Not quite, but almost:
Calling it “a little straight talk,” Sen. John McCain told Nevada backers at a town hall meeting Wednesday he still supports the construction of a nuclear waste repository north of Las Vegas as long as it meets all the regulatory requirements.
For a westerner, he really doesn't understand much about the west. Here is Utah the Yucca Mountain proposal isn't popular, because we would be along the shipping route. Even before terrorism hit the front pages we were worried that the route made a great target.
And now we are in a battle trying to keep England and Italy from sending waste into the Energy Solutions dump outside of Salt Lake.
It won't put him in danger in Utah, though. But Nevada? See below for some reactions.
But in a speech in Denver on Tuesday night, where he first mentioned his support for an international repository, McCain said:
“It is even possible that such an international center could make it unnecessary to open the proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.”
Nevada Democrats said McCain's new twist on his Yucca Mountain position was disingenuous.
“McCain has apparently just realized that his support of Yucca Mountain might cost him a critical swing state, and now he's trying to flip flop,” said Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the state Democratic Party.
“John McCain is an unabashed supporter of Yucca Mountain, despite the dire safety concerns associated with the dump,” she said.
Yep, magic fairies are going to make the waste go way. So we can ramp up nuclear fuel production all we want, not problem. Of course, until the magic fairies appear, we are going to store this stuff in your back yard. Hope you don't mind.
“I go to places and tell people what they don't want to hear,” he said.
The problem is, as president he'd like to places and do thing they don't want him to do.
This issue alone should be enough to flip Nevada in November. By trying to both pander and take an unpopular position, at the same time, he's pretty much shot his credibility on the issue.
[Update] I forgot my favorite quote:
He said McCain altered his message a bit in Reno on Wednesday because he “found out this international repository didn't convince anybody, much less Nevada voters.”
“And he decided, 'Well that's not going to fly, so I have to go back to what I've done my whole life,' which is support Yucca Mountain,” Wicker said.
“I give him credit for seeing his idea didn't fool anybody.”