Does anyone else see the problem with Dana Milbank’s critique of the Democratic senators who stayed up all night yesterday and this morning talking about climate change?
Seeking action on global warming is a worthy endeavor, and the night owls deserve praise for the enthusiasm. But burning the midnight oil in this manner is peculiar. Usually, when a lawmaker talks all night, he’s trying to stop the majority from passing something. But these guys are trying to persuade the majority — themselves — to pass something.
Joining the late-night guerilla action was Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who as the Senate majority leader is usually a target of filibusters, not a sponsor. If he and his colleagues really want action, they don’t have to lose sleep. All they have to do is bring a climate-change bill to the floor.
The problem is that Reid doesn’t have the votes in his caucus to pass such a measure.
As Mr. Milbank surely knows, even if every Democrat supported a climate change bill, Sen. Reid still wouldn’t have the votes to pass it. That’s because there are only 55 Democrats and he needs 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. And there are Republican senators who are not embarrassed to act like this:
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) crashed the Democrats’ party, needling his colleagues for more than half an hour. “All night long? That’s going to be fun,” said Inhofe, who calls global warming a “hoax” and frequently cites cold snaps as confirmation. “They’ll have an audience of themselves and I hope that they enjoy it.”
How much media attention did these Democratic senators get compared to the attention that Rand Paul and Ted Cruz received when they took over the Senate floor for all-night speeches?
Why is that?
Yes indeed, Milbank, chuckle away that neither party will pass legislation crucial to preserving the 11,000 year old stable climate as the last chances for action pass inexorably. Mock those elected officials who actually know that something needs to be done and are feebly trying to convey that message. Deride the party that likely is within 5 votes of having a majority on the issue, as opposed to the Fossil Fuel party, which I question if it has a single vote for doing anything. Dems in Disarray, obviously! Meaningless Grandstanding, unlike the heroic one-man-yapping antics of Repubs Cruz and Paul…
Also, too, quote Denialist-in Chief Dimhofe and his psychotic prattle, as though there is a legitimate “debate” about the matter and Dimhofe is a responsible national leader on the subject. Hesaid/Shesaid? check….
a perfect score on the Wank-o-Meter, bravo!
“Why is that?”
Because we have such an obviously left-leaning MSM.
Oy…
Hate to be so pessimistic, but, while I applaud these senators for speaking out this way on a hugely important issue, I’m afraid what legislation could pass — and that’s already a stretch — would be so feeble as to be meaningless.
I’m afraid we’ve waited too long to act, and to act forcefully in a radical non-cap’n trade way, to avert disaster. I suspect the time to act came and went some years ago, and now we’ll have to suffer the rest of the century for the inaction and political cowardice of the past 25 years.
At this point, all we hope to do is to give ourselves just a bit more time for the scientists to produce a miracle. It may turn out to be futile, but it may be that just a few extra years is the difference between civilization’s survival and destruction. I’m going to support anyone who makes any effort at all.
What we need is a political miracle, in this country anyway, to overcome the obstructionist, denialist right-wing and their corporate benefactors.
But I don’t see that happening in the foreseeable future.
As for the scientists, I suspect a number already know the best way forward, namely going south with deep geothermal, a limitless renewable and non-polluting source of energy to power the world. But all the attention seems to be on whether to pull the trigger on natural gas and more fracking, that Canadian-US xfl pipeline, expanding still further the scope of domestic oil drilling, and, for a few die-hard holdouts, nuclear.