You may have wondered why there has been no Congressional effort to actually legislate the “global warming” policies that will supposedly save the planet from itself. For six years, the Democratic minority indulged in often nasty rhetoric, with the gist being: We know the problem. We know the solution. Your hearings are a delaying tactic. We. Must. Act. Now!

After winning the majority, Dems muttered for a while about how that mean George Bush would just veto their legi-salvation anyway: Why bother? We’ll just work for a bigger majority — and the White House. Though, as I have noted on Planet Gore before, Bush had threatened no veto — and on those occasions since January 2007 when he did threaten a veto, in other policy contexts, the Dems typically took it as a challenge to pass something. So there seemed to be something missing from their political calculation, or at least their public rhetoric.

Today’s E&E Daily (subscription required) has a hilarious apologia, “Sponsors lower expectations for Lieberman-Warner bill,” offering a walk-through of the phenomenon afflicting our crusaders. Here as in pretty much every country in the world (posturing notwithstanding), global warming is such a grave threat that other people need to “do something.” Given the inescapable price tag, lawmakers looked and discovered that anything they propose would actually be doing nothing — besides harming state economies. And if forced to choose, it seems they would prefer it be other states' economies that are harmed.   Read rest...

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