Today, President Bush stopped at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska and spoke to soldiers. The White House included Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) in the event, despite his recent indictment on corruption charges. The AP reports that Bush “acknowledged Stevens briefly and warmly, saying the military has no stronger friend. Josh Bolten, the president’s chief of staff, was seen chatting with Stevens after the president spoke.”

The White House has continued to stand by the embattled Stevens. When pressed by reporters last week on whether Stevens would still travel with Bush on his Alaska trip, press secretary Dana Perino stood firm, stating that the invitation “did not change” with Stevens’s indictment.

On CBS’ Face the Nation yesterday, host Bob Schieffer asked McCain economic adviser Carly Fiorina how the newly announced projection of “a $480 billion deficit” would affect Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) economic plans. “The deficit is a huge problem,” admitted Fiorina.

Fiorina then claimed that “McCain has consistently said that he will make sure that we balance the budget by 2013.” Watch it:

In reality, McCain and his campaign have been anything but consistent in his promise to balance the budget:

February 15, 2008: At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, McCain “promised he’d offer a balanced budget by the end of his first term.”

April 15, 2008: In a news conference, McCain said that because “economic conditions are reversed,” he “would have a balanced budget within eight years.”

April 20, 2008: In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, McCain first claimed that he hadn’t abandoned his first term pledge, but when pressed, later said “we’re going to be on a path to a balanced budget” by the end of his first term.

July 7, 2008: Releasing his Jobs for America plan, McCain pledged “once again to balance the budget by the end of his first term in 2013.”

July 7, 2008: In a conference call with reporters, McCain’s top economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said that “the senator has always pledged to balance the budget by the end of his second term.”

Apparently Fiorina considers a “consistently” muddled message to be the same as having a consistent message. But as former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said yesterday, the more McCain talks, “the less certain we are about any of the positions he’s taken.”

In his New York Times review of Jane Mayer’s new book, The Dark Side, Alan Brinkley describes how by the end of 2005, torture advocates within the Bush administration were fighting to continue their extreme detainee program “because they feared being prosecuted should the program be halted and exposed.” In one White House meeting described by Mayer, Vice President Dick Cheney argued against releasing innocent detainees because “they’ll all get lawyers“:

By the end of 2005, those defending the regime of torture were no longer seeking primarily to protect the search for valuable intelligence. They were fighting for its survival, in the face of considerable evidence of the failure of SERE and other programs, because they feared being prosecuted should the program be halted and exposed. Even releasing detainees whom they knew to be entirely innocent was dangerous, since once released they could talk. “People will ask where they’ve been and ‘What have you been doing with them?’” Cheney said in a White House meeting. “They’ll all get lawyers.”

(HT: Noam Scheiber)

Today, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee are taking issue with Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) recent suggestion that Americans inflate their car tires to save on gasoline.

Both are not only falsely claiming that Obama’s energy policy is based entirely on car maintenance, but they are concurrently selling and handing out tire gauges reading “Obama’s Energy Plan” as part of a fundraising campaign. This is an odd strategy given that just last week McCain agreed with Obama’s position, saying, “My friends, let’s do that“:

McCAIN: [Obama] said that the high cost of gasoline doesn’t bother him only that it rose too quickly. Yesterday, he suggested we put air in our tires to save on gas. My friends, let’s do that. But do you think that’s enough to break our dependence on Middle Eastern oil? I don’t think so.

Watch it:

Of course, Obama never said proper tire pressure would “break our dependence on Middle Eastern oil.” Some of McCain’s highest level supporters — Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Charlie Crist (R-FL) — also agree with the value of inflating car tires properly:

Both governors appealed to those with the real power to make change — average citizens — to drive slower, keep engines tuned and tires properly inflated, to buy hybrids and lower overall consumption.

“We all do have the power. Let’s not wait for government,” Schwarzenegger concluded. “Energy prices are not going back to the good old days.”

As ThinkProgress recently noted, the Department of Energy and the auto industry have said proper car care can have a significant impact on saving energy and gas money. Moreover, stock car racing giant NASCAR also agrees, urging its fans to pay attention to tire inflation pressure to increase fuel economy.

Part of McCain’s solution to energy independence and high gas prices is to “immediately” start “drilling off shore.” Such an approach would yield a savings of 6 cents/gallon two decades from now, in addition to putting to the planet in peril. By contrast, car maintenance can save 12 cents/gallon immediately.

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Today on her radio show, right-wing talker Laura Ingraham hosted Zoriah Miller, a photojournalist whose embed with the Marines in Iraq was abruptly cut short after he published photos on his website of a dead Marine. Once Miller’s segment was over and he was gone, Ingraham accused him of having a political agenda and acting in “desperation” to turn people against the war. She also said war photography like his was unnecessary because “we know what it’s like” from “high-tech Hollywood”:

INGRAHAM: As the situation in Iraq continues to improve, I think you’re going to see more acts of desperation like this on the part of the anti-war clack, and of course Zoriah Miller has to be one of them. … We know what it is like for people to be disemboweled by an IED or a sniper’s bullet. We’ve seen enough of the horror, with the high-tech Hollywood, okay. We know what it is.

Listen to it:

In a column on the subject by the New York Times’ public editor this week, executive editor Bill Keller noted, “Death and carnage are not the whole story of war — there is also heroism and frustration, success and setback, camaraderie and, on occasion, atrocity — but death and carnage are part of the story, and to launder them out of our account of the war would be a disservice.”

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House conservatives have been engaging in political stunts to demand a vote on oil drilling. Last Friday, they stormed the floor after Congress adjourned “to attack Democrats for leaving town without doing something to lower gas prices.” Today, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) brought to the floor a “large garish photo” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) with the words, “I am trying to save the planet” written beneath it. (Watch some of Friday’s shenanigans here.)

These conservatives are desperately trying to convince the American public that this crude political stunt is actually important. To do so, they are casting the protest as historic, akin to what happened at the founding of the nation:

– “Today is the 2008 version of the Boston Tea Party.” [Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), 8/1/08]

– “Without your help we won’t be able to do anything…like the founders of this country we’re going directly to the American people.” [Rep. Tim Price (R-GA), 8/4/08]

– “Tell your congressman- we don’t want you back home. We want you in Washington. This could be America’s greatest hour. Insist that we come back to vote.” [Rep. Don Manzullo (R-IL), 8/4/08]

– “As a part of their history-making efforts to continue the fight to lower gas prices, House Republicans held a press conference just a few moments ago to demand that Speaker Pelosi allow a vote on the American Energy Act.” [Blog of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), 8/4/08]

But even the White House refuses to endorse this political theater. Last Friday, Reps. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Mike Pence (R-IN) asked the White House to “convene an immediate energy special session of Congress.” The Hill reports today that administration officials have rejected this request, deciding to sit out the so-called 2008 Boston Tea Party:

The White House has rejected calls from House Republicans that it convene a special session of Congress on energy, saying it wouldn’t make a difference.

“We don’t have plans to call Congress into session — it won’t make a difference if Democratic leaders are unwilling to bring up a bill for an up-down vote,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.

The conservative stunt is a waste of time. As even the White House has admitted, there is no “short-term” solution to high gas prices. Both the Energy Information Administration — and McCain’s own economic adviser — have stated that expanding offshore drilling “would not have a significant impact” on oil prices.

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