Dems Say: Let’s Burn Corn!

This morning, the Democrats gave a news conference on energy independence. It was the usual melange of Bush bashing and fantasy; Chuck Schumer said that $3 a gallon for gasoline is a metaphor for the Bush administration’s incompetence, and John Kerry said that we need to invent our way to energy independence. A good idea, as long as we aren’t counting on Kerry to do the inventing, and we have a plan for what to do in the meantime.

Dim Dick Durbin had the most concrete suggestion: burn corn! To listen, click the play button:


I’m well aware of the political power of ethanol, and of its utility, at the margin, as an energy source. But the idea that burning midwestern corn can replace burning petroleum is absurd. And there has been, for a decade now, a concrete proposal on the table whereby Americans would work at good-paying jobs to produce energy that would reduce this country’s dependence on foreign energy sources. But the Democrats have successfully blocked drilling for oil in ANWR, time after time.

“Energy independence” is one more in a long series of issues on which the Democrats have nothing serious to contribute.

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