I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Steyer, Big Climate's Daddy Warmbucks, woke up this morning with the all-time worst dose of "climate depression". Sample headline:
Tom Steyer Spent $74 Million on the Election. He Didn't Get Much to Show for It.
He blew through that $74 million in order to make "climate change" the winning wedge issue for beleaguered Democrats. How'd that work out?
Colorado was a prime battleground for Steyer's Super PAC and other environmentalist groups, but Gardner bested Udall by a 4.2 percent margin on Tuesday.
Udall was one of the few vulnerable Senate Democratic incumbents who refused to publicly back the Keystone XL pipeline, opposition to which was Steyer's litmus test for his sizable financial support... Steyer's Super PAC poured money into the Colorado Senate race, the bulk of which was used to attack Gardner.
NextGen Climate Action, one of the election cycle's most active and well-funded Super PACs, spent more than $5.5 million in the race, nearly 15 percent of all outside spending on Udall's behalf.
The group had 68 staffers working in the state.
Wow. Sixty-eight staffers just in Colorado! Maybe Tom Steyer could redeploy them to Michael E Mann's legal team in the upcoming Mann vs Steyn trial of the century. Or at least buy him a couple new hashtags. Dr Mann today:
How much does it cost to buy the U.S. Senate? $1Billion, apparently. #KochMachine
Doctor Fraudpants sounds like he's got a touch of the old "climate depression", too. Election night was not just a bad night for Mann, Steyer and the other climate mullahs, but apparently for the climate itself:
The Climate Lost Big-Time in Tuesday's Election
Actually, the climate will be just fine, but this kind of nutty, overwrought coverage helps explain why the Steyer-funded Clime Syndicate "lost big-time". "Climate change" is an appealing boutique issue for liberal billionaires and A-list movie stars because "saving the planet" appeals to their vanity. But, if you're not a liberal billionaire, you're trying to stay afloat not because the oceans are rising but because family incomes are flatlined and America has declining social mobility. "Climate change" is a luxury issue most Americans can't afford.
~On a related note, the next court date in Washington, for Mann and my co-defendants, will be November 25th in the DC Court of Appeals. I'll be there in my capacity as an amicus curiae and on my best behavior, although I might sneak up behind Dr Mann and intone "#KochMachine" in a big scary voice. If you're in the area and want to swing by, why not come as Michael E Mann's #LamestHashtag?
~I said on the radio earlier today that the short version of the election was that there are apparently now 49 red states plus blue New Hampshire. In fairness, things aren't that grim in my beloved Granite State. One of our two Congressional seats turned Republican. The GOP holds a majority on the Executive Council. Republicans increased their majority in the state Senate, and took the New Hampshire House with a majority of roughly 240 to 165.
The NH General Court is part of a nationwide trend:
The Republican wave that swept over the states left Democrats at their weakest point in state legislatures since the 1920s.
Everything went in the direction of the GOP as Republicans seized new majorities in the West Virginia House, Nevada Assembly and Senate, New Hampshire House, Minnesota House and New York Senate...
The state legislative chambers now stand at 65 Republican, 23 Democrat, 1 tie, and 4 undecided.
Does this feel like a country whose accumulated legislative bodies are 70 per cent right-of-center?
Ever since The New York Post published an excerpt from my new book, I've been asked on TV and radio about the importance of politics in relation to the broader culture. But there are other factors at work, too. Those state legislatures labor under an ever greater centralization of power in Washington on everything from health care to school lunches. In that sense, that line about Democrats at their weakest "since the 1920s" is not a useful comparison - because in the 1920s those states were far less beholden to Washington and the vast national regulatory apparatus. The permanent bureaucracy is a big part of the problem, too.
~I'll be spending much of Thursday on the radio, starting with KFAB's Good Morning show in Omaha just after 7.30am Central. Full details of all my media appearances can be found in our On The Air box at the right.
~As for The [Un]documented Mark Steyn, it's currently on the lower reaches of the New York Times bestsellers. You can buy it now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million in America, or Indigo-Chapters, Amazon and McNally-Robinson in Canada. Or, for instant gratification, get it in eBook - in Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iBooks. And, wherever you are on the planet, we're happy to ship you a personally autographed copy direct from the SteynOnline bookstore.
