Bummer: New GOP Senate Gearing Up To Cause Climate Mayhem

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 3:50 pm

Grist’s Ben Adler is Very Concerned

The new GOP Senate is already gearing up to cause climate mayhem

…

But their biggest win by far was taking control of the U.S. Senate. As of this writing, Republicans had already secured 52 Senate seats, thanks to knocking off Democratic incumbents or replacing retiring Democrats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Another GOP pick up is probable in Alaska, and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy is likely to win the runoff in Louisiana against Sen. Mary Landrieu in December.

This is not good news for the climate. The party that controls the majority and the committee chairmanships controls the agenda. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will now be the majority leader. McConnell deflects questions about whether he accepts climate science by saying he isn’t a scientist and citing climate-denying conservative pundit George Will. But he is clear about where he stands on fossil fuels, especially coal: He loves them. Attacking President Obama for not sharing his passion for burning carbon was central to McConnell’s reelection campaign this year. If you thought Landrieu, chair of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee, was too pro–fossil fuel, just wait until Republican Lisa Murkowski of Alaska takes the gavel. Leading climate denier James Inhofe of Oklahoma will be taking over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and fellow denier Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be chairing the Committee on Science and Technology.

The Republicans have two top energy-related demands: stop EPA from regulating CO2 and approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

So, complete and total doom. How dare the GOP work to make sure citizens have access to inexpensive energy!

And so you can expect to see a lot of little bits of bad news for the climate and the broader environment in the budget negotiation process. EPA funding will be cut, presumably by somewhere between the roughly stable funding Obama will likely request and the drastic cuts the House GOP will pass. Programs that especially irk Republicans, like those that promote renewable energy and anything pertaining to smart growth, will fare especially poorly. There will also be spending cuts in other departments with environmental implications, like mass transit and transit-oriented affordable-housing development.

If the GOP acts in a smart manner, they will not necessarily cut a lot, but force proper spending. Get the EPA back to dealing with their core mission, rather than going off the rails on Hotcoldwetdry and their overbearing tyranny methods. The EPA has a place and a role. For renewables, use money for research and development, to make sure it is done right with methods that can actually succeed, rather than just throwing money at companies that either go under or provide little return on investment, mostly meaning little power that is expensive. Mass transit should be left to the states and cities. Lite rail has turned out to be a pure boondoggle and outhouse of spending.

Ben does make a good point

In fairness to the GOP, elections have consequences and Obama should have to compromise with them. That Republicans lack any actual popular majority — they won because of the rural bias of the Senate and gerrymandering of House districts — is irrelevant. When Republicans claim they have a popular mandate, they are lying, and should be called out for it. But when they say, “We won and we’re going to use our power to enact our agenda,” it’s all in the game.

Elections do have consequences. Republicans would be well within their rights to tell Obama “we won. Deal with it.”

Read: Bummer: New GOP Senate Gearing Up To Cause Climate Mayhem »

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is the need for more firefighters as the GOP majority ignores climate change, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Fire Andrea Mitchell, with a post on Greg Abbott crushing Abortion Barbie.

Read: If All You See… »

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Harry Reid Tells Us What The GOP Wave Is Really About

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 9:58 am

I was hunting around for the Alison Grimes concession speech that has Democrats roasting her, and ran across this, possibly one of the dumbest comments made about the Wave

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid congratulated McConnell on the Republican victory in a statement Tuesday night.

“The message from voters is clear: they want us to work together,” Reid, D-Nev., said. “I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class.”

Really? That’s the message? I would think the message is that citizens are tired of the Reid-Obama agenda, and tired of Reid’s heavy hand ignoring all the legislation sent over from the House, and how Reid is utterly partisan and refuses to cross the aisle.

https://twitter.com/belle_river/status/529985567925469184

Tweet via Twitchy.

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HuffPo Blames Maine Freak Snowstorm On Climate Change

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 9:06 am

Of course they did

A freak early-season snowstorm has paralyzed large parts of Maine, leaving thousands without power and putting a damper on today’s election.

Some parts of the state recorded up to 21 inches of snow. CentralMaine.com reportst hat up to 65,000 residents were still without power as of Monday, and some towns had to change their polling locations because of the outage. (snip)

Climate deniers like to pounce on snowstorms as evidence that climate change isn’t happening. But scientists have found that increased precipitation, including heavy snowstorms, may actually be driven by climate change. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which increases the chances of a major precipitation event like a snowstorm.

They were really hoping this fossil fueled freak snow storm would defeat incumbent GOP gov Paul Le Page. Nope. He won.

