That seems to be the gist of Robert Novak's column today. It criticizes some of the moves that Minnesota's Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has made recently in light of how many view him as an ideal choice for Senator John McCain (R-AZ) to make for his running mate.
What Novak really does in this column is demonstrate how far the powers that be have strayed from even much of their own base on environmental issues. Perhaps the Haley Barbours and Rick Perrys of the world have issues with clean, renewable energy as a threat to the economies of their states (which it really isn't BTW.) but most Republicans are on board on this issue, particularly in the mid-west and the mountain west.
Has Bob noticed that red state Montana has a Democrat as governor? That would be Gov. Brian Schweitzer. He is an extremely popular Democrat in what had been assumed is a solid red state. One big reason? His stance on the environment and clean, renewable energy. Just try to get the guy to stop talking about ways to convert and/or burn coal cleanly and to safely bury the resulting carbon dioxide.
I find the last paragraph of the column the most telling:
"We loved Ronald Reagan, but he made some compromises along the way," Pawlenty said, adding, "We don't have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard." Presumably, that also means coal and oil interests.
Obviously, to Bob Novak, this means the Republicans can't afford to lose the coal and oil interests. To Tim, this means compromise with the budding environmentalists in the Republican party is necessary to preserve unity.
As far as I am concerned, if Bob Novak wants to throw the already disaffected libertarians of the mountain west, who also happen to be largely more environmentally aware than he suspects, overboard, than I, as a Democrat, will be happy to welcome them off that sinking ship and work out compromises with them.
Comments welcome,
Pat McGovern
P.S. - Has anyone EVER "run" for Vice President. I don't think so. Sphere: Related Content
