Leave it to Robert Samuelson to misrepresent the truth and tell the half of a story that justifies his point.

Just this week, this very same week, I saw Obama on CNN saying that only 30% of oil prices are being influenced by speculators. McCain, on the other hand is indeed playing the it's-the-boogie-man game, so don't divide the blame equally among "the candidates"; one of them is being much more straight-forward than the other.

Something no one has talked much about is the Saudis' refusal to increase the supply of oil when prices are up the roof. Hmmmm, that's odd, isn't it? In fact, they have just promised Bush (after he asked, hat in hand TWICE for the supply to be increased) that they would increase production. Are we supposed to think the market was in balance in the last few months, as they alleged?

OPEC is acting like a cartel and that is something the market cannot correct itself because, after all, it is a market failure. This country has no viable energy plan (two years after Bush said "we were addicted to oil"), there is ZERO leadership in energy conservation and as you said, that ethanol is misusing the resources of the market.

So quit the condescending half-truths. One candidate has a plan for greener energy while the other is flip-flapping on ocean floor oil drilling TWO MONTHS after he said he was against it. Get it right for once, Samuelson.