Rocky Mountain News Opinion Page Defends Bob Schaffer & Big Oil

The right-wing opinion writers that make up the Rocky Mountain “News” (RMN) editorial board came to the defense of Bob “Big Oil” Schaffer’s support of the fossil fuel industry in today’s piece. Entitled, “Buying into the Big Oil smear”, the editorialists manufacture plenty of crocodile tears for the poor voters who buy into misleading attack ads.

They cite Republican political consultant Katy Atkinson’s oh-so-sincere concern over the League of Conservation Voters “negative” ad linking Bob Schaffer with Big Oil. The next item mentioned in the column is closer to her true concern with Schaffer’s 2008 campaign, I think:

When negative ads are running without anything contradicting them, and when there are no negatives against Udall . . . I wouldn’t have been surprised if Udall’s lead was 15.

As long as Republicans run negative ads in return, everything would be fine, it appears. I didn’t hear Katy or any other Republicans whining about the negative ads their party and related 527s ran in 2006 or 2004 or … anytime recently. But that was before they started losing races at every level across the country. Now, negative ads are just plain bad. They’re probably not representative of our old fashioned American values, either. But as far as Republican ads go, in no way should Democrats or associated groups feel sorry that they can’t raise money or interest in their candidates this year. Bob Schaffer made the decision to run. It’s his responsibility to define himself to voters. If he allows others to do it for him, well, that’s just the way it goes.

More on the Rocky’s concerns after the fold.

Random News 6/24/08

Gov. Ritter announced a new statewide energy efficiency and conservation campaign yesterday. Entitled, “The New Energy Economy: Bringing It Home”, the campaign will consists of TV and radio spots that inform folks about simple, low-cost methods of saving money on energy. The methods include:

• “Turn it Down!” Install and use a programmable thermostat or adjust the temperature down when you aren’t at home. Programmable thermostats can save up to $150 a year in utility bills.
• “Unplug it!” Unplug electronics, such as cell phone chargers, when not in use, or install a power strip for controlling devices such as computers, TVs and entertainment systems. Seventy-five percent of electricity used by electronic devices is while the products are turned off.
• “Turn it Off” Turn off the lights when leaving a room and install energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than standard lights and last 10 times longer.
• “Take a Ride” Gov. Ritter and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper ask you to “Take a ride, share a ride, or ride.” Besides getting exercise, you can save money on gas and vehicle maintenance by riding a bike. Relax on the bus or catch up with friends when you carpool.

The first ad can be seen on Gov. Ritter’s Energy Office website.

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The League of Conservation Voters has a new ad about Bob “Big Oil” Schaffer’s connections to the oil and gas industry, including supporting multi-billion dollar corporate welfare.

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Republicans think Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth “is replete with fantastic prophesies of doom for the planet unless America immediately regresses to third-world squalor.” If delayers get their way, the costs of mitigating and adapting to climate change will be much, much greater than if we take decisive action right now. The same is true for all the problems we face. And yet all Republicans want to do about them is give away our money to the largest corporations. That isn’t ethical and it doesn’t solve our very real issues of the day. Just the opposite: it makes them worse.

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10 million homeowners now have mortgages that are worth more than their houses. Republican economic policies do not work.

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People across the country are getting their power shut off by energy companies because they’re falling behind on their bills.  They must all be dead-beats living off the government, right?  Actually, more and more are middle class: four-member households earning between $33,500 and $55,500 are increasingly affected.  See, when you have to choose between gas bills, food, and health care costs while your wages have stagnated, something has to give.  But rest easy because CEO compensation was up 25% again last year.

Marilyn Musgrave: Return Big Oil Donations

From ProgressNow, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R CO-04) wrote a column yesterday in which she claimed to be taking on “Washington” and Big Oil. Considering her record on this issue, her claim leaves a lot to be desired. ProgressNow provided a short list of Big Oil-related votes from Rep. Musgrave:

2003: Musgrave voted for the Energy Plan that provided $18.7 billion in tax breaks for the oil industry. (House Vote 145 HR 6, 4/11/03)

2005: Musgrave voted for the 2005 Energy Bill that contained $14.5 billion in tax breaks for the oil industry.(HR 6 Roll Call Vote 445, 7/28/05; Congressional Research Service)

2005: Musgrave voted against raising average fuel economy of automobiles from 25 miles-per-gallon to 33 mpg. (Roll Call 121, HR 6, 2/20/2005)

2006: Musgrave voted for extending the Bush Tax Cuts that included $5 billion in tax breaks for the oil industry. (House Vote 135, HR 4297, 5/10/2006, CQ Floor Votes; Washington Post, 4/26/06)

2007: Musgrave voted against a new energy policy that limited tax breaks for big oil. The resulting revenue would have been deposited into a new renewable energy account for research. (House Vote 1177, 12/18/07)

Back in 2003, a barrel of oil traded for what, $40. Now, it’s $136. A gallon of gas cost less than $2.00. Now it’s over $4.00. Exxon posted a $40.66 billion profit last year, just one of many oil corporations. Despite the corporate welfare Marilyn voted to give those corporations, they haven’t spent a dime on constructing a new refinery in 30 years. In fact, the number of refineries operating in the U.S. has halved in that time frame. Just so you know, Rep. Musgrave’s column neglected to mention she has received $165,000 in campaign contributions from the oil industry, and Exxon has been the largest contributor.

Marilyn has been on a mission since 2006 when she almost lost her reelection bid to Angie Paccione to reform her image. She has spent more time in the district in the past year than she did in the previous four. She desperately wants to avoid being held responsible for things like gas prices. ProgressNow has called on Rep. Musgrave to return donations from the oil industry. If she is really ready to take on Washington and Big Oil, this would be a really easy way to demonstrate that.