True North

This is stupid. Incredibly stupid. Lose the election stupid. If you want to know why, all you have to do is look at the name of one of the portside senators who signed on to this "compromise" along with Pollyanna Norm and the probably doomed John Sununu of New Hampshire. From the story:

Emphasis mine. When we last saw Ken Salazar, he was involved in this revealing exchange with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Salazar was on record as refusing to go along with a resolution for drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, even if the price of gasoline were to reach $10 a gallon. Norm had to know this, but he's apparently assuming that Salazar is now acting in good faith by signing on to a "compromise" bill that will only address a small percentage of the larger issue, which is the reality that the U.S. government has been artificially locking up a great portion of available resources for the better part of 30 years.

It's pretty simple, Senator -- you are selling out your leadership for a compromise bill that will never get enacted. You are providing political cover to your opponents, who put themselves in an untenable position politically. Instead of standing with Mitch McConnell and the leadership and working to elect more Republicans by keeping the distinctions clear about which party will do something about energy challenges, you chose to align yourself with people who will not hesitate to stick a shiv in your back. Ken Salazar is not your friend, Senator. The bill will not pass and your bi-partisan gesture will be gleefully shoved down your throat. You will continue to be the target of attack ads that tie you to chimerical corporate greed, both from the campaign of your risible opponent and the constellation of outside groups that are spending huge sums to elect your risible opponent. Indeed, Ken Salazar will stand at the front of the line to greet your risible opponent should he somehow defeat you.

You can't unring the bell, Senator. But you would do well to think hard about the mistake you made today. You hadn't made too many mistakes in your campaign up to this point. But today you did.

Cross-posted at Mr. Dilettante.  Comments always welcome!