Remember that absurd website hosted by the House Resources Committee (read: Dick Pombo)? The taxpayer-funded one that slanders the entire environmental movement as greedy alarmists? Environmentalists are irritated about it. Pombo, as is his wont, doesn’t give a damn:
"It’s all part of the policy debate," Pombo said. "Hey, these groups can’t scream that my site is political and turn around and say their stuff is educational. They can’t have it both ways."
This is stupid. Nobody would ever see the website if people didn’t make a fuss about it. It deserves mockery, nothing else.
In happier Pombo news, Defenders of Wildlife recently released a poll (press release; PDF summary) showing that if the election were held today, Pombo would LOOOOOOOOSE! Ahem.
A major factor in Pombo’s drop in support is the fact that a majority of voters now believe that he "puts corporate interests over the people’s interest." 53% of voters believe that the above description describes him well, while only 30% say it does not describe him well.
And remember, this is in a deeply, deeply Republican district.
I wonder how much of this is attributable to the general decline in Republican popularity, how much to events, and how much to the campaign by green groups. Some signs point to the latter — these numbers are sharply down from last September, and Pombo now boasts some of the worst re-elect numbers of any Republican incumbent. Says the summary:
Shift in Attitudes Regarding Pombo Is Real and Not Due to the Political Environment or Partisan Shifts:
The poll found ample proof that the shift in opinion against Pombo is about the Congressman himself and not simply due to a shift in the political environment or partisan attitudes. As evidence, at the same time that Pombo’s job approval has dropped a total of 26 points, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s job approval has increased a total of 11 points. President Bush’s job approval has changed since last September, dropping from 50 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval to now having a net negative job approval rating (43 percent approve to 56 percent disapprove). This represents a shift of 14 points, which is significant but not nearly as much as Pombo’s 26-point shift. These findings suggest that the drop in support for Pombo is unique to him as a Congressman and as a person and due to events that have occurred in the district.
In sum, this poll has found that Congressman Pombo’s standing with voters in California’s 11th district has deteriorated significantly and on many levels. In fact, his poll numbers are as bad, if not worse, than any of his colleagues in Congress and there is a very real possibility that he can be defeated this November.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
