And right now he is facing a primary challenge from the far-right. Understandably, he’s feeling a bit, um, Mavericky on climate legislation these days:

“The budget the president recently put forward undermines our ability to work in a bipartisan fashion on this issue,” said McCain. “The president and his administration have risked our country’s economic future with a tax, borrow, and spend policy of historic proportions.”

“What the Obama administration has proposed is not cap-and-trade,” he continued. “It’s cap-and-tax.”

McCain’s main concern is that Obama calls for all of the emission credits in his cap-and-trade plan to be auctioned off to polluters, rather than dispersed free of cost. The Obama plan would bring in tens of billions a year in revenues from auctioning credits, the majority of which would be returned to citizens through tax rebates. It would also dedicate $15 billion per year to energy investments.

Yes, you read that right. John McCain only supports cap and trade legislation if it is structured to funnel money to polluting industries. Thanks but no thanks, Senator.