CARTER: Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never...

Point two: To ensure that we meet these targets, I will use my presidential authority to set import quotas...

Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel...

I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.

These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay...

Point four: I'm asking Congress to mandate, to require as a matter of law, that our nation's utility companies cut their massive use of oil by 50 percent within the next decade and switch to other fuels, especially coal, our most abundant energy source...

Point five: To make absolutely certain that nothing stands in the way of achieving these goals, I will urge Congress to create an energy mobilization board...

Point six: I'm proposing a bold conservation program to involve every state, county, and city and every average American in our energy battle. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford.

To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems...

Our nation must be fair to the poorest among us, so we will increase aid to needy Americans to cope with rising energy prices. We often think of conservation only in terms of sacrifice. In fact, it is the most painless and immediate way of rebuilding our nation's strength. Every gallon of oil each one of us saves is a new form of production. It gives us more freedom, more confidence, that much more control over our own lives...

I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice.

"Thanks, America's crazy right wing. We couldn't have ignored our most important problems for three decades and thereby made them much worse without you."

It was the Republican, right wing, reactionary administrations of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II that ignored Carter's warnings, killed his energy programs to help create this energy and environmental crisis upon us now.

As for McSame's lying ad, PoliFact states: "The main implication of the ad is that the ban on some offshore drilling a ban that McCain has long opposed, more explicitly lately than in the past has contributed to rising prices, and since Obama supports it, it is fair to blame him for it.

"The last part is highly dubious. Obama has only been in the U.S. Senate since 2005, and the congressional moratorium prohibiting oil and gas leasing on most of the outer continental shelf dates to 1982.

"Granted, Congress has renewed it every year since. But there was also a presidential order banning oil exploration off the coasts from 1990, when the first President Bush issued it, until July 14, 2008, when his son lifted it.

"So even if the ban on offshore drilling contributed to "rising prices at the pump," it would have done so regardless of how Obama felt about it, at least until the very recent past.

"What the ad pins on Obama and others who are "saying no to (new offshore) drilling in America" are the price increases the country is currently enduring. That saddles the Illinois senator with a lot more influence than he has had. If one were to line up all the leaders in Washington who share some responsibility for the offshore drilling moratorium” the first President Bush, the Republican leadership of Congress, the Democratic leadership of Congress, the Florida delegation” there would be quite a few people ahead of Obama. We find McCain's claim to be False.

And from VirginiaDem: "After over seven years of failed Republican energy policies the price of gasoline, home heating oil, electricity, and natural gas are all at pocketbook breaking levels for all but the wealthiest Americans. The “Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008: gave members of the U.S. House the opportunity to provide some much needed relief to working Americans.

"The DRILL Act, was designed to require energy companies to move decisively to increase domestic oil production on the over 68 million acres of American oil-producing land that is already leased, available, and idle. Combined the area available, right now, is the size of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and most of Maryland."

McSame should quit his "who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes and ears" prevarication.