What do they know that we don’t?A scoop in The New York Times doesn’t surprise me. A scoop from nine months into the future does. This morning the Times Environment page featured a ClimateWire story dated May 15, 2010.
“Senators Spend Recess Fine-Tuning Messages on Cap and Trade” finds Senate Democrats still hand-wringing over the proper messaging of a climate bill. It finds Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still confounded about how to line up his 59-vote majority behind a bill.
From the Times crystal ball:
As for the lead Democratic authors of the climate bill, both Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) and John Kerry (Mass.) have largely stayed out of the spotlight this month. Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has been in her home state promoting her new novel and getting ready for a 2010 re-election campaign that likely will feature a top-tier GOP candidate in Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard.
Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been home in Boston recovering from hip surgery.
OK, the actual story lists the date as Aug. 28, 2009. Probably safe to say the 2010 date is an error.
Bonus Good News from South Dakota–The story reports on Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.):
Last summer, Johnson questioned his party’s leadership for trying to force a floor debate on a comprehensive climate bill that set mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions. But in an Aug. 10 editorial, Johnson signaled he was now on board.
“How many times have you heard experts cite the fact that South Dakota is the fourth windiest state, but only ranks 20th in actual installed wind energy generation?” Johnson wrote. “Soon the Senate will consider climate change legislation that could finally help South Dakota to live up to its wind generating potential and capture the benefits of a cash crop that is just blowing across our landscape.”
