Moyers talks to Boxer 8

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1. 

   GreyFlcn Posted 5:03 am
   28 Jun 2008

   ActuallyThere was a really good Fareed Zakaria interview I listened to yesterday.
   Pretty much he was making the observation that the United States should be coordinating with China and India primarily on greenhouse emissions reductions.
   That all we really need to do is just set an example of how to create Green Growth, and the rest of the nations will follow suit.
   And a concept he was alluding to, but I'd like to reinforce, is that with China and India we have great oppourtunity to shape how their infrastructure is designed.
   Since rather than replacing old infrastructure, all we need to do is kick in the marginally increased funds to get them to select the green option, rather than the black option.  Which is a hell of a lot cheaper than funding a green option in full.

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2. 

   GreyFlcn Posted 5:11 am
   28 Jun 2008

   LinkHere's the iTunes podcast link to the Commonwealth Club,
   And just click on Fareed Zakaria
   
   http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPod ...
   
   

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3. 

   ce1907 Posted 5:19 am
   28 Jun 2008

   how high brow, DRis "centrist credibility" what is needed?
   for what?  what is the goal?
   selling "this program"
   what program?
   wake up.  Congress is a street fight.  no rules; and bring something special
   "centrist credibility" will get you the safety valve, no real cap in 2020, and all the REAL money to CCS and nukes, and scraps for green energy
   abandon the girl senator, by all means; she is the only progressive fighter in the ring
   but don't listen to me; listen to your highly honed political instincts
   and gossip of the back-scratching cliques

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4. 

   David Roberts Posted 7:05 am
   28 Jun 2008

   ce1907,You're so insider and sophisticated it practically hurts to look at your comments. I have to look at them through a little hole I punch in a shoebox, like how I used to watch an eclipse as a kid.
   There are plenty of (perceived) centrists who'd like to sell a crap policy. And there are a few (perceived) liberals like Boxer and Sanders that would like to sell a liberal policy. What we ended up with was a Frankenstein beast that no one could love. What would really be nice is to have a (perceived) centrist sell a liberal policy. On paper, that's what Obama looks like. I know Grumet comes from safety-valve world, and maybe you're right, maybe the entire thrust of Obama's public policy orientation is a ruse, just cover for Grumet to pull the strings behind the scenes and get one. Color me somewhat skeptical of that theory. There's going to be a ton of ferment in Congress this year, with a solidified majority and in all likelihood a new president coming into town with a new posse. He'll have some influence in empowering (or not) Congressional factions. Maybe the spineless Reid will be booted and replaced by Clinton, and maybe Clinton will ally with Boxer. Maybe Pelosi and Obama's crew will click and she'll outmaneuver Dingell. I don't claim to have any particular predictive powers on this score, and despite your self-consciously cryptic mutterings, I'm not convinced you do either. If you know something, say it. If not, relax the pose. I know it's a blog and everything, but it doesn't have to be a pissing contest.
   
   grist.org

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5. 

   billgee Posted 7:31 am
   28 Jun 2008

   Still ArguingAll Politicians Love to Debate.  They'll never stop. WE CANT WAIT.  
   We Aint Got Time
   Its more urgent than you think

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6. 

   ce1907 Posted 1:07 am
   29 Jun 2008

   sensitiveThree points of general orientation
   1.  In DC, a routine and vicious strategy is to hide policy disputes behind allegations of "personality" and "process."  Kill the messenger; the message will die.
   This is familiar both in Congress and in the agencies.
   2.  Senior staff cliques have power because they brief the members, and because they spin the press.  They maintain power by ostracizing people who do not share their perspectives.
   See point no. 1.
   3.  There are many, many staff and reporters who want to feel part of the in-crowd.  They will endlessly report the rumors and attacks they hear.
   The girl senator has been attacked for her personality and process before, many times.  Expect it again.
   But what is really going on is a struggle over policy.  The girl senator holds an important institutional position.  The Energy Comm and allied cliques want to take climate issues away because they want very different policies.

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7. 

   ce1907 Posted 1:10 am
   29 Jun 2008

   psReid is a steadfast friend to progressives on climate issues.
   fyi

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8. 

   caniscandida Posted 2:22 am
   29 Jun 2008

   Moyers; "perceived centrist"Bill Moyers is indeed a treasure.  But many have criticized his interviewing style (e.g., years ago, with Joseph Campbell, and while moderating the Genesis discussions, but he is pretty much the same in this current series) as being too cloying, altar-boyish, cheer-leaderish, even adulatory and worshipful: the polar opposite of the style of the late, sainted Tim Russert.  Charlie Rose -- when he gets around to finding the words with which to ask a question, which sometimes can seem to take forever -- rather resembles Moyers: be very friendly to your guest, be accommodating, be appreciative, and let the guest talk about what he/she wants to talk about; challenges should be relatively seldom, and in the nature of an underhand softball pitch.
   On "perceived centrist": No doubt DR is right on that, but it seems the total situation is nowadays more complicated than ever before.  That is because of the disarray amongst Congressional Republicans.  Bush is toxic, McCain is not yet received as the natural Republican leader, nearly everybody up for re-election in November is frantic and terrified, so it is not clear to them where they must stand and where they may give ground.
   Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (both of Maine; the latter, campaigning this year, is being targeted by the DSCC, but unkindly and unfairly so, IMHO, because she has been very good; and also probably in vain, because she is popular in her state -- unless there is a pro-Obama anti-GOP tsunami) join none other than John McCain as Senatorial members of the Republicans for Environmental Protection.  So on the one hand, either of those women might work as the "perceived centrist" that DR has in mind.  On the other hand, most Republicans seem to think their centrist members from New England, along with all the REP, have already gone over to the other side; and in their eyes they do not count as "centrist" anymore.
   
   Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

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