WV Governor Shoots Down Cap & Trade Bill. Literally. (Video)

Screengrab: YouTube

Jim Manchin is currently the governor of West Virgina, and he's running for one of the state's Senate seats. Though a Democrat himself, he's no fan of Barack Obama, nor his fellow Dems. Or at least he has to make TV ads saying as much to get people to vote for him in a state where his party is currently deeply unpopular. You see, his conservative opponent is hitting him for his ties to the party in power. So he did what any sensible politician would do: He grabbed his gun, marched out to a field, and shot a bullet through the cap and trade bill. And films the whole thing, then circulates it as a TV campaign ad, of course. Watch:

Never mind that the cap and trade bill is long dead in the Senate. Or that shooting a bullet through a photocopy of the legislation would have little effect on whether or not it became law even if it wasn't. Nope, the important thing here is that Manchin rolled his endorsement from the NRA, opposition to Obama, and evident hatred of now-irrelevant climate laws into one pithy thirty-second spot.

It is fitting that Manchin would invoke the specter of the dead cap and trade bill, as it was widely attacked in West Virginia, the nation's 2nd largest coal-producing state. Politically, it's a safe and easy target. More interesting, however, was that the Senate seat he's fighting for was vacated by Robert Byrd, who in his later years was actually coming around to supporting climate action. But no, Manchin is instead joining the herd; the droves of 'moderates' and conservatives now pledging opposition to climate action of any kind, and often denying the science behind global warming altogether.

H/T to Ezra Klein
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Tags: Congress | Global Climate Change | United States

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