A friendly reminder about Scott Pruitt.

[Bleacher Creature]

He had a very prominent role in Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign. He also led the Republican Secretaries of State association. Had Jeb Bush won the WH, Pruitt absolutely would have been offered a job in a Bush Administration, and it's not far-fetched to say that he easily could have had the exact same job he has now.

When Trump is gone, "establishment" Republicans are going to try and pretend that Trump was a fluke, and that the craziest members of his Administration were people who were shunned by most other Republicans. Don't buy it. Pruitt, Sessions, et al. (even DeVos) are as representative of today's GOP as anyone. They are the modern Republican Party and no one should ever be allowed to dispute it.

[Angry Dragon]

1. Republicans voted for them...........

[Phoenix61]

2. This!

If the repubs didn't like them they would have blocked their nominations. The fact they didn't should clear things up for anyone who is confused about the issue.

[magicarpet]

3. Rethug Fascist Policies on Steroids

* Just the way they want it..

* Just the way they like it....

* Exactly & precisely as they intended.

[RandomAccess]

4. An excellent point

[mountain grammy]

5. Yep, they're all equally awful

I listened to John Kasich this morning. He was a guest on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.. so funny, sounding so sane and reasonable about how he and his wife support the arts, blah blah. Well, he also supports and promotes "right to work" bullshit, anti choice crap, and the usual cut taxes small government lie.

So yes, Republicans are awful, but trump and his gang of theives are in-fucking-sane.

[True Blue American]

7. Kasich is now that middle of the road Republican,so sane

So fair.

That came after we took him to the woodshed when he tried to kill the Public Unions. 1.3 Million signatures and a resounding defeat at the Ballot box caused him to do Underground to cut public funding of the Schools, fill his friend’s pockets with Charter Schools.

The scandals came about once a week,exposed by our Cox Newspapers. Republicans put some controls on them.

His last cuts were so deep his Republican Legislature restored the funding.

He did accept Medicaid. But no,he is a Republican. Trump just embarrasses him.

[Tanuki]

8. Every Republican senator except Susan Collins voted to confirm Pruitt,

knowing full well that he was an enemy of the environment and a flunky of the fossil fuel industry. They are all complicit and responsible.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/17/us/politics/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency.html

[Cha]

17. I"m surprised she didn't.. I guess

her constituents wouldn't have liked that very much.

[Tanuki]

19. Yes, they knew Pruitt would gladly ruin Acadia National Park and Maine's pristine waters and

relatively fresh air.

http://mainepublic.org/post/i-will-vote-no-susan-collins-says-she-ll-oppose-scott-pruitt-lead-epa

"Specifically, I have significant concerns that Mr. Pruitt has actively opposed and sued the EPA on numerous issues that are of great importance to the state of Maine, including mercury controls for coal-fired power plants and efforts to reduce cross-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. “His actions leave me with considerable doubts about whether his vision for the EPA is consistent with the agency’s critical mission to protect human health and the environment.”

...she says she is also worried about the potential for weakening a federal agency that works to implement and enforce landmark environmental laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Power Plan.

As an example, Collins points to Maine’s geographic location, near the end of what’s often described as the nation’s “air pollution tailpipe,” because it’s on the receiving end of pollution that’s generated by coal-fired power plants in other states. Reducing these air pollutants, Collins says, is important in a state like Maine, which has one of the highest rates of asthma in the country.

“And no matter what Maine does, unless we address the out-of-state sources of pollution, we cannot make the kind of progress that needs to be made,” she says.

Collins says another factor in her decision was the opposition to Pruitt expressed by the Friends of Acadia. With about 5,000 members around the country, the group wrote a letter to Collins about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as a way to lessen the effects of climate change in Acadia National Park in Maine."......

[Cha]

20. I was lucky enough to be there and camp out

in 2005 when I was still living in New York.

It's so gorgeous! Sunrise at Cadillac Mountain!



https://fineartamerica.com/featured/acadia-national-park-cadillac-mountain-sunrise-forsale-bob-and-nadine-johnston.html

Damn trump and all his destroyers and marauders.

Mahalo, Tanuki

[questionseverything]

9. one of things that scares me the most is the normalzing of

former repub presidents

which is what happens when you don't prosecute war criminals

[Bleacher Creature]

10. Yep. I've found myself saying nice things about W. Bush on more than one occasion.

And I spent every day during those 8 years horrified.

I also continue to take pride in being one of the 10-15% of people who never approved of him, even when his approval ratings were sky high after 9/11.

[BobTheSubgenius]

11. Anyone that's ever going to argue that is extremely unlikely to change their mind.

When you have Republicans saying that an outright conspiracy involving both Putin and Twoscoops personally wouldn't matter to them, how would a rhetorical trap snaring underlines matter at all to them?

[Paka]

12. Amen!

Sadly true, but a good reminder to all.

[oberliner]

13. Important to remember that it is the Republican Party that is the problem

Not just the person in the WH.

[american_ideals]

14. YES. "GOPs goal is to reverse any policy that would negatively affect its donors and supporters"

David Roberts at Vox wrote an AWESOME article in 2017 explaining this in detail.


https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/10/14871696/scott-pruitt-climate-denial

Pruitt’s remarks sparked a news cycle that is, to this 10-year veteran of the climate beat, extremely and tediously familiar. I could have scripted the whole thing in advance. As always, it seems to me that people are missing the point in two key ways.

It’s not about Pruitt, it’s about the Republican Party
My inbox is groaning with statements from previous EPA administrators, scientists, nonprofits, members of Congress, and assorted others, condemning Pruitt’s ignorance in florid terms.

