McCain 'gas-tax holiday' is a campaign retread

When Vice President Cheney famously said in April of 2001, "Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis all by itself for sound, comprehensive energy policy," Democrats lambasted him.

But even Democrats critical of Cheney's remark still recall that Clinton's 1993 gasoline tax hike cost Democrats seats in the 1994 elections, when they lost control of Congress.

Democrats on Capitol Hill today are nearly unanimous in calling for lower gasoline prices, not higher ones, as Gore was advocating in 1993.

What's changed since 1993
While McCain's gas tax holiday idea has a deja vu feel about it, a fundamental political change since 1993 is the increasing prominence of an issue that only Gore and a few other national politicians cared about back then, carbon dioxide emissions.

Underscoring this point, Rep. John Dingell, D- Mich., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, said Tuesday he was withdrawing his previous proposal for a 50 cent-per-gallon increase in the gasoline tax as a way to curb global warming.

"I simply cannot support these policies at a time when families in my district are dealing with record gas prices, high levels of unemployment, a home foreclosure crisis and rising food costs," Dingell said.

And the McCain proposal seems to run contrary to McCain’s oft-expressed views on the need to address global warming and control CO2 emissions.

Cheaper gasoline would encourage, or at least not discourage, more driving, more consumption of gasoline, and more CO2 emissions.

Larry Kudlow, the host of CNBC's "Kudlow & Company," raised this point in his interview with McCain Tuesday. The Arizona senator replied that he was "not sure" that suspending the gasoline tax would stimulate gasoline consumption.

McCain carbon emission bill
More than five years ago, McCain, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, Gore's 2000 running mate, proposed one of the first major bills to limit carbon dioxide emissions.

But Black said, “The climate issue and greenhouse gas emissions is a long-term issue and McCain's got a plan for that and you're going to hear more about it.”

He explained, “I don't think we're telling people don't go on vacation in order to help the environment. That's a longer-term thing that everybody has to participate in."

Black added, "Right now, despite the mortgage crisis and everything else, the biggest problem in people's minds is inflation. It's rising prices of food, gas, and other essentials. So we're trying to give them a break. Will Congress do it? I don't know. I'm skeptical. They have to do it right away.”

Adam Aigner-Treworgy of NBC News and National Journal contributed to this story.

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