From the irascible Joe Romm at Climate Progress:
But how did this happen? Follow the money. The Daily Caller has this story:
Big ‘green’ dollars propel McAuliffe to victory
Environmental activists poured millions of dollars into the Virginia gubernatorial campaign to help propel Democrat Terry McAuliffe to victory over Republican opponent Ken Cuccinelli.
Environmental groups put up $3.8 million to help McAuliffe defeat Cuccinelli, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s about four times as much as fossil fuel interests gave Cuccinelli.
Energy and environmental concerns became a major focus during the campaign, as McAuliffe planned to jump-start Virginia’s renewable energy production and bring green jobs into the state.
Of course, we all know about ‘green’ jobs. They tend to be subsidized, transient, and only available to a select group of people.
Green groups also spent millions on TV ad buys during the campaign. NextGen Climate Action, which was founded by San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer, spent more than $2.4 million — the most spent on TV buys by any group.
…
The League of Conservation Voters was able to mobilize volunteers to knock on 100,000 doors in the Richmond area and 300,000 across the state, reports the Hill.
Environmentalists were successful at making global warming a central issue in the campaign, having former University of Virginia climate scientist and global warming activist Michael Mann stump for McAuliffe.
The stigma of political stink will always be over Michael Mann now, as he has transformed himself from scientist to political activist, much like Dr. James Hansen (formerly of NASA GISS) has.
If big environmental outfits can so easily spend millions buying an out-of-state candidate like Terry McAuliffe, then how hard is it to buy a climate scientist or two?
Is team climate science now the best science money can buy?
Those “secret” UVa emails Mann has been viciously defending might give some clues. More later.
What? Only fight a battle you somehow know in advance you will win? Are you crazy? There’s a word for not fighting, it’s called surrender. It’s a damn good thing that surrender monkeys didn’t prevail during the first American Revolution, or in any number of later conflicts. Lead or get out of the way coward.
“Servicing its debt”! ROTFLMAO! They are adding to the debt, got it? ADDING! The issue was about one thing, jacking up the limit on the government credit card. Do you have a credit card? When you blow past the limit and it gets refused, and then you call them up and ask for it to be increased would you classify this as “Servicing its debt”?
All you’re really saying is that our friends from overseas are just as dumb or dumber than our own homegrown liberal traitor scum. Are they that dumb? Can they not understand the difference between paying a bill and adding more debt? The government fiscal criminals which you are trying to excuse are spending wildly and pushing all the debt forwards, kicking the
cantime-bomb down the road for some future generation to have detonate in its face. And you support this? Congratulations, you are an enabler. You parents would be so proud.There are several useful idiots in this thread too!
Once again, we see the GOP establishment staring victory in the face and walking away. They spent a fraction on what they spent in the last VA governor’s race. This is understandable when McAwful had a double-digit lead but incomprehensible when the polls began to tighten. And the ads they did run were about China and global warming, not ObamaCare or McAwful sleazy involvement with pimping out the Lincoln bedroom in the Clinton White House.
On the other hand, The GOP establishment did spend money in New Jersey because???
Max Hugoson says:
November 7, 2013 at 10:33 am
“I think the Libertarian (Losertarian!) idiot was the USEFUL IDIOT in this case.
Alas, may the Losertarians rot at the end of Mann’s Hockey Schtick!”
Funded by the left to win the election by splitting the vote. And it worked. Remember, that’s how Slick Willy won as well. Republicans fight by the Marquis de Queensburry rules while Democrats are kicking them in the nuts. And then you have idiots like John McCain, for whom I voted as the lesser of evils, who trash their own guys. The republic is definitely in deep do-do.
Oh, and then there was the use of the IRS to suppress conservative votes in the last presidential election, and the Acorn shenanigans, and the various recount debacles like in the Minnesota senatorial campaign, and all the dead folks and illegal aliens voting, and no ID’s required to register to vote, drive through voting, etc., etc. The Dems will do ANYTHING to win, Rrepublicans, not so much.
Jquip says:
November 7, 2013 at 6:48 pm
@Merrick: “Republican aren’t engaged in electoral chicanery because they’re not as craven as the Democrats.”
Yes, exactly. So long as you consider that “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” to be chicanery rather than a sound principle diplomatically and militarily, then you have no business being in a position that requires either.
@milodon: “IMO the GOP should fund Green Party candidates the way the Democrats do “Libertarians” who are really just statist social liberals.”
