Tonight’s CNN debate brought to you by the coal industry.
By on Jan 30th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Tonight’s CNN debate brought to you by the coal industry.
CNN is hosting a GOP presidential debate tonight in California and Democratic one in the state tomorrow. Both are sponsored by Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), a coal industry front group. In its past three ABEC-sponsored debates, there have been no questions asked on global warming. Watch an ad highlighting ABEC’s sponsorship:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2008/01/abeccnnca.320.240.flv]
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When, oh when can we get some debates that aren’t sponsored by media giants, big business, and other special interests? Where is the League of Women Voters when we need them?
January 30th, 2008 at 10:55 amC O R P O R A T E – W H O R E S !
the whole stinking lot of them.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:58 amEnvironmental questions aside, is the Coal industry sponsoring these debates because no one else will cough up the money? If that’s the case, shouldn’t they at least get noted for that? Is the inference here that the environmental questions are tacitly forbidden because of the sponsor? Sorry, but I’m not that cynical and I AM cynical.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:58 amNor will we see any tonight.
Bush mentioned increased coal power in the SOTU address. Coal is Bush’s new Oil.
You also won’t see any questions about…
-Iraq
-Gonzo
-Missing e-mails
-Afghanistan
-Rogue Subprime lenders
You will, however, hear retorts about
January 30th, 2008 at 11:01 am-Poor Rudy
-Economic Voodoo
-God
-Bible
-Iran
-Syria
-Israel’s our bestest friend
-Mittens the Manager
-War on Terra
-Unity by Impunity
Would you like to force the GOP candidates to talk about Bush, rather than Reagan, all evening? Would you like to tie all of Bush’s corruption to the GOP nominee? Take 60 seconds to vote for this debate question.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:04 amI would suspect the coal industry is sponsoring a debate because it gives them the opportunity to frame the issues the way they want them framed. I can’t imagine the coal lobby is doing this out of a sense of altruism…
From a prior TP thread about these “debates”…
“These debate sponsorships are part of the coal industry’s aggressive “$35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change.†ABEC has spent $1.3 million alone “on billboard, newspaper, television and radio ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina.â€
What is ABEC receiving in return for its support of CNN’s debate? Besides branding on tv and newspaper ads, ThinkProgress has learned that at November’s Democratic debate in Nevada, ABEC was given a special area near the debate’s entrance to hand out “clean coal†brochures. No other organizations were allowed to distribute materials in that prime area.”
January 30th, 2008 at 11:06 am“… is the Coal industry sponsoring these debates because no one else will cough up the money?”
– - Yes, that was no accident, kids.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:06 amJeebus, zim, if you keep this up, I won’t have a goddamn thing to say all day! Your post looks like it was taken straight from my brain this morning!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:06 amWhat kind of effing ESP machine do you have?
Start flagging gin folks. Clearly here to just be abusive.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:07 amIsn’t there a little town in Vermont Gin should be ragging on this morning?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:08 amThanks, Stupidity.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:08 am(Now there’s a phrase I’ve never written or uttered before.)
Where the hell is the League of Women’s Voters when you absolutely, positively, totally need them?????
January 30th, 2008 at 11:09 amClean Coal, kind of like delicious, nutritious oil.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:09 amNPR this morning reports that Bush just
yanked his money from the clean coal burning plant project
somewhere up north~
This was Bush’s contribution to green causes. And he yanked the money when he thought noone was looking I guess.
Bush+Satan 4ever!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:10 amClean Coal is one of our last choices since the far left refused to allow us to use nuclear or our very own Oil.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:11 amBush yanks money:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-futuregen_19dec19,1,1663851.story
January 30th, 2008 at 11:12 amYer welcome, badmoonman…
(uhhh… you did mean that in a “nice” way???)
January 30th, 2008 at 11:12 amNo, Roger, Republicans are against clean coal. They are clear about this~
January 30th, 2008 at 11:13 amCo-sponsored by big tobacco, big pharma, mega media, and Satan.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:15 amWhat kind of effing ESP machine do you have? -RUCerious
LOL.
Actually, I used the schematics from your LyingBastardOmeter, added a pair of Kristoll Balls, (he wasn’t using them), to enhance the horse power, added a coal fired generator from my friends in the industry to achieve astral traveling levels. I also threw away the parts made in China & replaced them twin dual core processors.
Seems to work quite well, even here in -24F temps!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:16 am“Yer welcome, badmoonman…”
Yep. How come most people think it’s “BadmooN…”? It’s definitely, …mooD…”
January 30th, 2008 at 11:17 amI would vote for nuke power if America would get out of Mideast forever.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:17 amI think nuke waste should be jetissoned to the sun. Just an idea~
Dang, every time I’ve ever seen yer name here, my mind always sees ‘badmooN”. Funny, huh?
