In corn country, McCain says no to ethanol support

[Terri]

By MIKE GLOVER
Associated Press
August 11, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn't mince words Friday at the Iowa State Fair, telling corn producers he didn't want to subsidize their ethanol but was eager to help market farm products around the world.

"My friends, we will disagree on a specific issue and that's healthy," McCain said as he stood near bales of straw at one of the nation's premier farming showcases. "I believe in renewable fuels. I don't believe in ethanol subsidies, but I believe in renewable fuels."

McCain has never been shy about speaking against subsidizing ethanol when he is in farm country, though that stand helped to make him unpopular enough in Iowa that he skipped participating in its leadoff presidential caucuses in 2000 and put much less emphasis on them in 2008 than many of his opponents.

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[ONTIME]

On this particular topic McCain has the right side, literally and figuratively, ethanol is a waste of time, we don't replace our food supply with the want of alcohol, the same as why do we want to take up acres of land with windmills and solar panels, the wind does not continually blow nor does the sun always shine but oil, coal, gas and nuclear will be a lot more dependable for the long haul. This will take up a lot less acreage and bring down the cost of energy in all forms and make us a viable industrial nation again.

GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY!

[elmerck1]

I completely agree with John on this subsidy.It used to be against the law to make moonshine, but now it is legal by changing the name. We need the corn that is being grown in all the states, not just the midwest, and the use of it to make moonshine makes no sense at all. but a democrat never saw a sibsidy he didn't like, but we should stop this give away, and keep the exports going as suggested by John, and the use of it for feed of animals and chickens, that is so necessary for our food chain.Has anyone noticed the price of groceries lately? that use of grains has run the cost up, and it should be stopped.Burning ethanol polutes the atmosphere more than regular gas, and wait a year or two, and see what effect it has on the internal parts of youe engines. It burns hotter, and the valves will be burned up, and some of our cars have 24 valves, and it is going to cost an arm and a leg to pay some mechanic to replace all of them.

[MrJLDoug]

My state of Texas is requesting a reduction in the federal mandate on the amount of Ethanol we have to add to the gasoline. Corn is a fairly expensive crop to raise due to the amount of water it requires. The amount of energy required to grow it, ship it, convert to Ethanol is not small. The main thing is that it has increased the cost of our food supply. Does it make sense to use a food source in our tanks and import our food? So much of vegetables I see in the market come from Mexico and Sea food from China.