Fla.’s Nelson Lashes Out At McCain

Tue, June 17, 2008 - 2:25 PM

WASHINGTON – Florida Sen. Bill Nelson has just lashed out at John McCain’s call for an end to a federal ban on new drilling off the shores of Florida and other states.

In a conference with reporters on behalf of Barack Obama’s campaign, Democrat Nelson at one point said McCain’s positions shows his “coziness with oil companies and Wall Street investment banks that are fueling this run up in (gas) prices …”

“John McCain has flip-flopped on drilling off the coast,” said Nelson. “He used to be against it. He’s now for it.”

But the problem, said Nelson, is that “drilling off shore does not lower oil prices.”

“Now, if you really want to bring down prices, then you have to go after the speculators so they cannot use these schemes to keep running the price up and up,” said Nelson.

-- Billy House