The McCain of Latter-Day Saints

Somehow this story seemed befitting of "Turkey Day'. An ambitious Republican signs up with a Democratic oriented agenda of taxes, spending and regulation.  

Evidently to Utah's Jon Huntsman, the new administration is just what America has been waiting for on energy policy. 

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081127/energy_western_governors.html?.v=2

Western governors: 'Obama, act quickly on energy'

We must not repeat the mistakes of the past," says the letter signed by association chairman, Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah, and vice chairman, Democratic Gov. Dem Brian Schweitzer of Montana. "The future of our nation depends on it."

 

 

 

Among the recommendations are annually spending tens of billions of dollars to develop clean energy technology; establishing an 'aggressive' greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal to help stop global warming; and proposing a mandatory national system for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through "market-based mechanisms."

If I recall correctly, efforts to pass "cap and trade" in the Congress died a quick and quiet death. There's never been a vote on Kyoto. The proposal by Canadian Liberals to pass a carbon tax contributed to their worst drubbing in decades. And, hmm, is there something like a recession going on which might suggest higher taxes and consumer costs might actually wreak real damage on real people?

But Jon Huntsman learned from John McCain that if you don't have a base inside the Republican Party for which to run for President, you can get one outside the Republican Party by playing up to the news media. The news media is convinced we are facing an immediate environmental apocalypse; hence they are looking for a Republican greeniac. Governor Huntsman has decided to fill the bill.

Now, I'm hearitly in favor of building a clean free market energy economy. But we ought to do someline akin to the Pickens plan because it makes economic sense to stop enriching adversarial states; not because someone shows a movie with a polar bear on an ice floe. And what this green first approach does is play into the hands of every statist, antidevelopment group out there who wants to see the economy grind to a halt to punish "big business". Not to mention "cap and trade" will be a bureaucratic tax machine likely to crush much of the economy; particularly under Obama's auspices.

I also think it displays incredible chutzpah (folks out west may need a dictionary for that word)to declare oneself an authority on energy issues when your state hardly has any oil wells. Hmm, maybe the Governor whose state actually produces oil might be a more relevant spokesperson?  

Some people are big on saying how wonderful Jon Huntsman is, and how he is going to be the future of the party.  Sorry. we already had Mitt Romney and John McCain run in 2008. This guy seems nothing more than a mash-up of their less attractive features.