Campaign contributions from oil industry executives to Sen. John McCain rose dramatically in the last half of June, after the senator from Arizona made a high-profile split with environmentalists and reversed his opposition to the federal ban on offshore drilling.

Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month -- three-quarters of which came after his June 16 speech calling for an end to the ban -- compared with $116,000 in March, $283,000 in April and $208,000 in May. [...]

"The timing was significant," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonpartisan campaign finance reform group that conducted the analysis of McCain's oil industry contributions. "This is a case study of how a candidate can change a policy position in the interest of raising money."

Well, at least we know now why he flip-flopped on off shore oil drilling. He did for that most American of reasons: Cold, hard cash. But, hey you can still believe he'll protect the environment and cares about global warming all you want. People believed Bush was a war hero, after all, merely by standing on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit with a codpiece. So why shouldn't people continue to believe Johnny Mac is a "Green Republican" just because he says he is one.

By the way, how much would all that off shore drilling lower the price of gas, and how soon? Well . . .

Just to put a fine point on it, lowering the price of crude oil per barrel by $1 is roughly equal to a reduction in price at the pump of 2.5 cents per gallon. So lifting all of the above moratoriums [i.e., ANWR and all other offshore areas] lowering the price of crude by $2.25 per barrel, would lower the price at the pump by less than 6 cents by 2025.

But hey, this is a winning argument for the Republicans. How do I know? Because the stenographers neutral and fair minded journalists at The Washington Post told me so!

United behind a renewed push for offshore oil drilling, Republican members of Congress and the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, think they have found their best political issue of the 2008 campaign.

McCain strategists and GOP leaders on Capitol Hill say the issue, which polls suggest Americans favor by healthy margins, lets Republicans demonstrate their plans to address the anger over high gas prices as well as the broader economic distress that many voters feel.

Hey, if Americans vote for Republicans again on the false promise that more drilling by Big Oil off our coasts and in Alaska will lower the price of gas back to a range where they can drive their SUV's at will again, we deserve what we will get. And Big Oil will reap billions of dollars from a relatively small investment in the Republican Party.

What's that my favorite movie villain once said? Oh, yes, I almost forgot: Greed is Good. Well, vote for Republicans again, my friends, if that's what you truly believe. After all it's worked wonders over the last 8 years, so why not let them have another four?