Halvorson's cave on cap & trade

Freshman Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson voted YES in DC Friday night to hike our electricity and heating bills with Cap and Trade’s new federal energy tax.  Seems Halvorson got a call from President Barack Obama, and that did the trick.  She’s evidently more concerned about pleasing Barack than her conservative district constituents.  This vote could give a Republican the toe-hold vote he or she needs to make Halvorson a one-termer.  Ms. Halvorson doesn’t appear worried, though.  She probably expects her superhero Barack to answer her call in 2010 and save the election for her again.

The national political blog Redstate.com features a YouTube taken at a recent district town hall meeting in which Halvorson reveals her ignorance on Cap and Trade’s effects:

First, it makes clear that her general support for higher taxes and spending comes from simple ignorance. She says that she opposes carbon taxes because ‘if you have enough money, you’re just going to pay to pollute.’ She seems not to realize that carbon emissions come from things like generating electricity, and that if electric prices skyrocket, economic activity will grind to a halt, businesses will shut down, and people will use less electricity. It’s disturbing that the people of Illinois are represented by an economic illiterate, who thinks that tax increases have no economic effects. (It does however, explain a lot.)

Second, it has to be incredibly embarrassing to Ms. Halvorson that her bankrupt bragging was caught on tape, and would come back to haunt her after she caved under pressure from Barack Obama:

A presidential phone call helped to win at least one vote: Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill., a freshman from a suburban and rural district – and former Illinois State Senate colleague of Obama’s – who said in an interview Thursday evening that after months of indecision, she now “feels great” about the bill.

Click here to read the full story.