I guess the phrase “Bad Moon” is so ingrained… blame it on John Fogarty for writing such a catchy song…
January 30th, 2008 at 11:21 amMaybe the debate can bring an accountability moment after all — see comment #5.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:22 amAh yes, R2 checks in w/ his usual “sweeping condemnation” of the day…
Whither thou, O Footie? Don’t you have some sort of broad, cliched, stereotypical denigration to issue, too?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:24 amUtterly disgraceful.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:28 amBush yanks money:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/ news/ local/ chi-futuregen_19dec19,1,1663851.story
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — January 30, 2008 @ 11:12 am
yep – and durbin is pissed…
that plant was awarded to a town just 30 miles north of me…
this will not go over well at all… lots of people counting on the jobs…
and the experiment just might have been worth it… i dunno…
but it’s interesting, to say the least, that the announcement came the day after dubya touted “clean coal” in his SOTU…
another day of opposites in BUSHCO BIZZARO WORLD …
January 30th, 2008 at 11:31 amAh yes, R2 checks in w/ his usual “sweeping condemnation†of the day…
Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — January 30, 2008 @ 11:24 am
And then R2 checks out. What was that expression? “Poop and scoot”?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:32 amI would vote for nuke power if America would get out of Mideast forever.
I think nuke waste should be jetissoned to the sun. Just an idea~
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — January 30, 2008 @ 11:17 am
Has anyone paged Superman yet?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:33 amKaty it’s the pattern of saying something initially for the soundbite, then taking it back wherupon there is little or no follow up.
Bush lies deliberately. It helps him. Always has.
Yesterday Bush directed monkeys to disregard money from earmarks. I want to know the truth behind this because you know it’s utter crap. Something smells funny here.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:36 amwhitey I think when NASA is purged of it’s Christian oversight there will be some smart people left to conjure up something.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:38 amYesterday Bush directed monkeys to disregard money from earmarks. I want to know the truth behind this because you know it’s utter crap. Something smells funny here.
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — January 30, 2008 @ 11:36 am
well, that’s easy (and it’s always smelly with bushco)…
whatever the opposite of what he said is, will be…
we’ll know the extent soon enough… hopefully, in time…
January 30th, 2008 at 11:44 amwhatever that is…
I feel warm all over!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:45 amgin and roger_roger flagged as trolls and thread disrupters….
January 30th, 2008 at 11:48 amI would vote for nuke power if America would get out of Mideast forever.
I think nuke waste should be jetissoned to the sun. Just an idea~
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover
It can be done safely…..many countries are doing it. Our objection was always that it was being offered as an unregulated industry here in America………as a result we had several dangerous situations……
rembember the soundbite of herbert hoover was….deregulation. It’s not rocket science ya know.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:52 amNo conspiracy here, folks.
While we are flattered that there are some people out there who are convinced we can dictate the questions of the debate, the reality is we are merely a sponsor of advertising for the program. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Just as purchasing an ad in a newspaper doesn’t skew the editorial content of that paper, the same is true here.
Rather than try to keep the issue of climate policy from coming up, as some folks have suggested we are doing, we are putting our effort to ensure that the issue does come up on the campaign trail. In fact, here’s the question we’d love to see get asked in one of the debates: “How do you plan to help America meet its growing demand for affordable and reliable electricity while addressing the climate change issue?â€
Isn’t that the question we’re all asking?
(Our views on this issue here.)
January 30th, 2008 at 11:56 amComment by davidABEC
any troll can come up with a username and a website……..explain this or be on your way.
In its past three ABEC-sponsored debates, there have been no questions asked on global warming.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pmComment by CaptainMantastic
flag cap as a troll….off topic. the subject is:
In its past three ABEC-sponsored debates, there have been no questions asked on global warming.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:02 pmScrew coal, lets go nuclear. Coal is old and outdated. Progress.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:06 pmJust as purchasing an ad in a newspaper doesn’t skew the editorial content of that paper, the same is true here.
[...]
Comment by davidABEC — January 30, 2008 @ 11:56 am
the hell ya say!
ah hahaha! and we are all silly ignernts here…
January 30th, 2008 at 12:08 pm…
What was that expression? “Poop and scoot�
Comment by gummitch — January 30, 2008 @ 11:32 am
I think it’s “poo ‘n shoo”…
January 30th, 2008 at 12:09 pmCNN = corporate whores.
NewBushSpeak Coal Polution = Clean air and water.
Mercury = Good for you.
MSM = You don’t get to pick the candidate, they do.
Buck Fush
January 30th, 2008 at 12:16 pmScrew coal, lets go nuclear. Coal is old and outdated. Progress.
Comment by Poop on Republicans — January 30, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Agreed on the nuclear.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pmThose “clean coal” ads need to be yanked off the air. It’s an absolute lie to call coal burning clean.
Conservative alternative: Nu-cu-lar! (Because apparently they aren’t happy unless there’s some toxic by-product.)
