Summary
This week's global-warming hearings in the Senate are not intended to produce legislation. They are not meant to put the candidates on the spot - conducted, as they are, in the shadow of a dramatic Democratic presidential primary finale. Nor would it be much use at this point to hold hearings in an attempt to embarrass President Bush, who threatens a veto of any overreaching climate legislation. These Senate hearings should be understood as the latest manifestation of the great carbon sweepstakes of 2008-09.
If things were otherwise, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could not have shut down the Senate yesterday without more than a few C-SPAN viewers noticing and a reporter here and there bothering to write it up. Precisely such a shutdown happened amid the presidential excitement - and hardly anyone noticed. Mr. McConnell required the Senate clerk to read the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 aloud - all 491 pages of it. Few cared. Few even noticed.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Carbon Sweepstakes
With the legislative possibilities nil, this week's hearings are best viewed as a kind of p...
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