I Don’t Like Ken Salazar
First off that DLC bastard owes me twenty bucks and refuses to pay up.
Secondly, his speech at the Jefferson Jackson diner made Ruth Ann Minner look good.
Thirdly, when mining and lumber industry lobbyists are giving each other high fives at the prospect of Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) being named secretary of interior, I get heart burn.
This Obama appointment is a real disappointment.
Actually, Salazar isn’t that bad (I knew him back when I was living in Colorado). His brother is a lot more conservative. Salazar is going to be a lot better than the last Coloradan who ran Interior.
What’s not to like, he’s the Joe Lieberman of Colorado.
Nemski,
Why don’t you just change your registration to Fucktardican?
Did you see Rachael Maddow last night? The DOI is seriously corrupt and she had chapter and verse of how bad things are there. It’s like its own little organized crime empire. It will take a couple of years just to clear out the crooks and liars and get everyone enrolled in a cocaine rehab program. Wondering if Salazar is tough enough to handle this.
He is not tough enough to handle a Jefferson Jackson crowd.
Futher to post 4, see this morning’s NYT Editorial at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/opinion/17wed1.html?_r=1
I don’t know much about Salazar except he was one of the Gang of 14. Thanks for Roberts and Alito, jerks!
Why would Obama appoint Salazar? It doesn’t fit.
“The Department of the Interior desperately needs a strong, forward looking, reform-minded Secretary,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, “unfortunately, Ken Salazar is not that man. He endorsed George Bush’s selection of Gale Norton as Secretary of the Interior, the very woman who initiated and encouraged the scandals that have rocked the Department of Interior. Virtually all of the misdeeds described in yesterday’s Inspector General expose occurred during the tenure of the person Ken Salazar advocated for the position he is now seeking.”
While Salazar has promoted some good environmental actions and fought against off-road vehicle abuse, his overall record is decidedly mixed, and is especially weak in the arenas most important to the next Secretary of the Interior: protecting scientific integrity, combating global warming, reforming energy development and protecting endangered species. Salazar
– voted against increased fuel efficiency standards for the U.S. automobile fleet – voted to end protection for offshore oil drilling off of Florida’s coast – voted to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to ignore global warming impacts in their water development projects – voted against the repeal of tax breaks for Exxon-Mobil – voted to support subsidies to ranchers and other users of public forest and range lands – threatened to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when its scientists determined the black-tailed prairie dog may be endangered – fought efforts to increase protection for endangered species and the environment in the Farm Bill
“Obama’s choices for Secretary of Energy and his Climate Change Czar indicate a determined willingness to take on global warming,” said Suckling. “That team will be weakened by the addition of Ken Salazar who has fought against federal action on global warming, against higher fuel efficiency standards, and for increased oil drilling and oil subsidies.”
What’s even funnier is the DOI isn’t even highly regarded by the states where most regulation/oversight/interference occurs. Ask any rancher…survival is all about property and water rights. Some of those states may have gone blue, but your work-a-day rancher is red, red, red.
Really Jason, this guy is not a bad appointment. He won’t be “guns a blazing”, for the environmentalists, but he does have credibility with the ranchers and landowners, even business.
He is much more even tempered to “eat an elephant one bite at a time”, seeing a greater goal, getting buy-in, than the renegade, adverserial, approach of other admin. in years past. Patience, my man. He ain’t no Rahn Emmanuel! Or however you spell it! But he is a good fit probably for the job, and the TERRITORY!
He better f***ing hew left quick. Delaware is pretty much all at sea-level, so us, Florida, and my home area of Long Island will be among the first places (in the continental US) to slip under the ocean.
When is the Democratic base going to get a cabinet pick that makes them high five each other?
Never. That’s when.
We have BHO, and he’s the one calling the shots.