Imagine if John McCain had whispered somewhere that he was willing to bankrupt a major industry? Would this declaration not immediately be front page news? Well, Barack Obama actually flat out told the San Francisco Chronicle (SF Gate) that he was willing to see the coal industry go bankrupt in a January 17, 2008 interview. The result? Nothing. This audio interview has been hidden from the public…until now. Here is the transcript of Obama’s statement about bankrupting the coal industry:
Let me sort of describe my overall policy.
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.
I was the first to call for a 100% auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter. That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.
So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.
UPDATE: NewsBusters’ Tom Blumer has found out that the San Francisco Chronicle story published on January 18 based upon this January 17 interview did not include any mention of Obama’s willingness to bankrupt the coal industry which you can hear on the audio. You can read the story here when you scroll down to the “In His Own Words” section. Way to cover up for The One, SF Chronicle!
Barely a left-wing pundit, barely an Oscar-nominated softie can sleep a wink these days for fear of the race riots and international humiliation that will ensue should “The One” be defeated on Tuesday.
“If Obama loses it will spark the second American Civil War. Blood will run in the streets, believe me,” she (Erica Jong) told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera last week. “My back is also suffering from spasms, so much so that I had to see an acupuncturist and get prescriptions for Valium.
“Yesterday, Jane Fonda sent me an email to tell me that she cried all night and can’t cure her ailing back for all the stress that has reduced her to a bundle of nerves.”
Susan Sarandon said: “It’s a critical time, but I have faith in the American people,” she told Britain’s Telegraph newspaper with a touch of implied menace in June this year. “If they prove me wrong, I’ll be checking out a move to Italy. Maybe Canada, I don’t know. We’re at an abyss …”
Now, listen, I’ve voted ‘present’ two or three times in my entire 25-year political career, where there might have been a conflict of interest and I didn’t feel like I should vote,” Boehner said. “In Congress, we have a red button, a green button and a yellow button, alright? Green means ‘yes,’ red means ‘no,’ and yellow means you’re a chicken shit. And the last thing we need in the White House, in the oval office, behind that big desk, is some chicken who wants to push this yellow button.”
Obama voted “present” 129 times, 3 percent of the roughly 4,000 times he voted during his 8 years in the Illinois legislature, according to factcheck.org.
Some said that Boehner’s charges were legitimate and illustrated potential issues with an Obama presidency.
“Obama consistently took a pass on making tough decisions and that’s just not something you can do as president,” said Don Seymour, director of communications for The Freedom project, a right wing political action committee.
How ever it goes it going to be history in the making. I’m just glad I’m around to see it first hand. It’s always exciting to see American History being made during your lifetime.
As long as there are trout to be caught and released, mountains to be climbed, exotic places to visit, and swells along the coastline my life will be just fine.
Either way, I’m not worried about a thing.
Ranando: you know, it really WILL be history in the making. It’s amazing to think that I’ll be witness to the unfolding of an entirely new political paradigm, no matter which way it goes. I’m biased and I’ll freely admit it. What else would you expect of me? But these are indeed tempestuous times and challenging times.
And possibly moreover: BOY, will I have some GREAT topics to write about, at the Bloviating Zeppelin!!
BZ
You are right BZ, there will be plenty to write about, IF McCain wins, but if *The One* wins, the RIGHT side of the ‘net and blogosphere is history…
TF: but here’s the corollary to that thought: I’ve heard any number of Right Wing talk show hosts indicating they’ll not only pool their talents but their dollars to fight something like that. The Right is NOT so likely to fall down and roll over as perhaps it once was; power and logic is difficult to relinquish once experienced. I’ve heard Michael Savage, Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher all indicate they would fight a proposed FD in the courts. It might be heard NOW — but in two or three more years when BHO has an opportunity to completely STACK the SCOTUS — as I WARNED SO MANY — I might not be quite so assured.
It’s not a GIVEN YET. We have yet to experience Wednesday Morning. . .
BZ
Just imagine, I’ve lived to see the first man walk on the moon, a President get assasinated, and the first female Vice President elected. Whoops, I was supposed to keep that last one a secret until Wednesday.
AA: Shhhhhhhh!!