Yep, It’s an interesting game theory problem. If you have two primary competitors for ideas, party A and B, and both are assumed to be marginally intelligent then each should assist minor parties at both ends of the idea spectrum for their opponents. eg. Team A should assist moderate-B and extreme-B people find a candidate to vote for; that fits their ideological criteria.
Jquip,
Game Theory problem? Honesty, integrity and self-respect are not ‘games’ or ‘theory’. They are absolutes. You either have them engrained….. or you don’t. If you have them, you are ethically bound to not lie, cheat, and mislead to ‘win’.
In the movie The Alamo, John Wayne stated it succinctly “There’s right and there’s wrong. You gotta do one or the other. You do the one, and you’re living. You do the other, and you may be walking around, but you’re as dead as a beaver hat.”
MtK
http://youtu.be/RtXq1dPMBqM
Michael Cohen says:I am at the wrong blog, I should be over at the huff & puff post or maybe Real Climate.
Thanks Michael. Will will be sure to ignore your future comments
“Read my lips, no new taxes!” Bush was also pinko statist and a liar, that’s why he lost.
Ross Perot supporters were equally from the left, right and center. No net effect on the election outcome. Perot was an independent Reform, not a Libertarian, though many of his early supporters were Libertarian and his campaign manager had been.
Cooky as Jesse Ventura (Reform) is he did…
—Four balanced budgets in a row
—Signed the largest tax cut in the history of the state
—A scandal free administration
@Ed Mertin – you realize that the movie “Predator” featured 2 future governors? Kind of spooky when you think a B movie has 2 of them star in it.
Some pretty interesting comments here in response to something I said regarding the intersection of skeptical views on climate issues and political persuasion. Cuccinelli is dripping with misogyny and contempt for gays. If approval of that is going to be the standard by which acceptable views on climate change are judged, I will not participate in the comments here again. I think the moderators ought to make some sort of statement concerning what this blog is about.
[Reply: The site masthead explains what this site is about. Also, we do not censor unpopular opinions, so please do not appeal to moderators to cut comments you do not agree with. You have the right to respond back with your own views. So long as they do not violate site Policy, we publish them all. — mod.]
The US has defaulted in the past for a short time and it wasn’t pretty.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2013/10/08/actually-the-united-states-has-defaulted-before/
And that is why the Tea Party is so illogical and Reform is not. I don’t know how folks history gets so messed up, perhaps because billionaire funded Heritage Foundation maintains a boiler room operation that constantly edits Wiki articles to reflect their right wing made up version of history.
Peter Miller says that “the use of extreme confrontationist tactics have created a voter backlash.”
What, the Left is not confrontational??
The fact is that the ‘Tea Party’ [a loose confederation of like-minded individuals] took control of the House of Representatives.
If that is an ‘extreme tactic’, give me more!
For over a generation, whichever party had control of the White House invariably lost in the Commonwealth of Virginia. So on paper at least Republicans were poised to have a good year. And the Democrats nominated a candidate for governor who wasn’t well liked by voters, had never held office and didn’t have deep roots in VA. The tea party wing got the extremist candidates they wanted.
I think the Millenials were the deciding force. They turned out the vote in larger than expected numbers and they went for Democrats. Chris Christie with his landslide victory still lost the minimum wage increase referendum that he opposed. Face it, every year a new crop of Millenials turns eighteen and they are the largest generation in history. Even out numbering the Baby Boomers. Rush Limbaugh ditto heads are passing on to their reward every year and that demographic was what kept Republicans in business. At some point Gerrymandering and voter suppression won’t be enough and thebsooner the better.
Blade goes on about the debt increasing… well I tell ya, there is a ton of pent up demand in the USA after thirty years of neglect since Ronald Reagan. 3 to 5 trillion dollars worth of infrastructure repairs are badly needed. Bernanke must issue up to $5tr in 0% 100yr credit to rebuild US infrastructure. That will put a lot of people to work even without even doing 21st century upgrades comparable to what the Chinese are building. Half the world’s large construction cranes are owned by China and they produce half the worldwide concrete. Prior to Reagan the US was like that and it could be again. Hopefully these Millenials will get er done!
Ed Mertin says:
“At some point Gerrymandering and voter suppression won’t be enough and thebsooner (sic) the better.”
You mean like the criminal voter suppression of the IRS that assisted Obama in the last election? Printing money via the fed open market operations and increased debt and handing $$ out to political cronies does not improve infrastructure and that turkey will come home to roost, eventually. Free/cheap money to large financial institutions is inflating stocks, bonds and commodities of all types and that money never hits main street, yet, as it is not being loaned out but “invested”. Another bubble. Poor education and left wing media cause uninformed voting by the young as well as, evidently, some of the comments posted here.
