Bonus: Governor Brian Schweitzer Fires Up the Convention

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

He was not the keynote address speaker, but he should have been.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer delivered a red meat speech but with a sense of humor and theatrics that had the convention delegates fired up by the time Hillary came out to give her speech.  I really like this guy.

Governor Schweitzer offered some great lines of his own"

"[W]e face a great new challenge, a world energy crisis that threatens our economy, our security, our climate and our way of life. And until we address that energy crisis, our problems will only get worse. For eight long years, the White House has led us in the wrong direction. And now Senator McCain wants four more years of the same.

Can we afford four more years? [No!] Is it time for a change?  [Yes!] When do we need it? [Now!] And who do we need as the next President of the United States of America? [Obama!]  That’s right. Barack Obama is the change we need!

* * *

We need to break America’s addiction to foreign oil. We need a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made. And we need a president who can marshal our nation’s resources, get the job done and deliver the change we need.

* * *

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 clean biofuels. Against solar power. Against wind energy.

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, John McCain wants more of the same and has taken more than a million dollars in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. Now he wants to give the oil companies another 4 billion dollars in tax breaks. Four billion in tax breaks for big oil?

That’s a lot of change, but it’s not the change we need.

* * *

Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can’t drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain’s backyards, including the ones he can’t even remember.

That single-answer proposition is a dry well, and here’s why. America consumes 25 percent of the world’s oil, but has less than 3 percent of the reserves. You don’t need a $2 calculator to figure that one out. There just isn’t enough oil in America, on land or offshore, to meet America’s full energy needs."

For a transcript of his speech Governor Brian Schweitzer – Democratic National Convention

Watch the video (below the fold – for technical reasons)