On Energy, Both Veep Candidates Were Horrible

Last month National Review Online contributor Lawrence Kudlow proclaimed that this was the "energy election." After seeing the Veep debate, however, I must disagree with Kudlow’s assessment. The contest between Arizona Senator John McCain and Illinois Senator Barack Obama cannot possibly be "the energy election" because both candidates have the same crummy energy policies.  

The similarity of the candidates' crappy energy plans was apparent last night during the vice presidential debate between Delaware Senator Joseph Biden and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. For one thing, the term “free market” was employed frequently by each candidate, but always as a pejorative. Accordingly, they both endorsed windfall profits taxes to punish “big oil,” and they both want the government to waste taxpayer money on dubious sources of renewable energy. Last but not least, while they differed on the causes of global warming, Biden and Palin championed energy rationing cap-and-trade schemes that would have the federal government seize the reigns of energy production in America.

So there's no choice. Both the Republicans and Democrats want statist energy policies that would increase energy costs and hurt the American economy.