Saturday, August 9, 2008

Garrett: Damn the Earth

Representative Scott Garrett seems to have gotten a little caught up in the moment down in DC during the fauxtest. US News & World Report quoted him talking about Nancy Pelosi:
"Her goal is to save the planet," Republican Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey intoned. "We need her to save the American family and the American taxpayer and to save the American middle class."
They're not mutually exclusive goals.

If Garrett had an ounce of forethought in his being he'd know that. This is one of those frustrating partisan things about Garrett, and the Republicans running the show lately. President John F. Kennedy had a pretty good quote on this problem:
Extreme opposites resemble the other. Each believes that we have only two choices: appeasement or war, suicide or surrender, humiliation or holocaust, to be either Red or dead.

I've made my feelings clear that both parties are to blame at this point, and Garrett's language only adds to the problem. No person rationally thinking about this issue doesn't see the benefits of a greener economy, and Garrett painting it as an either/or proposition doesn't add anything constructive to the debate.

Since I get new people everyday, it's important to restate that Garrett is the only Representative from New Jersey to vote against every single major energy bill since 2007. It's also important to note that the "drill here, drill now" (DHDN) philosophy will help you out at the pump in about 8 years.

Oh, and there are millions of acres of land the oil companies aren't using, at all. So, unless the DHDN folks get behind the use it or lose it land leases they already voted against, there's no guarantee DHDN will make a drop of difference.

This sort of rhetoric may provide an insight as to why Garrett's voted the way he's voted, since obviously he doesn't seem to put much stock in green energy in terms of strengthening the middle class. Let's go over a few things real fast:

Toyota is building a Prius factory here, creating jobs. Spray-on solar panels are a booming business in Germany, already creating manufacturing jobs here. It would create a lot of construction jobs if Congress incentivize installation like the Germans do. We've got the Pickins Plan, the Paris Hilton Plan, and countless others that point to the job benefits of a greener economy.

Saving the Earth is saving the middle class, as there is no greater manufacturing boom on the horizon.

Words have meaning, and Garrett knows it. Maybe he was caught up in the moment. Maybe he believes you can't have one with the other wholeheartedly. Whatever the case may be, Garrett's sentiments shared during the fauxtest showed, at the very least, a disregard for voters who want real solutions and a penchant for delivering to those voters false promises.

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