Carol Browner, Joe Biden’s Railroads, and Midterm Elections

Today in the News

Carol Browner

White House energy advisor Carol Browner rewrote key sections of a report to suggest a group of scientists were supporting the drilling moratorium.

Senior Fellow Chris Horner explains why the rewrite is indefensible.

“So, the sexed up report implied something that wasn’t true — that ’science’ and not ideology drove the numb-skulled left-wing fever dream of a drilling moratorium still effectively ravaging the Gulf Coast’s economy — an ‘implication’ which was nowhere to be found in the original report before the political and ideological spinmasters were called in late the night before the White House issued its sexed up document. They moved some language around…’implying’ a politically desirable conclusion that was patently untrue.”

 

Joe Biden’s Railroads

Joe Biden often defends government’s involvement in the rail industry.

Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young points out that Biden’s defense is inaccurate.

“Joe Biden believes that government played a large role in the success of railroads in the 19th century. In this video, Don Boudreaux points out that that isn’t actually true. There were four transcontinental railroads. Three of them received subsidies. The fourth was the Great Northern Railway, founded by Canadian immigrant James J. Hill. He alone rejected any special government favors. All three subsidized railroads went into receivership. Hill’s Great Northern Railway remained solvent, and is still in business today as BNSF Railway.”

 

Midterm Elections

After last week’s midterm elections, President Obama said he “needed to do a better job.”

Warren Brookes Fellow Kathryn Ciano says Obama may be missing the point.

“Yes, Mr. Obama: You do need to do a better job. But the message you should have gotten from these elections is not that you should work harder to ‘deem-and-pass’ more control-centralizing legislation in the lame duck. What politicians should have learned from the midterms is: This is not about you! This is about us!”