McCain's Energy Record Reveals Muddled Mess

John McCain can’t seem to settle on a comprehensible energy policy, Noam Levey writes in the Los Angeles Times, noting that the Republican has been on both sides of issues from oil drilling to ethanol. He favors fuel-efficiency standards while rejecting renewable-sources guidelines and rejects tax breaks on renewables while supporting nuclear subsidies. “There is a very sporadic pattern here,” said one environmentalist.

The Arizona senator has “swerved from one position to another over the years, taking often contradictory stances on the government's role in energy policy,” Levey concludes. His record “shows little of the clear direction he says would come from a McCain White House.”