Conservative media call EPA decision to regulate greenhouse gases “blackmail”

Glenn Beck: “This is blackmail. It is a bogus gun to our heads.” On the December 8 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said, “Congress is trying to make the EPA take their political fire, but they are the ones responsible for the economic disaster, because they're not going to step in. 'Help! Help! They've got a gun!' This is blackmail. It is a bogus gun to our heads. They praised the Supreme Court for giving the EPA this power. And now, they say, 'Oh, oh! Only we can save the day.' The entire time, Congress is missing the big picture. The administration is going around them.”

Rush Limbaugh: The EPA is “blackmailing elected officials. ... Democracy be damned.” On the December 9 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh said, “By the way, you know the EPA yesterday -- do you understand what's happening in this country? The EPA blackmailing elected officials -- representatives of the people. The EPA essentially saying if you don't pass cap-and-trade, we're going to unilaterally implement it, because the Supreme Court gave us the power to. So if you don't do it, we will. So we have a bureaucracy, a government agency, led by an Obama-ite, Lisa Jackson, who's basically telling the elected representatives of the people, if you don't do it, we're going to do it. Democracy be damned. Representative republic be damned. Democratic process be damned.” [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, 12/9/09]

Charles Krauthammer: EPA regulation is “blackmail,” “Soviet control.” On the December 9 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said the EPA's decision is “command and control, which is a polite way of saying Soviet control, meaning it's all regulation, it's all sort of arbitrary on the part of the EPA. It's an amazing admission, and it is a kind of blackmail. Either you do this in the Senate and pass a bill or we're gonna do it unilaterally." [Special Report, 12/9/09]