The right, wronged

Conservative activists wage war on Republicans who voted for climate bill 14

Waxman-Markey backlashConservative opponents of the Waxman-Markey bill are targeting the eight Republicans who voted for it in the House. The bill would not have passed without their support.Leo Alberti via michellemalkin.com.Republican House members who provided the margin of victory in last week’s narrow passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act are taking heat from the right for their votes.

Just eight GOP lawmakers voted in favor of the measure: Mary Bono Mack (Calif.), Mike Castle (Del.), Frank LoBiondo (N.J.), John McHugh (N.Y.), Dave Reichert (Wash.), Chris Smith (N.J), Leonard Lance (N.J), and Mark Kirk (Ill.). Without those votes, the measure would have failed.

Conservative pundits have taken to calling them the “Elite Eight” (with “elite” serving as code for aloof and deaf to the man on the street) or “Cap-and-traitors.” Several of the eight are being told they may face primary challenges next year from more conservative candidates.

“Wanted in the United States of American: For selling out taxpayers,” reads a Photoshopped image on the blog of conservative opinion writer Michelle Malkin. It includes faux mug-shots of all eight, and decries the bill as “cap-and-tax.”

“Congrats, congresspeople, you helped the Democrats pass a junk science-based, massive national energy tax,” Malkin wrote. “Headed to Disney World now?”

Conservative television host Glenn Beck has promoted the use of the phrase “cap-and-traitors” to describe the pro-ACES Republicans, as has Human Events.

The masterminds behind the conservative “tea parties” earlier this year have also created a website, www.capandtr8tors.com, calling on the eight to change their vote when the bill comes back to the House for a final vote, or risk a primary challenge from the right. “They have 5 Days from the time of their vote to change them, or we will work to vote them out of office,” the site threatens. The authors are also using the #capandtr8tors tag on Twitter to track conversation about this topic (which I suggest following if you want some insight into how the other side thinks).

The backlash is also being promoted over at Tea Party Patriots HQ, with a “Citizens’ Brigade Call to Action” on ACES. Readers are encouraged to host Fourth of July rallies against the bill. Here’s the (highly melodramatic) action alert, which urges followers to call senators—and be prepared to offer a fake location for yourself if you’re not actually one of their constituents:

The US House of Representatives stealthily passed Cap & Trade just after 7pm eastern on Friday June 26th. They mocked the will of the American people and ignored the fact that you melted their phone lines and crashed their email in opposition. They are counting on us not doing anything because it is a weekend and typical vacation week. But in this week dedicated to patriotism, and the birth of this great nation, we shall not rest!

It is time to begin hammering on the Senate. The Senate is much more susceptible to our pressure, and we need to pound on each and every member of the Senate to shelve this abomination. We don’t want them to pass a watered down version; we want it to go away completely. In order to make this happen, they need to hear from you, by the millions!

Our representatives have underestimated Tea Party Patriots; we will not go away quietly into the night. We will fight until this bill is sent to the shredders, where it belongs. It is time to start calling and writing to your Senators, immediately, without delay. Write and call Senators across the nation ... we cannot rest until this bill is dead.

When you write or call, please make sure you are armed with a city name and zip code in the home state of the Senator you are calling. They may not want to hear from you without this information. You can decline to give further personal information.

And, as you might expect, radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh, possibly the right-wingiest of all, has weighed in loudly, starting with a whack conspiracy theory that the majority of the Republicans who voted for it must be looking to profit off cap-and-trade in some way. Here’s a (largely incoherent) excerpt from his show on Monday:

[E]verybody who voted for this thing needs to be sent packing because it wasn’t even written.  There is a requirement that the bill being voted on be in the well of the House.  It was not there because it hadn’t been written, much less read.

There’s no reason for these Republicans to give cover to Democrats unless there was some overriding concern.  And that is, campaign contributions for reelection efforts from Wall Street people who are going to be—if this thing ever does happen, it will be a disaster.  Folks, it will be a disaster.

