Anti energy left targets oil companies in Washington rally

Fuel Fix:

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday exhorted their colleagues to address climate change, with some blaming oil companies and big money for blocking substantive action to rein in greenhouse gas emissions and set a price on carbon.

The rally was designed to invigorate environmentalists — even if it was unlikely to alter the political dynamic on Capitol Hill. At least 25 House and Senate members took to the stage, at times leading activists in cheers and pounding the podium.

The lawmakers packed into a cavernous Senate hearing room with hundreds of activists to argue that Congress’s inaction on the issue is jeopardizing the planet.

“This is a moral issue,” said Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., insisting that the U.S. has missed opportunities to act because of skepticism from “those in the Congress of the United States who did not respect science.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., one of the leaders organizing the event, decried “a barricade of lies around the Capitol.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said activists are close to penetrating “the lies and the nonsense that have been built by oil companies and coal companies.”

“They’ve got the money, and they’ve got the power,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “What do we have on our side? Our voices and our votes. When we uses our voices, when we are loud, that’s when we wake up Congress.”

Organizers hoped the event would sustain momentum from a night-long talkathon on Capitol Hill in March, when senators took to the floor to argue greenhouse gas pollution is wreaking havoc on the earth’s climate, with rising waters and more intense storms the likely consequence.
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This is a political loser for the Democrats.  They have been losing the debate and name calling an insults are not going to win any converts for them.  Those are aimed mainly at holding onto their shrinking base.  These are the people who are killing jobs and empowering despots like Putin and Chavez.  They need to be defeated at the ballot box.