BZ
More bad news today;
Obama Holds 6-Point Average Lead Over McCain in Polls (Update2)
By Jonathan D. Salant and Joe Sobzcyk
Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) — Barack Obama has an average lead of 6.4 percentage points over John McCain in national polls with two days left in the presidential campaign.
Polls released in the last week showed the Democratic candidate with leads ranging from three points in a Fox News survey to 13 points in a CBS News poll. The average of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics shows that Obama has been ahead between five and eight points since the beginning of October.
“Obama’s is a campaign about gaining a lead and then holding it,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University in New Jersey. “McCain’s last two weeks have not changed this. Most important, the context of the election has remained the same — an economy in crisis — so it is hard to get those numbers to move.”
After pulling ahead of Obama in some polls following the Republican National Convention in the first week of September, McCain’s support slid as the financial crisis deepened, with voters considering Obama better able to manage the economy.
That trend has been reflected in the so-called battleground states where the presidential election will be decided.
Ohio
In Ohio, which no Republican has ever lost and still won the presidency, 50 percent of registered voters surveyed in an Oct. 25-27 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll said they trusted Obama to make the right decisions about the economy compared with 38 percent who backed McCain. The poll showed Obama leading by nine percentage points over McCain in Ohio.
A Columbus Dispatch poll released today showed Obama has a six-point lead, virtually identical to the seven-point lead he held a month ago. If the Illinois senator’s lead of 52 percent to 46 percent in the Dispatch poll holds, he will become the first Democrat to win more than 50 percent of the Ohio vote since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, according to the newspaper.
Obama also holds an advantage in other contested states, including Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada, all of which were won by Republican George W. Bush in 2004.
A Denver Post poll released today shows Obama holding a lead of 49 percent to 44 percent for McCain among likely voters in Colorado, with unaffiliated voters — who make up more than a third of the electorate — backing the Democrat 57 percent to 32 percent.
Pennsylvania
Even so, McCain has pulled closer to Obama in Pennsylvania, according to an Oct. 30 Rasmussen poll. Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are two states won by 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in which McCain is still actively campaigning. The Republican nominee campaigned in Pennsylvania yesterday and plans to hold a rally in New Hampshire later today.
The Rasmussen poll of 700 likely voters conducted Nov. 1 gave Obama a 52 percent to 46 percent lead in Pennsylvania, compared with 53-46 four days earlier. The poll has a 4 percent margin of error.
In New Hampshire, a WMUR/University of New Hampshire poll released yesterday showed Obama with 52 percent support among likely voters compared with 41 percent for McCain. The poll, taken Oct. 29-31, surveyed 549 voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
Indiana
In Indiana, a state that hasn’t backed a Democratic presidential nominee since 1964, Obama and McCain were tied at 47 percent. The survey of 900 likely voters taken Oct. 27-29 by the Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne had a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points. Obama campaigned Oct. 31 in Gary, Indiana, speaking to a crowd of about 45,000 at a nighttime rally.
The final Richmond Times-Dispatch poll showed Obama leading McCain 47 percent to 44 percent in Virginia, with nine percent of voters undecided. Because Obama’s advantage is within the poll’s margin of error — plus or minus 4 percentage points — the contest in Virginia can be considered about even, the paper said.
McCain, 72, is in close races with Obama in Florida, North Carolina and North Dakota. Those states were won by Bush in the last election, and the Republican candidate needs to win them Nov. 4 in order to have a chance of gaining the 270 Electoral College votes required to win the presidency.
National Polls
In national polls, Obama led McCain, 51 percent to 43 percent in a Gallup daily tracking poll of those deemed likely to cast ballots based on past voting behavior and current intentions.
Obama led 49 percent to 47 percent in a Gallup poll taken Oct. 25-27, before his 30-minute ad was broadcast on network and cable channels on Oct. 29. The latest survey was taken Oct. 30 – Nov. 1 among 2,503 likely voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A CBS poll released yesterday showed Obama’s lead even wider, with 54 percent support to 41 percent for McCain. The poll, taken Oct. 28-31, surveyed 747 likely voters. Among the one-fifth of voters who already cast ballots, 57 percent voted for Obama and 38 percent backed McCain, according to the poll.
A Rasmussen daily tracking poll of 3,000 likely voters taken Oct. 29-31 gave Obama a 51 percent to 46 percent lead, with a margin of error of 2.0 percentage points.