Conservative radio host Mark Levin is also going after the eight lawmakers, calling the Waxman-Markey bill “the most loathsome piece of legislation ... so far.” These Republicans, he said, “couldn’t muster the courage to vote the right way,” and conservatives should campaign to throw them out of office. Levin is also calling for his listeners to take on Democrats who voted for the bill who are seen as vulnerable in the next election.

Kate Sheppard is Grist’s political reporter.

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  1. aquaken Posted 10:00 am
    02 Jul 2009

    I'm with Paul Krugman on this one. The eight Republican yes votes are heroes.

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    1. Catmoves Posted 9:45 am
      08 Jul 2009

      I hear you, Aquaken. I'm with Paul Krugman,  too.  And , yes, I am Democrat.I also find Kate Sheppards style of writing reminiscent of the irresponsible attacks of newspapers in the 1800's and 1900's. It's snide, it's condescending and it's wrong, wrong, wrong.Insulting another person's beliefs is NOT the way to change them.Aha! Maybe she's really a Republican in our midst? Wouldn't surprise me. Are you, Kate?

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      1. its easy being green Posted 9:59 pm
        08 Jul 2009

        Don't be so catty, catmoves...Kate is an excellent writer.

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      2. davescott Posted 3:24 am
        09 Jul 2009

        The poster confuses the point of view of the reporter with that of people she is quoting or whose views she is stating as part of the  article.

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  2. got2bgreen Posted 10:47 am
    02 Jul 2009

    The funny thing is, most of the Republicans who voted for the ACES act, which includes my congressman, represent districts that are not generally known for their hardcore conservative values.  Every single state that they represent has in place Renewable Portfolio Standards.  All of their states were also carried by Obama in November.  I'm not too worried about the "Elite Eight" facing primary challenges from "more conservative opponents."  Chances are the message carried by a far right wing candidate would not resonate too well with the "Elite Eight's" districts.  It took a lot of courage for these representatives to go against the prevailing opinion of their party, and that shows true leadership.       

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  3. randino Posted 11:30 am
    02 Jul 2009

    First you lose power.  Then you lose your mind.  I saw this in the late 60s and early 70s with the left.  As frustration levels increased, sectarianism and paranoia grew, and the politics got crazier and crazier.  It is called a death spiral, and the conservative movement is in one.  It has lost one stabilizer and most of one wing, and is careening to earth.  Looking forward to the  crash and fire ball.  I hope there will be no survivors.Randy Cunningham  

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  4. Abscam Man Posted 12:18 pm
    02 Jul 2009

    They should skin them alive!  Its a terrible bill for businesses and consumers.  Yes it rams a bunch of green initiatives down our gullets.  But do we just want to be green or be smart about it?  Corn methonal is a huge huge mistake.  Its not green at all, its got huge Gov't subsidies, barely dents the foreign oil, rams petro-chemicals into the soil, and worst of all - cheap feed corn has ruined our food system.  Corn fed beef, pigs, chickens, even corn fed farmed fish = Bad food for humans.  Cheap by product HFCS is driving diabetes through the roof - all unitended consequences of Ag bills in the '70s.Just wait for the unintended consequences from Cap and Trade.  We will be captive to the Chinese for eternity because we won't be able to produce ANYTHING competitively...but we'll be green by golly!

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  5. Teuthis Posted 4:11 pm
    02 Jul 2009

    Cursed by the right, cursed by the left...I just pity them.

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  6. davescott Posted 4:27 pm
    02 Jul 2009

    These were courageous votes.  But I think you'd find a very strong correlation between those who "crossed party lines" in either direction and which presidential candidate won their district in 2008.  Dems in Republican leaning districts were far more likely to vote against the bill, and vice versa.  Hardly a surprise, and I dont mean to take anything away from brave Republicans who did the right thing and voted yes.

