Dems Energy Plans Vanish In Tandem with Dems Chances

Forbes' headline: "The Incredible Shrinking Energy Bill" says it all.  The Senate conservatives killed one of the last good parts of the formerly lauded Energy Bill - the section that gave tax credits to renewable energy investment. 

Democrats were forced to drop a provision that required utilities to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. These industries have now suffered another blow because the production tax credit for wind and the investment tax credit for solar, which both expire at the end of 2008, still don't have the funding to extend them.

Did you think conservatives would be in favor of tax credits? Not if it's a tax credit that liberals want.  You follow?

Conservatives are good at politics. Politics is trench warfare - you win with defense: Don't let your opponent score.

Memo to Reid, Pelosi, Clinton, Obama: Conservatives don't defend any principle, such as reducing taxes: they fight liberals.

How does anyone think that a Democratic President or Majority leader can honestly negotiate with these people? Once America again has a Republican Party with principles, then we can negotiate.

Until then, we have a Republican Party and a conservative movement whose one over-arching goal is the destruction of liberals.

Faced with stiff Republican opposition that is backed by Bush's veto threat, Democrats made misstep after misstep in trying to pass this energy bill. It was too ambitious. It tried to force utilities to increase production of renewable energy in the face of fierce opposition by the utility industry group, and it included a tax package that the White House has long indicated it would not support.

Fine. You dickhead.

1. Make him veto it. 
2. Explain to the tee-vee that what Democrats want is what America wants.  Say what it is.
3. Explain that the reason America doesn't have these good things yet is because of Republican obstructionism in Congress and a obstructionist Republican President. 

How hard is that!? Dodd for Senate leader.

Once you whittle down the bill to something passable, pass it and assign good cop/bad cop roles -- individual members can talk about the good parts of the bill but the leader should talk only about what the GOP cut out. The leader assigns blame.

Reporter: What do you think about this Energy Bill you just passed?
Leader: I can't believe Republicans forced us to give subsidies to Oil Companies.
Fezzik: Wha? You're not happy? You've been mostly dead all day, you just moved your finger, doesn't that make you happy?
Leader: Sure, we Democrats insisted on some good provisions in the bill, but come on! Since when do billion dollar industries need corporate welfare? Republicans think welfare is okay if it's giving handouts to oil companies, but it's terrible if it's giving a hand-up to poor people. This bill could have been much better.
Reporter: If?
Leader: If we had more Democrats, this bill could have been great.

Reporter: What do you think about this Energy Bill you just passed?
Dem: It's good, we've raised fuel efficiency standards for the first time for 30 years. I would have liked to include measures for renewable energy but... well, CAFE standards are a nice start.
Reporter: What happened to renewable energy measures?
Dem: Republicans love oil, I guess.