Keystone XL Pipeline-- The Coming Catastrophe, Politically Speaking

"If he honestly believes," says Van Jones in the video clip above, "that this pipeline-- which will be a huge part of his legacy-- is a good thing, he should call it the Obama Tar Sands Pipeline." Yes, a huge part of his legacy. The House may have made it easy for him-- whichever decision he makes. Last week they passed H.R. 3, which removes Obama from the decision-making process, despite this being a deal that involves the U.S. border, over which he has constitutional authority. So... he can veto it on that basis alone-- if it passes the Senate (a distinct possibility, since the majority of the whores in that esteemed body have already come out in favor). Of course, if Obama really wants the pipeline to go through and just would rather avoid the stain on his legacy, he could let that go through and say "Congress did it, not me," although only idiots-- so, roughly, half the voters, could possibly buy into that lame excuse.

When the House voted not a single Republican voted NO, although Planet Justin (Amash-R-MI) voted "present." The real horror, though was that 19 Democrats scurried across the aisle to vote with the GOP, not just for the Keystone XL Pipeline, but to remove Obama from the process. And they weren't all just the Blue Dog reactionaries and racists. Here's the whole list:

• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Cheri Bustos (IL)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog/New Dem-TN)
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Bill Enyart (IL)
• Al Green (TX)
• Gene Green (TX)
• Ruben Hinojosa (TX)
• Sean Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Filemon Vela (New Dem-TX)
• John Yarmuth (KY)

If any of these 19 are your congressmember... well, let me suggest you go back to the tape up top and listen to it again. As for the Senate, every single Republican plus 17 Democrats... must not see it the way Van does. These Democrats all voted for Keystone XL. Any of 'em yours?

• Max Baucus (MT- $394,915)
• Mark Begich (AK- $229,705)
• Michael Bennet (CO- $149,920)
• Tom Carper (DE- $88,060)
• Bob Casey (PA- $129,100)
• Chris Coons (DE- $19,373)
• Joe Donnelly (IN- $7,800)
• Kay Hagen (NC- $22,350)
• Heidi Heitkamp (ND- $87,450)
• Tim Johnson (SD- $131,506)
• Mary Landrieu (LA- $1,086,084)
• Joe Manchin (WV- $256,150)
• Claire McCaskill (MO- $84,208)
• Bill Nelson (FL- $94,617)
• Mark Pryor (AR- $212,800)
• John Tester (MT- $59,366)
• Mark Warner (VA- $89,800)

As you've probably guessed, the money next to each senator's name is the amount of legalistic bribes they've taken so far from Big Oil and Gas. In recent years, the industry has reserved all their big bucks for Republicans (+ Mary Landrieu and ex-Senator Blanche Lincoln), but they still give some chickenfeed to a few Democratic cheap dates.