Let’s say you are running for president and you tell everyone that you think offshore drilling would take years to do anything about gas prices, then 30 days later you suddenly say that drilling would help in the short term…what do you think it would take to publicly contradict yourself on an issue like that?

Could it be MONEY, and lots of it? I think it could.

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.(via the WaPo)

Offshore drilling is still a stupid idea, even if John McCain has been bribed into changing his mind.