Cindy Zimmerman
August 11, 2008

Republican presidential candidate John McCain repeatedly called his
audience at the Iowa State Fair on Friday “my friends” but his stand
on ethanol and farm policy are not very friendly to farmers in this
part of the country.

Give the man credit for having the guts to stand up in the middle of
the country’s largest ethanol producing state, beside the Iowa
commissioner of agriculture (and past corn growers president) and the
Iowa Farm Bureau president and tell them he disagreed with them about
ethanol support.

“I believe in renewable fuels,” McCain said. “I don’t believe in
ethanol subsidies, but I believe in renewable fuels. I believe we have
to do all of those things to restore our economy.”

Some will say you can’t have it both ways. McCain’s “Lexington
Project” plan for energy independence relies mainly on domestic oil
exploration and natural gas. However, the plan does include calling on
car makers to made ” a more rapid and complete switch to FFVs” as well
as increasing development of cellulosic ethanol.