Read: HuffPo Blames Maine Freak Snowstorm On Climate Change »

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NY Times Editorial Board Already In Sour Grapes Mode

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 8:22 am

Yes they are

Negativity Wins the Senate

Republicans would like the country to believe that they took control of the Senate on Tuesday by advocating a strong, appealing agenda of job creation, tax reform and spending cuts. But, in reality, they did nothing of the sort.

Even the voters who supported Republican candidates would have a hard time explaining what their choices are going to do. That’s because virtually every Republican candidate campaigned on only one thing: what they called the failure of President Obama. In speech after speech, ad after ad, they relentlessly linked their Democratic opponent to the president and vowed that they would put an end to everything they say the public hates about his administration. On Tuesday morning, the Republican National Committee released a series of get-out-the-vote images showing Mr. Obama and Democratic Senate candidates next to this message: “If you’re not a voter, you can’t stop Obama.”

I’m sure that is somehow raaaaacist.

The most important promises that winning Republicans made were negative in nature. They will repeal health care reform. They will roll back new regulations on banks and Wall Street. They will stop the Obama administration’s plans to curb coal emissions and reform immigration and invest in education.

Most of us do not see that as a negative. We see the initial policies as negatives.

Virtually all Democratic candidates distanced themselves from Mr. Obama and refused to make the case that there has been substantial progress on jobs and economic growth under this administration.

Oh, so they were negative on Obama, too. Good to know.

But Republicans also had little to say about reviving the economy, and their idea of creating jobs seems to be limited to building the Keystone XL oil pipeline, cutting taxes further and crying “repeal Obamacare” at every opportunity.

Well, except for noting the dozens of economic bills currently stuck in the Democrat controlled Senate, where Harry Reid refuses to all votes on those bills.

In theory, full control of Congress might give Republicans an incentive to reach compromise with Mr. Obama because they will need to show that they can govern rather than obstruct. They might, for example, be able to find agreement on a free-trade agreement with Pacific nations.

You’ll hear a lot about how Republicans need to compromise with Dems and Obama, despite D and O rarely ever doing the same.

But their caucuses in the Senate and the House will be more conservative than before, and many winning candidates will feel obliged to live up to their promises of obstruction. Mr. McConnell has already committed himself to opposing a minimum-wage increase, fighting regulations on carbon emissions and repealing the health law.

Let’s hope they do go with a fiscal Conservative agenda.

“Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” Mr. McConnell said in his victory speech. As the new Senate leader, he must now prove those are not empty words.

Remember when the NY Times was calling for Dems to work with Bush and Republicans when they handily won in November, 2006? I remember Paul Krugman whining about how the 2006 midterms were All About Bush

President Bush isn’t on the ballot tomorrow. But this election is, nonetheless, all about him. The question is whether voters will pry his fingers loose from at least some of the levers of power, thereby limiting the damage he can inflict in his two remaining years in office.

That was the day before the 2006 midterms.

The Washington Post editorial board is also amusing

REPUBLICANS COLLECTED a significant victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections, gaining control of the Senate to go with their control of the House. With that win comes an increased level of responsibility for the nation’s fortunes. They can no longer behave like a petty opposition party. If the GOP wants to prove before 2016 that it is better at governing than the Democrats, this is its chance to address a backlog of problems — to seek results, rather than continue to blame others for failure.

Remember all those editorials about Obama Blamestorming away his failures?

Republicans, then, should treat the next two years as an opportunity to legislate in good faith, not to push serious work beyond the next election in the fantasy that the country has permanently turned in a more conservative direction. For his part, Mr. Obama should not embark on his final two years with an assumption of Republican intransigence that would be self-fulfilling.

So, Republicans should “compromise”, and really, good luck with that part about Obama. He lives for division.

But, after all is said, and the sour grapes are ground away, the Democratic Underground was probably the most sour of all.

Read: NY Times Editorial Board Already In Sour Grapes Mode »

Posted in Elections, Wonky Media | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Thom Tillis Takes NC Senate Seat, GOP Makes It A Rout

By William Teach November 5, 2014 – 7:51 am

Excellent news. North Carolina could have certainly done worse than Kay Hagan: we could have had a Chuck Schumer, Harry, Reid, or Al Franken. But, Kay was all about the Democrat Party and Obama’s agenda, rather than what was important to North Carolina. We’ll see if Thom Tillis puts NC first

(WRAL) Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis has ousted U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a first-term Democrat, according to incomplete and unofficial returns.

