February 27, 2007 10:24AM # Pots & Kettles at the RNC By [Jerry Taylor](https://www.cato.org/people/jerry-taylor) --- SHARE Somehow, I’ve found myself on an email distribution list for the Republican National Committee’s opposition research team. Every couple of days or so, I get something documenting how the Democrat of the moment is out to lunch on this or that issue, speaking or acting hypocritically about some matter, or is an all-around crook or ne’er-do-well. These packaged emails — intended primarily for the press — are the equivalent of political drive-by shootings with footnotes. [Today’s edition](http://www.gop.com/media/PDFs/022707Research.pdf), however, is exquisite. Titled “Hillary’s Kerryaoke on Energy,” it purports to document Hillary Clinton’s crazy statements and votes on energy policy. Here’s what we learn: - Hillary Clinton is a big proponent of energy independence and calls for a big Manhattan-style project to get us there. “ ‘If we landed a man on the moon and brought him back safely to Earth within a decade as President Kennedy had promised in 1961, we know we can do this,’ [said Clinton to the AP the other day](http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NHMCCG0.htm) in the course of promoting her $50 billion program to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. The RNC’s complaint? She sounds just like John Kerry did in 2004. My complaint? [She sounds just like President Bush](http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/energy.html), who proposes to spend at least that much to jack-up [the Strategic Petroleum Reserve](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa555.pdf) — and that’s before we even begin tallying up the costs associated with his [ethanol madness](http://www.milkeninstitute.org/publications/review/2007_1/16-27mr33.pdf), his [clean coal](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/21coal.html?ref=science), [nuclear power](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4290), and [renewable energy subsidies](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa422.pdf), and a plethora of related costly interventions. - Hillary Clinton wants to impose special taxes on oil company profits to help fund this $50 billion initiative of hers. [Can’t complain with the RNC attack here](https://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa561.pdf). But someone ought to remind these young operatives that [George Bush is likewise happy to levy special taxes on oil companies](http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1692) to fatten government coffers. - Hillary Clinton voted 17 times against ethanol subsidies and even once dared to cast a procedural vote against an energy bill containing clean coal subsidies. The RNC is outraged — OUTRAGED! — that the New York Senator would eschew federal attempts to rig energy markets and intervene in private investment decisions. - Hillary Clinton has voted eight times to prevent drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. [I’m not sure](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3052) that the “free market” position is to drill, but I am pretty sure that drilling there would have [no appreciable impact](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3867) on U.S. energy security. You’ll probably hear some echoes of this RNC hit-piece on right-wing talk radio shows over the next week or so. The point the RNC is trying to make is that she TALKS a good game regarding energy independence, but hasn’t always voted that way. Well, if I have to choose between someone who [means the crazy rhetoric](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4053) he is dishing out and one who really doesn’t, I’ll take the latter. ##### Related Tags [Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [General](https://www.cato.org/general) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).