Observations – 11/5/12

A Bob Casey campaign ad asserts he’s pro-coal because he’s from coal country and his grandfather was a coalminer.  So what?  Most of Pennsylvania is coal country and both of my grandfathers were coalminers at one time or another.

VP Joe Biden is from coal country (Scranton) just like Mr. Casey, but that doesn’t stop Mr. Biden from being anti-coal.  According to FactCheck.org, here is an exchange between Mr. Biden and a woman at a 2008 campaign event:

“Woman: Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, why are you supporting clean coal?

“Biden: We’re not supporting clean coal.  Guess what?  China’s building two every week, two dirty coal plants, and it’s polluting the United States.  It’s causing people to die.

“Woman: So will you support wind and solar …

“Biden: Absolutely, before anybody did.  The first guy to introduce a global warming bill was me, 22 years ago.  The first guy to support solar energy was me, 26 years ago.  It came out of Delaware.  But guess what?  China’s going to burn 300 years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up.  Because it’s going to grow in your lungs and there’s nothing we can do about it.  No coal plants here in America.  Build them if they’re going to build them over there, make them clean, because they’re killing you.”

Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board (January 2008), Mr. Obama said, “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.  Coal-powered plants, you know, natural gas, you name it, whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to retrofit their operations.  That will cost money.  They will pass that money on to consumers … What I’ve said is that we would put a cap and trade system in place that is as aggressive, if not more aggressive, than anybody else’s out there … So if somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Despite knowing the Obama/Biden coal policy, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) management supported Obama/Biden in 2008.  This year UMWA management took the “courageous” (aka gutless) position of simply choosing not to endorse Mr. Obama or Mitt Romney.  That said, I’d be surprised if UMWA management didn’t find some way to funnel money and/or manpower to the Obama campaign.  As I’ve written before, the primary business of today’s labor unions is advocacy for leftist politicians and lobbying for leftist policies/programs.  How else can you explain the UMWA management support of a ticket determined to enact policies that would wipe out coalminer jobs?  The only reason UMWA management isn’t publicly endorsing Mr. Obama this year is the fear of UMWA members revolting against union management and killing their revenue stream (union member dues).

Don’t fall for the “Oh yeah, but I support ‘clean coal’” red herring.  No amount of coal emissions-cleaning will ever be enough and the goal posts will be pushed back whenever “clean coal” gets close to meeting some regulations, like Lucy pulling the football away whenever Charlie Brown tries to kick it.

Earlier this year, electric utilities announced the closing of 10 coal-fired power plants because they could not meet new regulations and remain profitable.  At least five of these power plants are in Pennsylvania, three of which are in Western PA.

Unlike Mr. Casey, Tom Smith (Mr. Casey’s opponent) was a coalminer (a member of the UMWA) who eventually managed to buy his own coalmine.

A campaign sign I saw today on the Junction Stretch said something like “Obama: 4.5 million jobs and more coming.”  According to CNN, what the sign doesn’t mention is most of these jobs were originally lost during the Obama administration, not before, and those jobs are “only a net gain of 300,000 over the course of the Obama administration to date [August data].”

Ads for Mr. Casey and Mark Critz (running against Keith Rothfus) make a big deal of their opponents’ wealth.  Have you noticed being a millionaire is only an issue for Democrats when the millionaire is a Republican?  If the person is a Democrat like Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), President Obama (D), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), any of the Kennedys (D), and so on, being wealthy is never an issue.  The same holds true for “Wall Street lawyers.”

Let’s go back to Mr. Casey and “his grandfather was a coalminer” stuff.  “Jay” is Mr. Rockefeller’s nickname; his real name is John Davison Rockefeller, IV, great grandson of John D. Rockefeller.  Yes, that John D. Rockefeller.  Using Democrat logic, Jay Rockefeller must be a “robber baron” like his great grandfather and must be in the pocket of “Big Oil.”  As of 2010, Mr. Rockefeller’s net worth was “from $61,632,019 to $136,482,003.”  Given his ancestry and wealth, how can Democrats justify their support for Mr. Rockefeller?

Whatever their reasons, the folks at Beaver County Reds seem to think Mr. Obama is running against George W. Bush & Halliburton.  In the case of Halliburton, the Reds may not know the company sold off its KBR subsidiary in 2007.  KBR was the entity that got all the government contracts lefties like to complain about.  Today, Halliburton is only an oil/gas products/services company.  Halliburton simply provides services to companies exploring and/or drilling for oil/gas.  Halliburton itself is not an oil/gas producer.

The Reds claim “Resources of the earth should be publicly owned & managed.  For profit extraction is not working out for us or the planet.”  Since everything can be classified as a “resource of the earth,” this position means the end of personal property.

To do some campaigning, Mr. Obama flew to Florida the evening before Hurricane Sandy was expected make landfall in the Northeast.  Mr. Obama decided to return to Washington the next morning only after he was informed Air Force One might not be able to land in Washington if he waited until after his campaign events.  I suspect someone on his campaign staff also worried about the optics of Mr. Obama glad-handing while Sandy pummeled the Northeast.  The day after getting his photo-op with NJ Governor Chris Christie (R) flying over Sandy damage, Mr. Obama went back to campaigning.  Can you imagine the hellfire the press and the rest of the left would have rained on President George W. Bush had he done something similar?

By all accounts, Sandy victims are not happy with relief efforts and we’ve seen photos of people dumpster-diving for food.  Have you noticed the press appears not to assess any responsibility to Mr. Obama?  Contrast this treatment with Mr. Bush’s treatment after Hurricane Katrina.

The day after four Americans – including our ambassador - were murdered in a terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate, Mr. Obama flew to campaign in Nevada.  Only a few hours after speaking at the ceremony for the arriving bodies, Mr. Obama attended a campaign event at a private residence.  Again, can you imagine the reaction had Mr. Bush done something similar?  Finally, can you believe the press’ nearly complete disinterest in the Benghazi mess?  I could be wrong, but I expect this to change a little after the election regardless of who wins.

Before the 2004 campaign, Democrats “warned” Mr. Bush not to use 9/11 images in his campaign.  In contrast, the left encourages Mr. Obama to mention the murder (using lefty lingo) of Osama bin Laden whenever possible.