and create 5 million new jobs.”    

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Paid for by the Sierra Club Political Committee, http://www.sierraclub.org/, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.