Lincoln scorns Clinton's pleas to save planet

[IDemo]

Rescued by Bill Clinton's support, the Arkansas Democrat votes with Big Oil against carbon regulation -- and him

By Joe Conason - Salon

Other than Al Gore – or perhaps Barack Obama – there are few major American politicians who speak out more passionately about global warming and the need to change our civilization’s energy economy than Bill Clinton. His concern dates back before the unanimous rejection of the first Kyoto treaty by the U.S. Senate – which he had endorsed as president -- and he has devoted the resources of the Clinton Foundation to reducing carbon emissions and saving forests around the world.

Which raises profound questions about Clinton's dogged campaigning for Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., whose comeback victory in a bitter primary last Tuesday was attributed to his support. Today, Lincoln rewarded him by joining with Republicans in a landmark vote to block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. Indeed, Lincoln was one of three conservative Democratic senators (along with Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska) to co-sponsor the resolution authored by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Widely regarded as a blatant and mindless political attack on science, the Murkowski-Lincoln resolution is also a rebuke to Clinton and everyone who shares his view that climate change is the most important challenge facing the world in this century. The former president has repeatedly urged Senate Democrats to pass serious cap-and-trade or carbon tax legislation by whatever means necessary, including the now-controversial method of reconciliation. He often speaks in apocalyptic terms on the topic, as he did last year when he said that "Congress must pass, and the president must sign, legislation that puts a price on carbon and establishes a cap and trade system ... properly pricing something that is otherwise going to destroy the planet."

Whatever he and Lincoln discussed before he went into Arkansas on her behalf, she evidently has not gotten his fervent message on climate. While her assumption of the chairmanship of the Senate Agriculture Committee in 2009 was a victory for their home state, it was a debacle for environmental progress, especially on climate policy, because she simply doesn’t "get it" on energy, farming and climate. She is a mediocre senator overall, but on these critical issues she is a horror show.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/06/10/blanche/index.html

[mmonk]

1. Hence Clinton's untenable position of support.

One cannot be a protector of the environment and a paid representive of industrial polluters at the same time.

[karynnj]

2. Maybe the reason for this inconsistency is that the environment IS not - and has never been

a Clinton passion. This the same Clinton, protector of the environment, who had a poor environmental record in Arkansas. (Tyson Chicken)

The fact is that Lincoln politically is not that far from the conservative Democratic positions of Bill Clinton.

[mmonk]

4. You are correct.

Afterall, Clinton made corporate interests center stage in the Democratic Party.

[blm]

7. and covered up more criminal ops of BushInc than Lee Hamilton at his worst

.

[lunatica]

3. This is what happens when you make a pact with the Devil

And this is what it boils down to when you're DLC. Either you care about the planet or you triangulate every move you make. You have to commit to one or the other. Blanche Lincoln is like Bush. She probably things her very narrow win is actually a mandate. It just swelled her head even more. And Clinton? He's no environmentalist as far as I can see.

[blm]

5. Put down that pail of water, Joe. Clinton let Monsanto, Tyson and WalMart direct his policy for

the environment as governor AND president. They, Jackson Stephens, and their Wall St cronies had more influence with President Clinton's environmental decisions than Gore did.

ANYTHING Clinton does now is likely designed to burnish his image in the world and his legacy. Conason must be in charge of furthering the 'myth' Clinton wants to leave behind.

[tsuki]

6. One of the biggest disappointments to me during the Clinton years

was when he sent Al Gore to Cop III and then dismissed Gore and Cop III when he returned. Clinton never took up the climate change mantle in the 90s. And I don't really think he gives a crap now. It is all about Clinton, all the time.

"She (Blanche Lincoln) is a mediocre senator overall, but on these critical issues she is a horror show." This statement was true before Clinton went to Arkansas to campaign for her, it is true now.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. Good Cop Bad Cop

DLC'ers like Clinton can pretend that they support stuff like regulating greenhouse gas emissions, but then really support hatchet people like Lincoln to do the dirty work and leave them with clean hands and an unsullied public persona. Peole are starting to catch on. And of course, Bill is now BushI's new adopted son.