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  7. Erik Hoffner's avatar

    Erik Hoffner Posted 6:55 pm
    02 Jul 2009

    Enjoyable, watching them attack each other. Positively easy on the eyes.
    But their party is truly deaf if they think rhetoric and soundbites are enough to confuse people into ambivalence on the issue of climate change. They also don't consider the fresh age of the hordes of climate activists in the country. 
    Erik, Orion Grassroots Network

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  8. Global Changes Posted 6:30 am
    03 Jul 2009

    Typical right wing politics. They think its about who shouts loudest and not who is actually right. They are living the failed American dream of ignorance to everything that is incovenient to them. They cant ignore the fate of 6 billion people and they cant ignore climate change

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  9. James C. Wilson Posted 9:24 pm
    03 Jul 2009

    I teach thermodynamics from time to time.  I view climate change science as a wonderful thermodynamic problem.  You have the system receiving energy from the sun, reflecting some of it back to space and radiating thermally to space.  If you can apply the first law of thermodynamics, then you see how things work.  Lets see:  Heat capacity of oceans, CO2+H2O forcings, warming, time constants, outgoing long wavelength radiation. melting ice, evaporating water etc etc.  It is complicated but the best analyses have it working out pretty well:  Follow the energy and find the warming.But no, the Republicans think that this is junk science.  The party of Lincoln is planning to run against the First Law of Thermodynamics!  (Remember that Lincoln signed the bill creating the National Academy of Science.)  Usually students get the first law.  The second is more difficult and often trips up the novice inventors (teachers of thermo are sometimes asked to help the stymied inventor get a patent on his perpetual motion machines).  It is the third law that trips up most - But the Republicans are going to run against the First Law of Thermodynamics!  The party of Th. Roosevelt is going to run against the First Law!!!!  (Remember that Th. Roosevelt created executive agencies to use scientific knowledge to protect the public and expanded the National Park System.)The first law is usually understood by any student who can balance their check book.  It is the same gig after all.  Instead of following the money, you follow the energy and calculate its effects.  But this is Junk Science according to the GOP.
    The Republicans are going to run against the First Law!!  The First Law of Thermodynamics.  The Party of Nixon (he created the EPA, signed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.  Signed the NEPA.) is going to run against applying the First Law of Thermodynamics to climate.  The GOP is running on Separation of Science and State. The climate contrarians have been looking for the Achilles' Heel of anthropogenic global warming (AWG).  The first great hope was the failure of the NOAA MSU's to duplicate the surface record of warming.  Dr. Singer argued (incorrectly) that the satellites were the most accurate devices around and he would not believe warming until they showed it.  IPCC 2001 hedged their bets with a 'preponderance of evidence" claim on warming because the MSU's were not on board.  Well, then they re-analyzed the MSU output and found the warming.  Too bad.  Then Dr. Lindzen pointed out that the outgoing long wavelength radiation was not in agreement with the models.  Again this would be a problem since outgoing long wavelength radiation is fundamental.  Again satellite retrievals were revised and now the outgoing longwavelength radiation measurements are in accord with AGW.  Bad Luck.  Finally the temperature measurements of the oceans produced the transient hope that the energy would not balance.  But corrections and this year's papers have set that right.  AGW obeys the first law of thermodynamics.  There is no place to hide.So the Republicans are going to run against the First Law.  The party of Ronald Reagan is going to deny the existence of climate change as a central part of who they are.  (Remember that Reagan whole-hearted acted to protect stratospheric ozone.  In 50 generations, it is all he will be remembered for.)Who can vote Republican after they run agains the First Law of Thermodynamics??????  Well, lots of people actually.  They might even win.  Sad but true.Regards, 

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  10. solargroupies's avatar

    solargroupies Posted 2:17 am
    05 Jul 2009

    Labels give us plenty to fight about. I would hope that eventually we will have leaders who will rely on critical thinking skills to make decisions, not how much money they will get for supporting a particular lobby. Politicians who are reading this: Remember, you can't take it with you, and the odds are good that there will be plenty of people who will judge your actions based on the ethics your decisions. This is the legacy that your family will live with.

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  11. socsciprof Posted 8:21 am
    09 Jul 2009

    Cap and Trade uses market incentives rather than command and control regulation. Have Republican leaders forgotten that they support this approach? Remember Poppy Bush supported cap and trade for SO2 and it worked for reducing emissions and creating opportunities for cleaner power plants to make money? (Alas NOX reductions were voluntary and acid rain remains an environmental problem for NE forests...but progress).Pundits are self serving and manipulative, careless of public interests, and they hurt the Repub Party's chances long-term.

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