This is what you might call stream of consciousness campaigning, in which John McCain just blurts out any old thing that comes to mind.

ExxonMobil just announced today that its third-quarter profits totaled $14.83 billion - the biggest quarterly profit in history.

Revenues and net income were also up significantly, but as conservatives always point out whenever ExxonMobil makes the news for this reason - not up as much as analysts wanted, and so ExxonMobil shares actually slipped today.

I always love how a company can make more money than any company anywhere, ever, but the market/investors decide it’s not enough.

And we tell individual consumers they need to live within their means.

Anyway, big news, and bad news for the “drill baby drill”-bots.

Ah, but John McCain shall not be thwarted:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain seized on reports of record oil company profits Thursday to criticize Democratic rival Barack Obama for favoring tax breaks for the oil industry. …

<snip>

McCain told supporters at a chilly rally in Defiance, Ohio, that Obama’s rhetoric masks votes backing new tax breaks for the industry.

“I voted against it,” the Arizona Republican said during his latest pitch for Ohio’s 20 electoral votes. “When I’m president, we’re not going to let that happen.”

Really.

John McCain is immersed in oil company cash. His campaign is being run and financed by lobbyists for the oil industry.

But, you know, Obama is the one who’s shilling for the oil companies. McCain - he’s going to stick it to those rich oil guys.

Does Fred Thompson know about this?