Democrats offer a bushel of lies on corn ethanol

The theme of Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention was supposed to be "Renewing America's Promise," but it unsurprisingly degraded into a competition over who could mention Bush and McCain in the same sentence the most.

However, the prize for misrepresenting McCain's energy policy the most goes to Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa.

McCain has voted against tax credits for renewable energy 11 times, and his only idea to solve our energy crisis is to keep doing what we're doing, as we watch prices go up and up and up.

Culver's idea of "renewable energy" is corn ethanol, which is universally known to experts as a political tool to lure Iowans and other midwestern voters. John McCain called the corn industry out for the charlatans they are and as a result, he lost in Iowa in both the 2000 and 2008 primaries, and should probably brace himself to lose the Hawkeye State this time around as well. Between the soil degradation, inefficiency, and environmental impact of producing corn ethanol, corn-based fuel is neither renewable nor environmentally friendly.

Take the wording of a vote on tax credits for "renewable energy,"

To make energy more affordable and sustainable, to increase our national security through foreign oil replacement with biofuels and alternative fuels and advanced/hybrid vehicle use, to accelerate production and market penetration of clean and renewable energy technologies and generation, and to more fully utilize energy efficiency and conservation technologies and practices.

Needless to say, there are pretty open-ended standards as to what those represent. So when McCain's opponents repeatedly lie about his stance on renewable energy, remember that they are endorsing a dishonest corn lobby that not only misrepresents and inflates the benefits of corn ethanol, but has decimated American crop diversity and floods the market with cheap, unhealthy food additives. I don't need to remind you that Mr. Culver's state is ground zero for American corn production.