So Jay Rockefeller gave a humdinger of a speech, apparently pointing out to Big Coal that the fuel of the 1800’s that powered that Industrial Revolution probably wasn’t going to be the fuel of the future and that they should collectively pull their heads out of their asses, and here was the reaction in WV:
Members of the business community were shocked by Rockefeller’s speech, said West Virginia Chamber of Commerce President Steve Roberts said.
When a reporter called, Roberts answered his phone, “This is Capito for United States Senate headquarters.”
He’s referring, of course, to convicted Republican Governor Arch Moore’s daughter (Moore was convicted on a variety of charges, to include extorting a half million from… a coal company), Shelly Moore Capito, who currently serves in the House and is believed to be planning a run for Rockefeller’s seat in 2014. Remember when the Catholic Church, the Chamber of Commerce, and all these other organizations used to at least pretend to not be fully owned members of the RNC?
Odie Hugh Manatee
They don’t need to pretend anymore, times are getting desperate for them.
This is why I will not join our local Chamber. I am one businessman that they DO NOT represent in any way, shape or form.
I’m a small businessman who cares about others.
Chris
Or is it the other way around – namely, that the GOP has become a joint venture between the Chamber of Commerce, the Catholic Church and a few other Rich & Powerful, Inc type of organizations?
Course, the GOP’s pretty much been the Wall Street Party since the Gilded Age with no interruption, you’d have to go back a ways to find an era when it wasn’t.
Tim C.
Though I’m not sure who is owned and who is the owner.
Edit: Dang, Ninja’d by Chris who said it better anyway.
kc
Well, not really.
Southern Beale
Is Jay Rockefeller a member of the same Rockefellers who still own large chunks of ExxonMobil stock? The same people who challenged ExxonMobil to clean up their dirty ways in a major proxy resolution campaign?
The Moar You Know
Actually, no, and I’m closer to 50 than 30. The RCC has been openly in the tank for the GOP since Reagan’s inauguration. The last Republican the Chamber of Commerce had a problem with was Teddy Roosevelt.
I’m still trying to figure out the politics of your state, John, but from what little I know, this story does not surprise me.
Just Some Fuckhead
How do we get Keith Judd in the race for West Virginia Senator? Let’s be honest- he’s going to need a springboard to have a serious chance as a nationwide Presidential candidate.
Tonal Crow
Forwarded to the IRS for investigation of abuse of tax-exempt status.
Phil Perspective
@The Moar You Know: The last Republican the Chamber of Commerce had a problem with was Teddy Roosevelt
Don’t forget Fightin’ Bob LaFollette!!
me
So diverse! The coal miners and coal barons!
beltane
West Virginia might be a beautiful state but I don’t think it represents the future any more than coal does. Some people are going to fight to remain in the early 20th century no matter how big the letters appear in the writing on the wall.
Punchy
Just how fucked would the GOP be right now w/r/t to the myriad Senate and Presidential races if CU never happened? I’m guessing totally fucked.
John Roberts quite literally saved his party from sure death.
Valdivia
@Punchy:
they got from him what they paid for.
PurpleGirl
@Southern Beale: Yes, John Davison (Jay) Rockefeller is a member of that Rockefeller family. He is a great-grandchild of John D. and the only Democrat in a Republican clan.
beltane
@Punchy: He saved them from death (and subsequent rebirth) but he didn’t give them life either. As a political party in a supposedly democratic society they are dead, but the steady infusion of billionaire money is enough to keep the corpse animated and highly dangerous. Thanks to CU were are being held captive by a zombie corporatist shell of a party.
PeakVT
@The Moar You Know: WV politics seems to be shifting rapidly to the right, so figuring out who stands where might be futile right now.
Comrade Dread
Well, what did you expect, John. All part of the cycle of capitalism.
At some point innovation dies, business is threatened, and rather than embrace progress or trying new things, entrenchment occurs as the company tries to gain competitive advantage over others via government power.
Eventually, change happens and then the cycle starts over.
Unfortunately in this case, we also have the spectre of climate change hanging over this industry, and the possibility that waiting for the innovation to occur that would put coal out of business could mean the end of life as we know it (Not necessarily the end of humanity, but a lot less of us and other critters running around.)
beltane
@Comrade Dread: Classic extinction burst behavior. We are, after all, just another animal species on this planet. Nature does not distinguish between spider mites, algae or Shelley Moore Capito.
Steve
@Tonal Crow:
Chambers of commerce are 501(c)(6) organizations, not charitable entities. They are allowed to engage in lobbying and promoting candidates for political office.
ant
seems to me like west virgina is a great location for not only wind turbines, but pumped hydro storage.
That is the future of west virgina energy, and I don’t see why the current coal people can’t own it same as they do now.
DFH no.6
Yes, but Unitarian-Universalists, the unions, and all those well-heeled environmental groups support Democrats, so it’s even.
“Both sides do it”, in other words.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Just Some Fuckhead:
When I originally saw that, rather than think that it showed how bad Obama was doing in WV, my first thought was that it showed how fucking racist WV is.
My second thought was that my first thought was dead on.
Amir Khalid
Here is what passes gor policy analysis at Politico.
Not a word about what Rockefeller had to say, about his warning the coal industry to adapt, or die and take his constituents down with it. As far as Politico’s Charles Mahtesian was concerned, this was just an aging politician’s GBCW speech.
