Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Counting on Coal Country
American Spectator ^ | October 8, 2012 | ROBERT STACY MCCAIN

Posted on 10/08/2012 4:23:25 PM PDT by neverdem

Romney fights for jobs -- and votes -- in an industry at war with Obama’s EPA.

Nearly four thousand people turned out Friday in Abingdon, Virginia, to hear Mitt Romney declare his support for the coal industry, which has been besieged for more than three years by President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency...

--snip--

For a Democratic president so closely allied with the labor movement, Obama's abandonment of the mine workers is stunning, considering that the head of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, began his career with the UMW.

Even as the EPA's regulatory squeeze of power plants has had the effect of reducing demand for coal, Jackson's agency has suppressed the supply by enacting new clean-water rules that have brought permitting for new surface-mining operations to a screeching halt in Appalachia. As a result, since Obama took office, coal production has fallen by a third, eliminating hundreds(?) of jobs, most recently when Alpha Natural Resources announced it would be forced to lay off 1,200 miners. While stimulus money was squandered on bankrupt "green energy" boondoggles like Solyndra, Obama's anti-coal agenda has destroyed private-sector jobs that were the very definition of "shovel ready."

Obama might shrug off the economic hardship his policies have imposed on those small-town workers he once dismissed as "bitter," clinging to "guns or religion," but perhaps the one job most endangered by the president's war on coal is his own.

--snip--

Folks in America's coal towns have not yet lost hope, even as they have been betrayed by the president who famously promised Hope. The end of Obama's war on coal may now be within sight, and the people of Coal Country could cast the deciding votes to end it.

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: coalcountry; epa; obama; romney
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last
To: phormer phrog phlyer

I wish I could also deliver Ohio but we have the “mistake on the lake” (Cleveland) that sways us blue; like Gary Indiana pulls Indiana and Chicago jerks the otherwise bucolic Illinois.


21 posted on 10/09/2012 3:40:59 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: tbw2

But people have to KNOW the dastardly deeds O is pulling. Media will not report


22 posted on 10/09/2012 3:42:54 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: hinckley buzzard

I thought all the Congressmen from southeastern Ohio were R’s. Yes, if there is a D in office, he will lose, despite O firing up the atomic plant (temporarily) again. The old political football.

Ted Strickland had some appeal to them but then he ran for Governor (and got beat by Kasich and wants a come back).


23 posted on 10/09/2012 3:46:27 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: old and tired
There is NO WAY the African Americans will turn out for Obama in the same numbers they did last time.

You are absolutely correct. Last week, a friend of ours who is black approached my wife and asked her where she could get a Mitt Romney sign for her yard. She voted for Obama four years ago, but not this time. Her comment was, "I gave the brother a chance four years ago, but not this time."

24 posted on 10/09/2012 4:43:37 AM PDT by Hoodat ("As for God, His way is perfect" - Psalm 18:30)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: tbw2

Most don’t see it, though. The full effects of the war on coal by the EPA haven’t percolated through the system yet, so most of the sheeple are unaware of just how extreme and costly what this Administration has done will really be.


25 posted on 10/09/2012 4:57:07 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

This is really good news.

Nobody ever expected that ethnic Catholic Democrats in the auto unions in suburban Detroit would vote for Reagan, either. The secular liberals learned the hard way that social issues like abortion can upset the apple cart of classical Marxist and socialist economic theories. People sometimes vote according to things which are more important to them than economics.

When economics and social issues combine, the rejection of traditional political alignments can be even more powerful.


26 posted on 10/09/2012 5:15:35 AM PDT by darrellmaurina
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tbw2

Depends on how good his ministry of propaganda lectures people on environmentalism. I’ve “debated” with several people who seem to think that switching to “green energy”, even if it works, will be an easy process with absolutely no bumps.


27 posted on 10/09/2012 5:51:57 AM PDT by RWB Patriot ("My ability is a value that must be purchased and I don't recognize anyone's need as a claim on me.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: tbw2
Will Obama’s shutting down of coal fire plants also help drive Democrats to Romney? Shutting down both the power plants and the mining lead to lay offs AND higher energy prices.

Combine hate Whitey and Jacksonian Democrats. They don't mix very well.

28 posted on 10/09/2012 9:55:38 AM PDT by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster
Most don’t see it, though.

"This radical environmentalist policy enraged Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers, who said that the regulations represent a 'decision by the EPA that we're never going to have another coal-fired facility in the United States that's constructed.'"

They have be deaf, dumb, blind or declared mentally incompetent. It's not confined to coal or the other so called fossil fuels. This isn't some abstract notion of labor's solidarity. It's not just the worker's but the family members as well and how are they going to pay for food on the table and the roof over their heads!

29 posted on 10/09/2012 10:53:52 AM PDT by neverdem ( Xin loi min oi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-29 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson