Right-wing media's latest baseless vote-buying conspiracy: Dem reps traded health votes for water allocation
In their latest baseless claim that the Obama administration is "[b]uying votes" for its health care bill, right-wing media figures have alleged, citing no evidence, that a Department of the Interior announcement that California's Central Valley will receive greater water allocations was a "bribe" for two congressmen from the region. In fact, the allocation was reportedly increased because El Nino winter rains have "helped replenish the state's biggest reservoir."
Right-wing media baselessly allege Obama admin "bribed" Dem reps with water allocation
Wall Street Journal calls
water allocations
"the price for Democrats Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa." In a March
19 editorial, the Wall Street
Journal reported that "Secretary of the Interior Ken
Salazar
announced on Tuesday that central California
would get extra public water allocations." The editorial claimed that the increased
water allocations
were
"apparently the price for Democrats Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa to vote
something other than their consciences" on
health care reform.
Investor's
Business
Daily: "Buying Votes with Water." In a March 18 editorial headlined
"Buying votes with water," Investor's
Business
Daily (IBD) said it was "a tad too
coincidental" that the allocations were made "in the
middle of a contentious health care debate marked by Cornhusker
Kickbacks and
Louisiana Purchases."
The editorial board claimed
"Interior's
announcement gives Costa and Cardoza something to assuage the wrath of
angry
constituents just in time for any vote. They chose what was behind door
number
one."
National Review Online: "Interior
Dept.
Moves Up Water Allocation for Two 'Undecideds' on Health Care." In
a
March 18 National Review
blog post, Stephen Spruiell linked to a National
Republican
Congressional Committee report asking
if the allocation is
"another backroom deal" and then claimed it "certainly points to
some shady timing." The post
acknowledged that both Costa and Cardoza "both voted yes on the House
bill
in November" but speculated
that
the allocation "might have been the kind of deal that was promised last
year, but held hostage until the House closed in on a final vote, or
maybe
Cardoza and Costa threatened to defect, prompting the Department of the
Interior to make an early announcement."
Beck: Democrats are "so far past the
line of evil,"
they are "using water as a weapon" to get health care votes. On
the
March 19 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program, Beck claimed both
Cardoza and Costa "flipped their
vote," and
then called the water
allocation increase
"using water as a weapon" and "one of the most hair-raising,
terrifying pieces of information I've ever seen." Beck claimed
"there's a difference between the regular kind of fraud, I mean, we're
used to that, we're now talking about -- we're now talking about using
water,
water, life-saving water to grow food, as a weapon. That's so far past
the line
of evil, I mean I don't even recognize a government that does that."
Hannity: "I'm guessing" the health
care vote and water allocation announcement "are closely linked." On
the
the March 17 edition of Fox News' Hannity,
host Sean Hannity linked the water
allocation
to Costa and Cardoza's
health care votes. Hannity
claimed "the Department of the Interior announced that yesterday, that
they were increasing the water supply to California's Central Valley,
which is
experiencing a severe drought...simultaneously, two previously undecided
California Democrats Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa reportedly switched
their
votes from no to yes. So,
I'm guessing that those events are closely linked." Hannity aired the
following on-screen graphic during this segment:
Right-wing allegations of bribery ignore reporting that the allocation increase is due to more winter rain
Secretary
Salazar:
"Winter rains have helped replenish the state's biggest reservoir." In a March
17 article, the Wall
Street
Journal noted that California's
Central Valley had been experiencing severe drought, and
that,
according to Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, "The increase
is made possible in part because winter rains have helped replenish the
state's
biggest reservoir, Lake Shasta, which now stands at 81% of capacity,
compared
with 55% a year ago." Secretary Salazar also "said he moved up the
announcement by a week or so 'because people on the ground and farming
need to
have certainty.'" The Journal
reported that Salazar's
announcement "further eas[ed] drought concerns in a state where El
Niño rains have raised the mountain snowpack after three severely dry
years."
AP: "Storms mean CA farmers, cities
will
get more water." In a March 17 article, the Associated
Press wrote that "A series of drenching storms have
replenished
many of California's
reservoirs, freeing up more water for parched farms and cities
throughout the
state, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Tuesday."