But they are all about what Pruitt believes. And in the end, who cares what he believes? He is a functionary, chosen in part to dismantle EPA regulations on greenhouse gases. If it weren’t him, it would be some other functionary.

The GOP’s goal is to block or reverse any policy that would negatively affect its donors and supporters, who are drawn disproportionately from carbon-intensive industries and regions. That is the North Star — to protect those constituencies. That means, effectively, blocking any efficacious climate policy (which, almost by definition, will diminish fossil fuels).

They can’t just say that, though, so they have to retrofit a set of beliefs that justify inaction on climate change. Those beliefs shift around depending on context and can be maddeningly difficult to pin down. Among friendly audiences, Republicans are prone to dismiss climate change as a hoax. In public settings like Congressional hearings, they are more likely to adopt “lukewarmism,” accepting that climate change is happening (thus dodging the awkward “denier” label), waving their hands vaguely in the direction of action, but always emphasizing the uncertainties in the science and the grave economic dangers of any proposed policy solution.

But the reason GOP beliefs on climate are so difficult to pin down is that the beliefs are not the point. The party’s institutional opposition to action is the point. The beliefs are retrofit, on an opportunistic and sometimes case-by-case basis, to support the conclusion, which is: do nothing.

Pruitt is an avowed opponent of EPA who has spent his professional life suing it to stop it from regulating greenhouse gases. He was chosen to stop action on climate change. What he believes, or claims to believe, while doing so is ultimately not that important.

Alone among major parties in the developed world, the GOP rejects the need to act on climate change. That’s the outrage. Pruitt is an epiphenomenon.

That article is maybe the best article of 2017.

[SunSeeker]

15. Alone among major parties in the developed world, the GOP rejects the need to act on climate change.

That pretty much says it all.

[Cha]

18. BIG OIL and POLLUTION

Corps.. And, anything else that makes a buck off of killing our Planet's Environment.

[Cha]

16. Thanks for your PSA,

Bleacher Creature

[sellitman]

21. The proof of your statement is the fact that The Orange Child is still in office.

The GOP is lockstep. He has been their wet dream.

I don't differentiate between Trump and The GOP.

They are one in the same.

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[Mc Mike]

22. Agreed. 100%. Rec, thanks B C, nt.

[magicarpet]

23. Really attributing all the blame to tRdump alone....

Last edited Sun Apr 8, 2018, 02:40 PM - Edit history (1)

..... exonerates and dismisses the Republican Party from being the driving force of all these insane Fascist policies. Allowing the Rethug Party to slither away scot-free to rear their ugly heads later on is a grave mistake.

This allows them to repeat the chaos and mayhem they so like while masked in a fog of confusion - but in actuality only masquerading as effective and reasonable governance for the benefit of the common good. All the while their hidden agenda and goal is to dishevel, dismantle, and destroy the very structures of good government and a viable Democracy it's self. So they can then more effectively and expeditiously rape, plunder, and pillage our national treasure to their personal benefits alone.

So it is a fool's game to blame tRdump alone for what is happening and making him shoulder all the blame. tRdump is only the vessel, the container, the fancy packaging that brings the product to our door step. The product is misgovernaunce (old English) - that is the contaminant that infects our political system and renders it a dysfunctional and a unworkable mess.

The Republican Party is the sole perpetrator of this turmoil and utter misgovernaunce with malice - the thanks and the blame should be parked squarely in their yard - it is more their property and atrocity rather than just tRdump's alone. He is only their circus clown who conveniently and consistently creates distractions and confusions when they seek to stealthy advance their hidden agendas. That is tRdump's primary role - to manufacture distraction at their beck and call.

The Republican Party can not be given a pass on this reality of their blatant misgovernaunce and near total ineffectiveness - but must be forced to own up to this fact. Only then can we hope they will chart a different and more effective course of action - if they wish to partake in political leadership in any sort, way, or form today or into the future.

Absent that - we really have no time or patience or inclinations to stand by as they habitually gum up the important works and ways of a functioning and vibrant Democracy. We can not afford to squander or devote any more time to Republican Party idiocy, down right foolishness and outright insanity.

The political legacy we leave behind for our children and grand-children need not be so retrograde, hopeless and bleak. We can do so much better than that for them. If only we would put our backs and minds together to work in unison toward that common and worthy goal. A more sane, a more sustainable, a brighter tomorrow is just over the next hill and well worth the effort to make that journey. The only thing lacking is the discipline to keep selfishness in check and under constant control and making greed and gluttony way less fashionable.

Once those less desirable traits of human nature are pushed aside then serious accomplishments can be made for the commons.

But it is imperative that the Republican Party shoulder the blame that got us and brought us to this point because it was done with malice, with intent, and by design under cover of illegalities, deception, and deceit. Political operatives taking the game to such a level they crashed through the fire walls put in place to preserve and protect a stable and well functioning Democracy and willingly and willfully brought great detriments to it's ability to survive. A blend if you will allow the conception - as a quiet coup de' tat and compounded with stealth treason to take control of the levers of power to our very country it's self. Is there any more audacity that conceivably exists than that - to having captured and kidnapped America right out from under us in the clear light of day. Then gloat and repeatedly rub it in our face that our country is held under their hostage and deviant controls.

Godspeed to Team Mueller and their relentless Commission of Truth. There in lies the answer to our current political dilemmas and will ultimately map out our steps forward to a more promising, beneficial, and better functioning future political landscape. Absent layer upon layer of criminal political chicanery based upon acts of high crimes and treason via he who sits in the Oval Office and his various anti-American syndicate of goons.

[uponit7771]

24. K&R, ""establishment" Republicans are going to try and pretend that Trump was a fluke, "