Sen. Elizabeth Warren is annoyed that people keep pointing out that her brand of climate change alarmism calls for the prohibition of everyday items, including plastic drinking straws and incandescent light bulbs.
In fact, the top-tier 2020 Democratic primary candidate believes it is an unfair, devious, fossil-fuel-industry-promoted talking point to highlight the fact that alarmists like herself — who oppose nuclear energy — back placebos that will do next to nothing to offset the industrialized world’s carbon footprint.
On Wednesday, during CNN’s seven-hour climate crisis town hall, host Chris Cuomo addressed the senator’s support for supposedly climate-saving bans.
“Today the president announced plans to roll back energy-saving light bulbs, and he wants to reintroduce four different kinds, which I’m not going to burden you with, but one of them is the candle-shaped ones, and those are a favorite for a lot of people, by the way,” Cuomo said.
He added, “But do you think that the government should be in the business of telling you what kind of light bulb you can have?”
Warren was not pleased with the question.
“Oh, come on,” she said, “give me a break.”
“Is that a yes?” Cuomo pressed. The Massachusetts senator pounced (or seized, depending on your persuasion).
“No. Look, there are a lot of ways that we try to change our energy consumption, and our pollution, and God bless all of those ways,” she said. “Some of it is with light bulbs, some of it is on straws, some of it, dang, is on cheeseburgers, right? There are a lot of different pieces to this. And I get that people are trying to find the part that they can work on and what can they do. And I’m in favor of that. And I’m going to help and I’m going to support.”
She continued, “But understand, this is exactly what the fossil fuel industry hopes we’re all talking about. That’s what they want us to talk about.”
Ah-ha! There it is again: The “Republican talking point!” dodge utilized by so many of the 2020 Democratic primary candidates. When confronted with an uncomfortable fact or question, many of the 2020 candidates have avoided answering by alleging a dirty trick by their opponent. In Warren’s case Wednesday evening, the “opponent” is the fossil fuel industry and the “trick” is noting her support for government bans on everyday items.
Naturally, the CNN studio audience cheered her response.
“They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around your light bulbs, around your straws, and around your cheeseburgers. When 70% of the pollution of the carbon that we’re throwing into the air comes from three industries, and we can set our targets and say, by 2028, 2030, and 2035, no more. Think about that. Right there,” Warren continued.
She added, “Now, the other 30%, we still got to work on. Oh, no, we don’t stop at 70%. But the point is, that’s where we need to focus. And why don’t we focus there? It’s corruption. It’s these giant corporations that keep hiring the PR firms that — everybody has fun with it, right, gets it all out there — so we don’t look at who’s still making the big bucks off polluting our Earth.”
Now is a good time to stress that Warren absolutely believes the federal government should be “in the business” of telling people what kind of light bulb they can have. She is just annoyed that people are saying that part out loud, especially as she is campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination.
The fact is, Warren supports things like lights bulb bans. She also opposes nuclear energy, in case you were wondering how seriously you should take her climate change platform.