Liberal alternative: Wind, solar, biomass, water, tides, geothermal, and so on and so on… Take your pick.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:59 pmIs that a lump of coal or a turd in that picture?
They both foul the air.
Buck Fush
January 30th, 2008 at 1:42 pmClean Coal is one of our last choices since the far left refused to allow us to use nuclear or our very own Oil.
Comment by Roger_Roger — January 30, 2008 @ 11:11 am
Clean Coal is just another fictional creation of the right, just like Islamofascists, the free market, and Santa Claus.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:50 pmWow, why do ignorant people believe that nuclear power is the ‘conservative’ choice for electric generation?? This is an unfortunate misconception.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:53 pmLet’s be as clear as possible — not only do we want the candidates to address questions regarding energy, environment and the economy, we can’t think of single more important question in the 2008 presidential debates!
Everybody likes to continue to repeat the myth that America is the biggest polluter in the world. That is not true — China passed us and left us dead in the tracks, and India is right behind them.
The existing fleet of power plants today is 70 percent cleaner than it was in 1970. A new power plant that is built today will be somewhere between 70 to 80 percent cleaner than an existing plant.
Power plants built in the 1970s or 1980s have been retrofitted over time with new technology to make them cleaner. Compared to power plants in that time, facilities today are unrecognizable.
A new power plant built today removes about 98 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, more than 95 percent of nitrogen oxides and 90 percent of mercury emissions.
The key challenge is carbon dioxide, and we are moving to the point for technology to help capture 100 percent of those emissions.
http://www.americaspower.org/
January 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pmGin,
you’re all wet!
January 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pmi prefer my martinis dry.
Everybody likes to continue to repeat the myth that America is the biggest polluter in the world. That is not true — China passed us and left us dead in the tracks, and India is right behind them.
Comment by davidABEC — January 30, 2008 @ 1:57 pm
on a per capita basis, the U.S. leaves China and India dead in their tracks!
January 30th, 2008 at 2:20 pmwe’re in a different league.
That’s all well and good that coal plants are cleaner than they used to be, but why not just build plants that don’t have any of those emissions??
January 30th, 2008 at 2:26 pmExactly, this current crop of democrats aren’t doing enough. Some are doing some though:
From The Dallas Morning News:
“Jan. 27–Barack Obama says nuclear power should be explored as an energy option. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she’s “agnostic” on whether more nuclear plants should be built.”
“”We should explore nuclear power as part of the energy mix,” he said during last summer’s CNN-YouTube debate. Nuclear plants can cut greenhouse gas emissions, [Obama] says.”
January 30th, 2008 at 2:39 pmThis is a stupid thing to call a republican or democrat issue. That doesn’t resolve anything. Besides, what is a Republican issue today may be a Democrat issue tomorrow, or vice versa.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:41 pmClean is obviously a relative term. What might be “clean†for most people might not be “clean enough†for you. We’re continuing to make progress on using technology to reduce emissions and make coal a cleaner energy resource to meet America’s energy need. The coal industry is working with Department of Energy on a project to build a coal plant that captures close to 100% of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury – and provide for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.
January 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pmThe coal industry is working with Department of Energy on a project to build a coal plant that captures close to 100% of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury – and provide for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.
Comment by davidABEC — January 30, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
yea, davidABEC… and what happened to that?
January 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pmi’m in effingham, 30 miles south of mattoon, where FutureGen was
SUPPOSED to be located, until they pulled the rug out from under, the day AFTER dubya touted the need for using “clean” coal…
http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN2962235220080129
captain, david, southern m – would you want a moutain minus its’ top in your backyard? hows about a sludge damn? not exactly clean, is it?
no one is suggesting we suddenly end our reliance on coal and oil. what is disconcerting is how much they are being promoted in this day and age and what little effort there is to promote the available renewable and clean alternatives. Instead of sponsoring an empty debate, wouldn’t it be nice if ABEC instead sponsored some research into developing alternative energy sources?
On a personal level, I have mixed feelings about nuclear energy. an option, but I’m really struggling with that “half-life†issue.
January 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pmsome could argue that high-level radioactive waste, which will remain so for thousands of years, ain’t exactly “clean”.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:59 pmand completely lacking of “common sense”…
January 30th, 2008 at 5:53 pmto Katy: Don’t jump to any conclusions about the fate of FutureGen. It’s been zeroed out in the budget in prior years only to be revived by Congress. It is up to Congress yet again. The technology is here… the struggle is finding the money to pay for it.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:55 pm“We have a nuclear plant called Waterford 3, twenty five miles west of where I live. And it is one of the safest in the country. If it weren’t for greenpeace and other extremist, we would have more of these plants around the country that deliver cleaner and affordable energy. But common sense is not to be practiced anymore.”
Comment by Southern Man — January 30, 2008
As a resident of Las Vegas, then keep th waste 25 miles west of you! NOT 30 miles North of us!
January 30th, 2008 at 6:34 pm