Right-wing media ignores statements by both Representatives denying allegations of bribery
Cardoza: "Not satisfied with the water allocation" and "has not yet taken a position on the health reform bill." Cardoza released a statement, making clear that he did not approve of the water allocation because it was "not enough," and stating he has not taken a position on health care reform. From Cardoza's news release:
"Congressman Cardoza has been working on the water crisis for as long as there has been a water crisis.
The allegation that he has somehow traded a vote on health care reform for more water is absolutely false and nothing more than an election-year smear tactic.
As he has said, Congressman Cardoza is awaiting the release of the final language of the health care bill and will make a decision after he reads it. He is on record as stating that the water allocation announced earlier this month is not enough for our Valley farmers.
Given that he is not satisfied with the water allocation and he has not yet taken a position on the health care reform bill, this accusation has no basis in facts and in fact makes absolutely no sense at all!"
Costa: Allegations of a deal are "laughable, and certainly false." When asked in an interview with Fresno radio station KMJ if he would vote yes on health care even if it was the only way to secure water for his district, Rep. Costa said, "No, I think the suggestion that I made some sort of deal with the White House is laughable, and certainly completely false. You know, Ray that I have been working on water issues for the people of our valley for 30 years."
Allegation latest in long line of baseless, conspiratorial claims
The right-wing media's claim that the water allocation announcement was a "bribe" for Costa and Cardoza follows numerous prior allegations that the Obama administration was "[b]uying votes" on health care reform, which similarly lacked evidence. Examples include: Dick Morris' baseless conspiracy theory that Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) is facing an ethics investigation because he voted against health care reform; the completely baseless accusation by The Weekly Standard's John McCormack that President Obama is buying Rep. Jim Matheson's (D-UT) vote on health care reform by appointing his brother, Scott Matheson, to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was recently conclusively debunked by a former Bush-appointed judge; and Weekly Standard writer Michael Goldfarb's bizarre, ever-shifting claim that the White House was "threatening to close" Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base "to extort" Sen. Ben Nelson's vote.
You can't be serious!
What's different is Boehner passing out bribes on the floor of the house. What's different is the RNC threatening a congressman that they'll put up a challenger to his son's campaign if they don't get his vote.
-------------------------------
The Midnight Review
Pathetic.
Believe me, just because there's more water in reservoirs doesn't mean there will be any allocation or any increase. That water is controlled by the feds and they can send it down the canal or out to the ocean.
Any reading of the history of water allocation in California would show the affect of monied interests buying, stiff arming, and generally running rampant over less powerful concerns.
California Water Allocation
California Central Valley
Here, read up. This should keep you busy for a while.
You should also remember that even though people may refer to the Central Valley as the breadbasket of the U.S., this wouldn't be possilbe without the vast irrigation and water control system that is in place. The northern parts of the Central Valley receive substantially greater precipitation from winter storms which sweep down from the Pacific Northwest, while the southernmost regions of the Central Valley are near desert-like because of a lack of precipitation.
The left has been blasting about global warming causing all the droughts. Then when there are storms (Excessive: rain or snow, the left blams it, again, on global warming.
Now that there are claims of water allocation due to the reservoirs being almost full and "The rains have raised the mountain snowpack after three severely dry years," (at the above specified locations), It is solely blamed on the, "El Niño rains".
Would someone P L E A S E make up their mind.
Troll post, please don't feed the troll.
This thread is NOT about whether or not GCC is happening, nor anything about this poster's doubts about it.
This thread is about a baseless vote-buying conspiracy. There's no evidence that ANY votes were traded for water allocation. There are additional allocations because there's additional water available to allocate!
This troll post is trying to derail the thread away from that topic.
To rephrase your question: Tell me what happens to moisture laden HOT air when it gets cooled due to a cooler atmosphere?
Answer: RAIN
You know what the cyclical event, El Nino is, don't you?
You do know that California and the Sierra are not the whole of the globe, don't you?