No, I’m talking about stuff like the voter id laws in Texas. Stuff like North Carolina students fighting back against voter suppression.
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/03/1235962/-NC-elections-board-addressing-three-challenges-Tuesday-to-state-s-suppression-of-student-voting
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173685/7-ways-north-carolina-republicans-are-trying-make-it-harder-vote
Yeah, the stock market run-up really isn’t linked to the economy in any meaningful way. It’s just a way skim money from people’s retirement accounts, there will be another ‘harvest’ of wealth in the next couple of years. The billionaires will likely try to time a 80% drop in the markets to right before the 2016 elections. That is unless the p ant Republicans are so pathetic by then that they can’t make that a ‘takeover’ work, then it be a more subtle crash.
Right back to your same old deal, Jim. You have to personal attack after presenting nothing.
I’m so happy even Jimbo’s insults cannot get me down today. I’m so happy I no longer work for that discriminating right wingnut CEO Tonn Ostergard. Where if you don’t share his political party then you just face starvation and abuse. My life is so much better now with a Democrat, I’m making more money than I ever have in the past. Go young folks! Have a good weekend, ttyl…
Ed Mertin says:
“…if you don’t share his political party then you just face starvation and abuse.”
Obviously talking about Obama.
Ed Mertin says:
November 9, 2013 at 8:25 am
Do you have any actual evidence of “voter suppression”, except of course by the thugs in Philadelphia with baseball bats outside election sites & similar intimidation & promotional activities within polling places, which AG Holder refuses to investigate?
Every state that lets busloads of Democrats vote “early & often” as many times as they want or can get away with, lets the dead vote, lets illegal aliens vote, lets nursing home aides vote for their patients, lets politically active students vote the absentee or mail-in ballots of their apathetic dorm mates, lets officials keep “finding” more ballots until their candidates “win” or lets activists bribe bums with cigarettes to vote, disenfranchises voters in states that try to run fair, honest elections.
The US cannot have real democracy until every state has laws like Texas’, & even then Democrats will find ways to get around them.
Ed Mertin says:
November 8, 2013 at 5:51 pm
You’re wrong about Perot. Two-thirds of his supporters were Republicans or GOP-leaning independents. How else to explain the reliable GOP states won by Clinton, & the Congressional results in 1992? Exit polling showed the same thing.
Michael Cohen says:
November 8, 2013 at 7:22 pm
Please cite instances of “misogyny” by Cuccinelli, father of five daughters. Thanks.
While living in a group house in college, Cuccinelli heard a woman shriek when an intruder climbed into her bed. After the incident, he established a peer-to-peer sexual assault prevention group on campus, & became a confidant for survivors of sexual assault. Cuccinelli worked together with feminists on campus to convince the university to create a full-time sexual assault education coordinator position.
Cuccinelli has been a staunch advocate against human trafficking during his time in office, describing it as “one of the most egregious human rights violations”. He has slammed popular media for portraying prostitution & other forms of selling sex as “just another career choice”.
He’s faithful & respectful to his wife Teiro (unlike Clinton & McAuliffe) & five of his seven kids are girls. It’s preposterous to slander him as a woman-hater.
Gail Combs says:
November 8, 2013 at 4:01 am
That’s my impression, too. Irreducible, “big lever” Democrat vote now appears around 38%, vs. hardcore GOP probably no more than 33%. But the right GOP candidate can win a higher share of the ~29% “persuadables”, regardless of party registration or lack thereof, ie in a free & fair election, which Democrats do their best, which is very good, to suppress.
To reduce the effect of strategic, rampant, massive election fraud in presidential races, I favor the proposal to keep the Electoral College, but allocate the vote by congressional district, with the statewide winner getting the extra two EVs, as do ME & NB.
Ed Mertin says:
I presented plenty, you just cannot see it. Read it again and don’t take it personally. IRS suppression of conservative grassroots groups, soaring government debt, continuous printing of money, Solyndra, Benghazi, NSA, “you can keep your health plan” ,etc.
I wonder if Mann supported McAuliffe because he feared Cuccinelli might try another push for his emails as governor? Or maybe McAuliffe is going to pass some law that permanently locks up his emails.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out in the future that there is some connection between Mann’s support of McAuliffe and his emails.