Out of Gas

I think these two videos speak for themselves.

One is from the US Chamber of Commerce (via Open Left), offering its ominous vision for the future if Congress passes legislation to stop global warming. The other is from Environmental Defense, featuring western governors painting a bright vision of a clean energy future, and calling on Congress to act.

See for yourself which one makes its case.

To echo Open Left's Matt Stoller, I expect better fear-mongering from well-heeled corporate conservatives.

They think their trump card is hysterical, nonsensical claims that fighting global warming means living without any energy (using candles for heat, jogging to work, etc.).

Their problem is: clean energy technology already exists. It's not all that hard to show a credible vision of a clean energy future, and get people excited about using more clean energy and less dirty fossil fuel.

(Even oil companies, looking to de-sludge their reps, do it all the time.)

As Stoller notes, the Chamber's long-term goal -- recognizing that climate legislation is inevitable, if not necessarily before Bush leaves office -- is not to kill such legislation, but to shape it so long-time polluters don't have to do their part to solve the problem.

But making ads wholly detached from reality is merely a recipe for discrediting the Chamber and weakening their political position.

So please, keep those ads coming!

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future