Pretended simple-minded ignorance does not suit you.
Seems to me like it gets moved around according to how MMFA wants to present it's facts.
And again I used MMFA's posted "FACTS" for my comment above.
You're LYING when you claim that you ARE simply using MMFA's posted facts to make that comment. Global warming is not mentioned by MMFA at all. MMFA made NO assertions at all about what caused the current El Nino.
Top it off with the fact that the CAUSE of the excess rain and snow isn't MMFA's point at ALL, and you're totally off topic.
Please don't feed this troll. He's tried like 4 times in this thread to derail it.
Global warming will often cause more extreme weather. Not always - sometimes droughts just happen, or floods, but what we expect to see is more of them and greater severity in some of those events due to the disruptions to the global climate.
As a result, California had a drought, and now they are out of it. Texas was in drought too, and is now out of it.
We HAVE made up our minds.
You need to GET a mind, and get a clue.
You said, "Lies, distortions and omissions of relevant information is ALL that's in this troll's post."
I used MMFA'a posted facts for my comment above, so the only Lies, distortions and omissions of relevent information fall upon MMFA.
Funny how extreme prolonged weather is blamed on global warming and reversals of the pattern are simply natural events. I couldn't imagine the extremes being of natural events, shame on me for thinking that way.
Then when there are storms (Excessive: rain or snow), the left blams it, again, on global warming. {Not true again. The left has NOT been saying that. I explained above what the people who know what they're talking about and are being honest about GCC have been saying. Your claim that they've been doing this stuff is a LIE.}
Distortion - Now that there are claims of water allocation due to the reservoirs being almost full and "The rains have raised the mountain snowpack after three severely dry years," {There aren't CLAIMS that this has happened - it HAS happened. There were multiple dry years, with little rain and less snowfall!}
Omission of relevant data - It is solely blamed on the, "El Nino rains". {It has NOT been "solely blamed on El Nino". El Nino is a well-defined weather pattern that often causes excess rains, but this one is a pretty strong one, and that could either be just a random spike in intensity OR it could be a side-effect of GCC! It's been the strongest one in a while, and it's lasted a longer time than normal too.}
Another omission of relevant data - Would someone please get their story straight. {Implies that we DON'T have our stories straight, ignores ALL the evidence that supports GCC theories.}
You don't have a leg to stand on here.
Every single one of the references this article cites (for example, the link to the story about Matheson's judge appointment) is little more than a story quoting that person "categorically denying" the bribe. What proof is that? That is no better than Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck claiming that there IS a bribe! To claim that the judgeship story was "conclusively debunked" is nonsense. That link that mediamatters lists in this article doesn't "conclusively debunk" anything.
In each of these cases, all the accused says are things like, "That's absurd", "This is laughable." Sorry. That's not proof.
The point is, in each of these cases, it's "reasonable" that the timing was simply unfortunate. i.e. the judgeship, the water, Eric Massa's investigation... They could all be reasonably explained, and there is probably nothing shady going on. But as a group, the appearance of impropriety is suspicious.
In fact, when a group of "no" votes start falling like dominos in the week or two before the vote, it is always suspicious.
Have the Republicans been arm-twisting and breaking heads behind closed doors to make sure all their congressmen keep voting "no". You BET they have. But again, that's ducking the issue. Obama got elected on the "I'm not like George W. Bush" ticket. Well, so far, this string of vote-changes looks exactly like the sort of stunt that Bush and Cheney would have pulled.
The lying liars that Beck had on his show yesterday to lie about Northern California water made my living-in-the-middle-of-gazillions-of-acres-of-rice-fields blood boil.
In addition to lower-than-normal Sierra snow packs, one of the real causes of the "water shortage" is the explosion in the acreage of rice fields.
Since the S.E. Asian droughts began a few years ago, the crop-price-supported, water-price-supported, highest-water-evaporating, near-completely exported rice crop has been lowering the amount of water entering the Sacramento/San Joaquin delta by thousands and thousands of acre-feet.
'Course that would be a fact, and that's one four-letter word Beck can't stand.