Tillis’ margin of victory will be narrow, most likely less than 2 percentage points once all votes are counted, after a bitterly contested race that was the most expensive congressional race in the country. His victory helped give Republicans control of the U.S. Senate.

“My name is Thom Tillis, and I’m the next United States senator from the state of North Carolina,” Tillis said at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, claiming victory before a crowd of cheering supporters in Charlotte.

I’m waiting for Democrats to complain about the vast amounts of money spent

At least $111.2 million has poured into the campaign, according to figures put together by the Center for Responsive Politics. The actual spending is certainly higher, as candidates have yet to fully disclose their efforts and some nonprofit groups fell into legal loopholes that allowed them to keep their efforts undisclosed.

Of course, what most media outlets fail to note is that Kay and outside support groups significantly outspent Tillis and the groups supporting him, to the tune of $22 million to his $8, $35 million from liberal outside groups to $10 million from the right.

The big question of the night is: did he win because of being a Republican and his policies, or did he, and the other Republicans, win because of opposition to Obama? There’s certainly a mixture of both.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, Renee Ellmers handily beat Clay Aiken 59-41.

The only Democratic congressional candidates celebrating victories Tuesday were those in races where the outcomes were foregone conclusions. Former state Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro won the 12th Congressional District in the race to replace Mel Watt, U.S. Rep. David Price of Chapel Hill won re-election in the 4th Congressional District (that’s mine, darnit), and U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield of Wilson will continue representing the 1st Congressional District.

Ten Republicans and three Democrats will represent the state in the next Congress, as the state will see another district flip Republican: the 7th District, which has been represented by a Democrat for more than a century.

That would be David Rouzer, who took out Jonathan Barfield (D) 59-37.

Nationally

(CNN) A Republican tide ripped the Senate away from Democrats Tuesday, giving the GOP full control of Congress and the power to pin down President Barack Obama during his last two years in office.

The thumping win upends the balance of power between the White House and Capitol Hill only six years after Obama’s Democrats swept to power and marginalized Republicans in a rush to reform health care, Wall Street and pass a huge stimulus package.

Now, it’s Democrats who will take the back seat on Capitol Hill, relying mostly on the power of the filibuster to stymie Republicans and keep Obama’s legacy intact.

“For too long, this administration has tried to tell the American people what is good for them and then blame somebody else when their policies didn’t work out,” Mitch McConnell, who is expected to become the next Senate majority leader, said in a victory speech.

Democrats lost seats in Colorado, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, to go with North Carolina. Louisiana is certainly going to a runoff, with Mary Landrieu leading Bill Cassidy 42-41, with Republican Ron Manness taking 14%, mucking it up. Virginia is so close, with Democrat Mark Warner leading Ed Gillespie (R) by just 12,000 votes. We’re still waiting for Alaska numbers. Sullivan (R) is leading Begich 49-45 with 73% of the votes in.

Two other Republican governors meanwhile won reelection and stirred buzz for their own 2016 White House prospects — John Kasich in swing state Ohio, and conservative Republican Scott Walker in Wisconsin. In New Mexico, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, often mentioned as a possible GOP vice presidential pick, strolled to reelection.

Maryland — a traditionally Democratic state — elected Republican Larry Hogan as governor. And Illinois, Obama’s home state, ousted its Democratic governor.

Also, Massachusetts, which elected Charlie Baker over very leftist Democrat Martha Coakley. Republicans control the majority of governor’s mansions across the country. And don’t discount how big the win was for Scott Walker, which could very well position him for a 2016 White House run.

When we jump over the House, Republicans increased their hold by adding at least 12 seats to their majority, while only losing 1. Guess we won’t be seeing Nancy Pelosi with the gavel again.

“We’ve listened to the American people,” Boehner said. “We’ve kept our focus on the economy and jobs non-stop. I think the voters in America today are going to send a very clear message to the president and Democrats in Washington that the American people want us to focus on their priorities, not Washington’s priorities.”

Democrats yammered on about uterus’ and #WarOnWomen and so many other marginal issues and things that are very low on the priority scale for Americans.

Oh, and we will get treated to mopey Harry Reid as minority leader in the Senate. Bummer.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Thom Tillis Takes NC Senate Seat, GOP Makes It A Rout »

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Six Ways You Can Totally Help Stop Hotcoldwetdry

By William Teach November 4, 2014 – 4:25 pm

I debated whether to hold off till tomorrow to blog this hilarious Guardian missive, what with the elections being today, but, hey, it’s very amusing, and tomorrow will surely be about Democrat whines, nuttyness, moonbattery, and bat guano insanery (yeah, not a word. Bummer)

Six ways you can help stop climate change 

….so what is one small human being to do? Here, to get you started, are a few suggestions.