And a survey by the Poughkeepsie, New York-based Marist College Institute for Public Opinion put Obama ahead of McCain, 50 percent to 43 percent. The poll of 543 likely voters taken Oct. 29 had a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, the last before the election, showed 53 percent of likely voters saying they back Obama, while 46 percent support McCain. Obama’s lead in this poll has ranged from five to nine points over the last month.
`Complacency’
“The main thing I worry about is complacency,” David Axelrod, the chief strategist for the Obama campaign, said in an interview on “This Week” on ABC. “If we are casual about this and we don’t go to the polls and make our voices heard, then we could get a result that the polls don’t project. That’s why we’re hopscotching all over the country.”
The Fox poll of likely voters found that 47 percent would vote for Obama and 44 percent for McCain if the election were held today. In a similar poll on Oct. 20 and 21, McCain trailed by 9 percentage points.
The Fox poll of 924 registered voters was conducted Oct. 28- 29 and had a margin of error of 3.0 percentage points.
What’s disturbing is that B.O. has never urged calm, never asked people to respect the outcome of the election. In the same way, he’s never once said the least humble thing like “please don’t call me the Messiah.” The sheer gall of allowing people to continue to do so is staggering. I can’t believe enough Americans who’ve registered are stupid enough to vote for him. I pray I’m not proven wrong.
Two comments above this one is a copy paste obamatron posting..The idiot goes to all sites that don’t toe the line..
Phleg.. Is absolutely correct.
And Ranando, IF the trout dry up, and mountains are no longer accessible, and the coastline is not available, Then what?
You know I fish, hunt and enjoy the outdoors, and Obama is NO way a friend of us. Reid, Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, and a slew of others are going to make it very difficult for the “Wealthy,a nd the Poor”
This new age you folks seem to either welcome or dread is going to come to pass, I am not happy about it. I would have rather gone TOTAL right than TOTAL left, but I would welcome the center, we are going to get TOTAL left for at least 2 more years. I fear.. This is the feeling I had in 2006.
I haven’t given up BZ, I am HOPING and PRAYING that I am wrong….
I have the perfect way to insure a McCain victory. Go to the polls with a sign that says
“NO FREE GIVAWAYS WHEN YOU GET TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE”
And Ranando, IF the trout dry up, and mountains are no longer accessible, and the coastline is not available, Then what?
Move to Costa Rica, of course.
Not worried about any of that happening, not at all.
Mr. Anonymous fails to take into account the new Zogby poll which has McCain AHEAD today. Imagine that; failing to state the obvious.
BZ
You’re darn right it’s not a given yet, BZ! The only thing that can keep us from winning is for conservatives to believe the polls and the pundits and give up before it’s over by not voting. I’m hoping and praying that they don’t do that. That’s exactly what the liberals are counting on!
BTW, Ranando, my life will be just fine if Obama wins too. I can afford to pay more in taxes if I have to. That’s not the point. It isn’t about me and it isn’t about higher taxes. It’s about socialism and whether we want it to be a way of life in this country. It’s about our Constitution. It’s about many things, but it isn’t about me. Whether my life will be “just fine” or not is totally beside the point.
I love wmd maker’s sign..he’s so right.
People have fallen for the old socialist adage of freebies nobody pays for. It’s scary.
But, they’ve been primed in school.
BZ..I sure hope you’re right..and I sure hope Sarandon DOES move. Streisand stuck around even thru her threats of moving, too.
And yes, why ISN’T Obama calling for calm? because he’ll slit his own wrists if the country didn’t buy into his messi-duh idiocy.
I pray McCain wins. I know it is possible, just ever so slightly Obama could win and that truly scares me. I cannot imagine America going down the tubes because of an imbecile like Obama.
I’m telling you, if any Conservatives write in a candidate or decide not to go to the polls then thanks for letting Obama win. Thanks for socialism USA. That is all I can say. Vote McCain/Palin!!
The extreme whiny lefties won’t leave. They never do.
You see, that takes a commitment of action form a group who never commits to anything – wouldn’t want to be pinned down to a definitive, now would we?
Sarandon et al will continue to live here and provide more whiny sound bites to the whiny elitist media. That is their lot in life.
I, for one, refuse to listen.
VOTE! Or sit down to a big steaming pile of SHUT UP about the results!
Cary: PRECISELY.
BZ