Dick Polman calls it “Tension on the ocean liner”. I’d put it as more like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. No matter, the result is the same: cap and trade legislation appears to be sinking.
In Obama’s ideal world, the cap-and-trade program would be folded into the budget; under Senate rules, the budget can be passed with a mere 51 votes…and, remember, the Senate Democrats on paper have 58 votes. But because so many Senate Democrats have signaled that they want cap-and-trade removed from the budget – eight of them, including Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey and Indiana’s Evan Bayh, have already put this in writing – that would appear to put the kibosh on easy passage of Obama’s signature environmental idea.
The alternative scenario is for cap-and-trade to move along as separate legislation, but that would require a filibuster-proof 60 votes for passage. Good luck to that. Translation: Cap-and-trade is probably dead this year, if not next year as well.
Polman takes enough shots in this piece to indicate that he favors cap and trade and hates Republicans in general.
Regardless, the far left is trying to slam Democrats who do not lean far enough to the left by having groups like MoveOn run attack ads in conservative Democrat’s districts. So I suspect Polman’s right here.
UPDATE: Thanks to Maggie’s Farm for the link. Folks who come over from there might also like this item.
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