Brachiator
Damn. Great example of people desperately clinging to old ideas and old solutions.
At least someone is willing to tell them what they need to hear, even if they are not yet ready to hear it.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, I imagine that the Republicans will be gearing up to oppose whoever Obama nominates to be the new Commerce Secretary.
sharl
@Comrade Dread: @beltane:
Yep, maybe we’re making way for new species that can survive on the human waste products that will choke us out of existence, in the same way we and our ancestral species may have benefited in similar fashion:
lamh35
Evening guys.
Today is the first day of my 7 on/7 off at my new job, and right now, I’m sitting here and just waiting for the work to come in, but it betta come in before 7:30, cause I’m outta here.
The new job after the busy-ness of the morning is fairly evenly spaced flow-wise on the evening, so I’m just chillaxing til the next specimen comes in and catchin up on my blogroll for the day.
Hunter
“Remember when the Catholic Church, the Chamber of Commerce, and all these other organizations used to at least pretend to not be fully owned members of the RNC?”
I think it’s the other way around.
Litlebritdifrnt
This pissed me off to no end today. I am getting really tired of bullshit like this. This is the headline of a GuardianUS piece
Then you go to the piece itself and it says this
“Romney did not spell out exactly how he would respond to the order if he was president, other than to say he would replace it with a long-term solution, one he optimistically suggested would be based on bipartisan consensus.”
Not only is Romney lying his ass off these days but even the liberal fucking Guardian is lying for him.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju … P=SOCxx2I2
UPDATE I guess the Guardian doesn’t like being tweeted with the term “@guardian Lying for Romney”
Here is the latest version
“Romney vows to tackle immigration in ‘civil but resolute’ manner”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju … tion-issue
But notice that the link states “Romney side steps immigration issue”
“He offered no new details of how he would tackle illegal immigration.”
I hope that my poking the Guardian with a stick did some good.
Valdivia
@Litlebritdifrnt:
yay for you. The NYT had similar coverage. All of them pimping the Romney tackles immigration when he did nothing of the sort. Why not just print press releases for him?
Valdivia
Apropos of the Romney speech, Univision calls it for what it is: a lot of talk but never about legalization
ETA it is also interesting how much they hammer the fact that Romney talked abut very specific types of special immigration but never addressed the bigger problem and didn’t allow him to etch-a-sketch the self deportation embrace from the primary
Litlebritdifrnt
@Valdivia:
It just really pissed me off. I mean we have Romney lying, all of the repub party lying and now we have the “so called” Liberal Media lying for them too? WTF? I shall send the Guardian a sternly worded letter LOL
Valdivia
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I know how you feel. I have been feeling like that all day. fortunately (see my updated above) the latino media is not covering this in the same way.
Linda Featheringill
Good speech, Jay.
Of course WV had a collective hissy fit. How else can they keep up with Mississippi in the race towards the bottom?
[I probably started a war there, didn’t I?]
Davis X. Machina
@lamh35: I remember when the Catholic hierarchy was pretty much in the bag for the Democrats. Provided you were vocally anti-communist, that is. It was one of the things that made the FDR coalition so weird, and so one-shot — Bourbon senators, many of them with Klan backgrounds, and Irish and German and Italian bishops.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Yeah, I’m sure they were all cackling “We showed Obama” but in fact, they showed themselves – both as racists and unworthy of the democracy that was given to them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@beltane: Exactly, the GOP needs a time out for some reinvention. CU and the Teatard crap are just prolonging it and going to make the inevitable time they are out of power that much longer.
Keep in mind our political system requires an opposition party. One party rule for a decade or two will not be a good thing.
trollhattan
@Linda Featheringill:
Multiple cries just went up, “Mah, bring another coal bucket for the intertubes machine–ah need to do me some yellin’ and it’sa runnin’ low!”
Chris
@Davis X. Machina:
As I understand it, the Democratic Party from about the Civil War to the Great Depression didn’t stand for much other than “not that other party,” and basically functioned as a catch-all for voters alienated by the Republicans (which, once the Great Depression went into effect, pretty much became “everyone.”) That explains the strange-bedfellow thing.
As for Catholics specifically, they pretty much had no choice but to be Dems. They were just as hated as Muslims are today until well into the 20th century, and the GOP was (outside of the South) the party of the WASP majority and all its prejudices. So, that’s what originally drove them to be Dems. Of course once they were accepted into the country club – IGMFY (at least for the hierarchy).
Steeplejack
@lamh35:
Sounds like you’re settling in really well. How long is a shift? I’m guessing longer than 7-8 hours.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Moar You Know:
The proof is how they dealt with dissent amongst the bishops in the case of Raymond Hunthausen, who was basically purged at the behest of Reagan, by a very agreeable John Paul II and his minion, Ratzi the Nazi.
MikeBoyScout
John, you know, it is just plain weird to be listening to Jay ROCKEFELLER give this speech.
Nobody knows or cares who Jay is if not for his great grandfather’s acting in the same damn way the coal industry is today.
The coal industry is not interested in learning from the failed auto industry. The lesson big coal learned is the ROCKEFELLER family taught.
As a Burgher with wVA roots, I feel for y’all. You’re f*cked. And it’s weird.