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A match made in ANWR:
The touching love story of the GOP and the Teamsters
by Arianna Huffington
03.07.02
It's a match made in heaven. Actually, not quite that far north -- in Alaska. With the Senate scheduled to begin debating the administration's energy bill this week -- including its plan to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- the president is expending a great many kilowatts of his own energy to guarantee its passage. His partner in this oily scheme is none other than the Teamsters Union. Yes, the very same Teamsters who endorsed Al Gore and who, in the last election cycle, funneled 93 percent of their PAC donations to Democrats... In another show of devotion to their newly beloved, the Teamsters have put a distinctive spin on a time-honored romantic tradition. Instead of carving their initials on a tree, they've expressed their deep affection by carving their initials into the forehead of Sen. John Kerry with a vicious -- and wildly inaccurate -- newspaper ad... which proudly bears the Teamsters' union seal, claims that Kerry supports drilling off the coast of Florida. Which would be true -- if he did. But he doesn't and, in fact, he voted against it.

He voted against it, but he supports it now.

It also distorts his position on drilling in Alaska. Who needs chocolates, when you can buy your sweetie a full-page hatchet-job? "The truth is," Kerry told me, "investing in renewable energy sources will create a lot more jobs than drilling in ANWR. The Teamsters ought to be fighting for the jobs of the future, not the jobs of the past." But there is more to this dangerous Beltway liaison than meets the eye. It turns out that Hoffa's romantic agenda is the most suspect since Anna Nicole Smith fell head over heels for her octogenarian billionaire. The "jobs bill" rhetoric notwithstanding, Hoffa's real objective is the removal of the federal oversight of the Teamsters that was imposed in 1989 as a result of the long history of corruption within the union... But the very nature of Hoffa's support for Arctic drilling proves otherwise. "Clearly, we can explore ANWR without harming the environment," claimed Hoffa -- a statement that, along with the bunk he and his cronies are peddling about Kerry, shows that this is a man who is willing to do and say pretty much anything to curry favor, and cannot, therefore, be trusted. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge is a lousy idea. At best, it will only produce enough oil to meet six months of America's energy needs -- and it will take ten years to do even that.

cross-posted.

George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent