McDonnell's "All of the Above" is Really More of the Same

Thanks to Lowell for extending an invitation to post here at Blue Virginia! Lowell gave me my first big blogging break when he invited me to be a front page writer at Raising Kaine, so I'm glad to have earned my place on the team here at Blue Virginia.

So why get back into statewide political blogging? Why not write another rant on reusable bags over at The Green Miles?

At at time of economic, energy and climate crises, and Virginia Republicans can only offer more of the same policies that got us in this mess in the first place. From Bob McDonnell to Bill Bolling to Ken Cuccinelli to House members like Dave Albo and Tom Rust to House candidates like Barbara Comstock. Republicans are dangerously unqualified to take the reins at such a critical moment.

I'm not the only one who's noticing. Over at The New Republic's The Vine blog, Bradford Plumer points out the national GOP's energy plan looks oddly familiar. He concludes:

[T]his bill seems intended more as a means of providing the GOP with talking points, rather than as a piece of serious legislation. And, as Joe Romm notes, it looks suspiciously like the Dick Cheney approach to energy policy.

Drill baby drill, all of the above, continued dependence on dirty fossil fuels with only lip service to renewables & efficiency -- point-by-point in lockstep with the Bush/Cheney energy approach. "All of the above" is really "more of the same" -- the same old failed policies that have gotten us in this mess in the first place.

It's right on Bob McDonnell's website, assuming you can see it through the hazy rhetoric: "As we look at ways to improve and expand our energy supply in Virginia, we must be aware of our current energy mix." Translation: more drilling, more mountaintop-removed coal, more nuclear. As for renewables? Hey, gotta be "aware" of the status quo. Can't go challenging that, can we?

We'll have much more on the Virginia GOP-Bush/Cheney energy parallels in the months ahead. For now, one last question about McDonnell's energy plan ... what's with the references to making Virginia a "Green Jobs Zone"? Is that an intentional reference to Baghdad's Green Zone? Or is it just an ignorantly coincidental parallel? There are a million things he could call his green jobs plan, so why would he make the reference otherwise? Really odd.