McCain gives positions on 2 issues, upsets Nevadans

Grumpy Editor illustrates what makes political public relations people fidgety ---

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, in Las Vegas for a fundraiser Friday, later told media two things --- and both make Nevada residents upset.

In a gambling state, with the NCAA Tournament in its second week driving major business to casino sports books, McCain declared his opposition to legal betting on college sports.

McCain mentioned college coaches, “the most respected people in America, came to me and said that they believed that there was enormous temptation before their young athletes.”

Then the Arizona senator voiced his support for the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of booming Las Vegas, in Clark County.  Trouble is, most Nevadans strongly oppose the facility that will cost more than $100 billion (yes, with a b), if it is ever built.

Aside from the possible problems connected with transporting nuclear waste from all over the country, a key concern about the repository is decaying radioactive waste canisters stored 1,000 feet below the surface and 1,000 feet above the water table leaking into groundwater and seeping into the neighboring valley and ultimately affecting Clark County, home to more than two million residents.

Grumpy Editor contends McCain would have made Republicans extremely happy and perhaps convert some environmentally-concerned Democrats in voting booths if he would have said that outsourcing nuclear waste to overseas destinations would be one of his major goals after moving into the White House.