  1. Talk about climate change (um, haven’t they been doing that for 20+ years?)

  2. Take a look at your diet (they don’t want you to totally give up meat, just mostly. Hop to it, Warmists!)

  3. Reclaim the streets (this almost….almost, rises to the notion that Warmists need to give up their own fossil fueled addiction.)

  4. Change to LED lightbulbs (well, now, we don’t really have much of a choice, what with the Nanny State essentially “banning” them)

  5. Get involved with a community energy project (this really means being a nag)

  6. Lobby your MP (yup, be a nag)

This is one of the articles that gets somewhat close to “practice what you preach”. Of course, they could all do that and virtually nothing would change when it comes to the weather and climate.

Read: Six Ways You Can Totally Help Stop Hotcoldwetdry »

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If All You See…

By William Teach November 4, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is an evil fossil fueled machine, which is A-OK to drive if you are heading to the polls to vote D, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The Lonely Conservative, with a post on wishing her luck in today’s election.

Read: If All You See… »

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Here We Go: Washington Post Upset That Senate Will Be Most Unrepresentative SInce WWII

By William Teach November 4, 2014 – 12:34 pm

This comes to us from Patrick J. Egan in The Monkey Cage…hey, wait, wouldn’t that be considered racist if on a Conservative website?

Welcome to the most unrepresentative Senate election since World War II

With less than 24 hours to go before Election Day, confidence is growing that Republicans are poised to win enough of the battleground Senate races to take control of the upper chamber of Congress. In the aftermath, politicians and pundits will be assessing the Senate elections for signs of national sentiment about President Obama, the two parties and the policies they should pursue in Washington. (In fact, they’re already doing so.)

Regardless of the results, we should use caution in interpreting this year’s Senate elections as reflecting the views of the entire nation. Two aspects of the U.S. Constitution’s rules on Senate elections make it possible that the political leanings of the Senate seats up in any particular year will be unrepresentative of the nation as a whole.

Getting beyond the notion that this is simply moonbat whining about the Dems losing control of the Senate, Senators are not supposed to be representative of the nation as a whole. They were meant to represent their States. Period. That’s why the Framers of the Constitution set it up so that the State legislatures appointed Senators, rather than direct election. With the 17th Amendment, the power was put in directly in the hands of the people, and, let’s face it, Senators of both parties, no matter how much we might agree with them, fail in putting their States first over Party.

The first is by design: two Senate seats are allotted to each state, regardless of population. Americans living in Wyoming (the least populous state) have substantially more influence in the Senate than those living in heavyweight states such as California or Texas (which have 66 times and 45 times more people, respectively). Thus if one party draws its national strength from large-population states, in any given year it is more likely to face an unrepresentative number of tough Senate elections in smaller states. Currently, that party is the Democrats. The population of the median state won by Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election is about 5.5 million; the median state won by Mitt Romney has a population of 3.4 million.

Uh, not really. Refer back to Senators representing their States first and foremost. Second, yes, the idea was to make all states represented equally. Funny how liberals are upset about equality when it doesn’t help them, eh?

Then we get some whining about  the “election classes”, namely that one third of the Senate faces election every two years. And that’s just not fair to Democrats, you guys!

Democrats always say they love Democracy. Except when it interferes.

Read: Here We Go: Washington Post Upset That Senate Will Be Most Unrepresentative SInce WWII »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Constitution, Elections | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Climate Change Is Totally Like The Sleeper Issue On The Ballot!

By William Teach November 4, 2014 – 8:30 am

And Republicans are going to have to have a message soon or something!

The sleeper issue of 2014: Climate change

The midterms have shown that Republicans are going to need a coherent message on climate change — and soon

We have one: it’s called “No. We aren’t buying into your paranoid, ridiculous, Big Government taxing, redistributing, economy killing, Nanny state control fantasies.

Late Evening Note: there was supposed to be a WHOLE LOT more to this post, a few excerpts from that article, stuff about how “climate change” is a powerful line of attack or something, followed by this New Republic article which shows that it isn’t, with both ending up in wishful thinking for 2016. Not sure what happened. Sigh. I’m not going to rebuild it.

Read: Climate Change Is Totally Like The Sleeper Issue On The Ballot! »

Posted in Elections, Global Warming, New Climate Deniers | 17 Comments | Trackback URL
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