The New York Times' John Broder writes an obituary for cap-and-trade today (an obituary that, earlier this morning, John Kerry said “couldn't be further from the truth”) that had this odd passage:
The partisan gridlock that hobbled health care overhaul could be repeated if the administration and Democratic leaders try to ram through a sweeping measure to rein in carbon emissions and remake the nation's energy economy, said Paul Bledsoe of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan advisory group.
This is strange because NCEP, which dubs itself a “bipartisan group of 20 of the nation's leading energy experts,” has long advocated for a declining cap on carbon emissions. But Bledsoe now seems to be saying that if Republicans reject it, that automatically makes the policy suspect. Except reining in carbon emissions has always been a partisan issue—occasionally there have been one or two Republicans who support tackling climate change, but that's usually it. There’s a reason John McCain was called a “maverick” when he used to push for cap-and-trade legislation, and now Lindsey Graham is having the same trouble finding GOP allies to back his bill. Which makes it all the more strange that NCEP now seems to have decided that Democrats are to blame for backing a plan that looks pretty darn close to their own.
(flickr photo credit: markloff)