The Occasional Observer

Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), who has been in Congress for 50 (!) years, is once again chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He was interviewed by Amanda Griscom Little, who, based on her line of questioning, is an anti-industrial enviornmentalist extremeist ist. Dingell's district covers much of Wayne and Washtenaw Counties, and is home base for the U.S. auto industry. Do we see how this setting up?

Anyway, the entertanment factor was high. When you have an invulnerable 50 year incumbent, who also happens to be an 80 year old man fully set in his ways, he doesn't really care whether the interviewer comes away with a favorable impression. As Ms. Little asks a series of pointed questions, Rep. Dingell responds with some equally aggressive counterpunches. A few of my favorites:

Q: What major environmental breakthroughs do you see on the horizon for the 110th Congress, in an ideal world?

A: Oh, you're a smart girl, because that's a nasty question...

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Q: So you believe the emphasis needs to be on how we're going to rally the world to address climate change, not how we're going to rally ourselves to address it?

A: Well, we have to do all of the above. We've got to begin to find out what we can do, and how we can do it without destituting the American society. But by the same token, we're going to have to help others to do the same thing and persuade them to be participants in that undertaking. In terms of diplomacy, that's probably one of the single biggest problems this country's got.

But you've got a lot of [Americans] saying, "We're going to solve the problem. We're going to make these cars." Well, we could all be riding around in kiddie cars and we wouldn't solve the problem. And we'd have an awful lot of angry Americans. You're not going to solve [the climate] problem yourself any more than you're going to solve Iraq by yourself.

Q: What's a kiddie car?

A: Don't you know what a kiddie car is?

Q: No.

A: It's one of those three-wheel things that kids get when they start out, they sit on and it's got a little handlebar, and they sort of pad around on this little three-wheeled tricycle.

Q: Got it.

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A: ...We'll also ask how this [increasing CAFE standards] can all be done without destituting American industry.

Q: What do you mean by "destituting American industry"?

A: One job in 10 in this country is in the auto industry. Most people don't know that. The auto industry is the biggest user of carpets produced in the Carolinas. The auto industry is the biggest user of glass produced in Pittsburgh. The autos are the biggest consumer of steel. The autos are tremendous users of plastic. And they've got, I think, about four computers in an automobile. Now, you can be quite calm about destituting Detroit, but do you want to shut down Silicon Valley and North Carolina and the Gulf Coast and Pittsburgh and other places that are heavily dependent on this? Plus the transportation industry that moves these cars around?

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Q: Some argue that protecting Detroit from increased CAFE standards has actually made the U.S. less competitive. Today the most successful auto companies are the ones that are producing the most efficient cars.

A: Now let me just tell you this. First of all, you know which auto company produces the most lines of fuel-efficient cars? General Motors. They produce more fuel-efficient models than does any foreign manufacturer. More than Toyota, more than Nissan or any of the brands.

Q: But the concern is that the total aggregate of their fuel efficiency ...

A: Here's your problem. And you're a bright young woman. You don't have to have this explained to you. Look: Why do Americans buy SUVs? They buy them because they're big, because they're comfortable, because they feel safe, because they can haul six kids and a big load of groceries. Because the soccer mom can take the soccer team to a soccer game. Because they've got four-wheel drive if they run into a huge damn snowstorm. That's why they buy it.

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Q: What about biofuels?

A: If you used every nickel's worth of corn that this country produces, you could only have 70 percent of the fuel it takes to run the American transportation fleet. Do you want to eat corn bread and corn syrup and have your beef fed with corn, or do you want to ride around in a car?

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Q: Your wife is head of the General Motors Foundation. Does she influence your thinking about ...

A: She doesn't lobby. And she won't even talk to me about these matters.

Q: In closing, what do you do in your own life to reduce your environmental impact?

A: Well, I heat my house not above 70 degrees. I take a Navy shower. I carpool with my wife. I shut off the water when I'm cleaning my teeth. I recycle every damn thing I can recycle.

Let's review: he belittled the environmentalist as a "smart girl" twice, got in two "damns", disputed the "consensus" on global warming, put New Zealand's sheep and our auto industry on the same level as polluters, pointed out that hybrids and biofuels are not realistic solutions based on our technology at this point, and refuted the idea that the US should participate in any international enviornmental agreements that lead to us bearing a disproportionate burden and giving China a free ride.

Well done, Rep. Dingell. That would have been a good day's work for Rush Limbaugh.