<p>Hillary had the unenviable task of forging unity last night, but Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer delivered the near impossible: A rousing speech on energy policy that had folks hootin’ and hollerin’. </p>
<p>Schweitzer hammered home the key principles that Democrats need to keep drilling into voters’ heads until November. First, there are several energy avenues that don’t wreck the planet and don’t rely on “petro-dictators.” Second, all those avenues lead to American jobs that can’t be outsourced. </p>
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<i>We need to break America’s addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean and green and American-made. We need a president who can marshal our nation’s resources, get the job done, and deliver the change we need.</i>
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<i>That leader is Barack Obama. [Crowd shouts Obama’s name.] Yeah, that’s what I like to hear. Barack Obama knows there’s no single platform for energy independence. It’s not a question of either wind or clean coal, solar or hydrogen, oil or geothermal. We need ’em all to create a strong American energy system, a system built on American innovation.</i>
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<i>After eight years of a White House waiting hand and foot on big oil, John McCain offers more of the same. At a time of skyrocketing fuel prices, when American families are struggling to keep their gas tanks full, John McCain voted 25 times against renewable and alternative energy. Against biofuels. Against solar energy. He even voted against the wind energy.<br />
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This not only hurts America’s energy independence, it could cost American families more than a hundred thousand jobs. At a time when America should be working harder than ever to develop new, clean sources of energy, John McCain wants more of the same. [Boos.] Wait till you hear this: And he has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. [Boos.] Woah. Now he wants to give those same oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. [Boos.] Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?<br />
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That’s a lot of change, but it’s not the change that we need.</i>
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<p>Watch the video:</p>
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<i>For more of Utne.com’s ongoing coverage of the Democratic National Convention, click <a title=”https://www.utne.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=30&tag=Democratic%20National%20Convention” href=”/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=30&tag=democratic%20national%20convention” target=”_blank”>here</a>.</i>
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