It’s awfully big of Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington to ask people to support Sen. Mary Landrieu in her runoff election when Landrieu is using Cantwell’s positions on energy issues as one of the main reasons why Louisiana voters should send her back to D.C. for another six-year term.
“If I don’t get back there as a senior member of the [Energy] committee, we’re gonna have a woman who I like very much (but) I’m not sure Louisiana is going to think very much of a senator from Washington state who’s all for windmills and alternative energy, and doesn’t support the oil and gas industry.”
To begin with, the importance here is exaggerated because the Democrats have already lost control of the Senate. Neither Landrieu nor Cantwell will actually chair the Energy Committee, and as Ranking Members their influence won’t be all that great. The biggest impact is more theoretical. Should Cantwell become the Ranking Member then she would be in position to chair the committee in two years if the Democrats win back control of the upper chamber.
Personally, I’d much rather see Cantwell setting energy policy in the Senate than Landrieu, but I guess most people in Louisiana probably see things differently. And, while I don’t like to cede six-year seats to the Republicans, the way Landrieu attacks any threats to the oil and gas industry makes it very hard for me to regret her political defeat.
I understand that this is pretty much how any Louisiana politician would behave and that Landrieu is better than the Republicans on almost every other issue. I know that Cantwell understands this, too, which is why she’s shrugging off the disrespect and working to get Landrieu reelected.
I just don’t think we can play this game anymore on climate change. We need to get politicians like Landrieu and Joe Manchin from West Virginia to start thinking about how they can protect the economies of their states without standing in the way of addressing the problem with carbon emissions. I remember when nothing could be done about tobacco because of the impact on local and state economies. But we got through that and Virginia and Kentucky and North Carolina survived. We can do this if we can just get the right kind of leadership.
Unfortunately, Landrieu has shown absolutely no signs of getting that.
How would Cantwell be hurt by this? Most likely neither she nor Landrieu have strong personal opinions about energy policy. (E.g., Landrieu wouldn’t have waited until now for the big Keystone pipeline push if she really wanted it that much.) Both are simply holding the positions they need to hold given their respective states’ inclinations.
The only significance is that Cantwell would prefer Landrieu in the Senate to being the ranking Dem on the Energy Committee (and likely the chair for 2017-18). That indicates a) they do actually like each other and b) Cantwell isn’t a Machiavellian creep. Which is good, but doesn’t surprise me.
The pre postmortems for Landrieu come off as somewhere between slut shaming and sweet lemons.
The slow walk of her demise due to LA election law is unfortunate, but not worthy of any sweeping conclusions. The netroots could do the classy thing and thank her for her service and wish her well, but here we are.
Boo underrates the duration non-sensical nostalgia can resonate with the electorate. See Amtrak long distance trains.
Amtrak long distance trains? Non-sensical nostalgia? Please explain.
good question. long distance trains are great
Landrieu has lost.
She wanted to be a Republican with a (D) after her name.
I don’t care about her sex life at all. She’s a fucking loser for the Democratic party. Why? Well, let’s see, she’s about to go and lose to a real Republican.
And let’s not go deluding ourselves here.
Every one of her little dumbfuck press conferences where she talks about oil is her simply telling Oil and Gas Lobbyists that she’ll be available for employment in a few short months.
Maybe trying to put the brakes on climate change is important enough to the future of human society that a little Machiavellianism is justified.
Gosh, if only we were allowed to consider the possibility of the federal government playing some kind of role. I mean, if Louisiana is that heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry, we certainly don’t want to leave them high and dry. (Well, that’s sort of the opposite of the correct metaphor, but you get the idea.)
And I know this is crazy talk, but suppose we could find a way to take all those people who are going to lose their jobs if we don’t protect the oil and gas industry, and find other jobs for them. It’s not like we don’t need to rebuild our entire infrastructure, so there’s plenty of work to do.
kind of pinpoints the mindset of today’s culture eh? We simply can’t exist without fossil fuel, so there’s no point in looking at options. Any discussion loses more jobs.
Let’s add this story to the time capsule we bury. Archaeologists of future intelligent species will find it helpful in understanding how homo sapiens managed to make themselves extinct despite having the knowledge to prevent it.
I received a similar email from Chuck Schumer. I replied that I was disgusted by his remarks about the ACA and unsuscribed from his email list. Did the same with a recent DNC email and added that the recently negotiated tax package that left behind working families once again exposed how little backbone they have. I suspect that I will still donate in the future – when our backs are up against the wall – but don’t assume just because a politician has a D after their name that they will get my support.
Not getting how “send me back to Congress to fight environmental Democrats” is a winning message considering that her GOP opponent would caucus with the majority party that has the single purpose of destroying all vestiges of liberalism in the USA. Including the Democratic Party, an agenda LA voters have been endorsing for a while now. Even if they have to elect GOP creatures like Jindal and “diaper John.”
I don’t know about Cantwell. Something odd about sending money to someone you disagree with on your core issue. Maybe she is not so much for windmills after all and is looking for a place to hide?
Landrieu has already lost.
Who cares what that future Republican-Lite (Gas Industry – LA) thinks.
The only reason I sent her a little bit of money once the runoff began was because she voted for Obamacare. Shortly after the donation went through, I unsubscribed from her mailing list. I didn’t want to be bombarded with requests or updates.
I don’t imagine her winning, but at this point, I don’t care.