Just when you think Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Wal-Mart) can't get any worse, she proves you wrong.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said Thursday that she is backing Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) attempt to block planned EPA greenhouse gas rules, and an aide to Murkowski said there are "several" other Democrats supporting the Alaska senator as well.
Murkowski fears EPA regulation of greenhouse gas emissions would harm the economy, and Lincoln, who faces a tough reelection fight this year, issued a statement Thursday that echoes Murkowski’s concerns.
"I am very concerned about the burden that EPA regulation of carbon emissions could put on our economy and have questions about the actual benefit EPA regulations would have on the environment," Lincoln said in a prepared statement.
It wasn't enough for Lincoln to take the lead in opposition to good health care reform legislation in the Senate, vowing to join Republicans in a filibuster of any bill with a public option. It wasn't enough that she voted for all of Bush's tax cuts, and continues to be an avowed opponent of the estate tax (gotta protect the Wal-Mart heirs). It's not enough that she supported the bankruptcy reform bill, despite representing a poor state. It's not even enough that she's a co-chair of Third Way -- the successor organization of corporatist Democrats now that the DLC is dead.
All that didn't make her Republican enough, so now she's working with Murkowski to prohibit the EPA from trying to regulate the greenhouse gases that are causing global climate change. She apparently agrees with James Inhoffe that it's all a big hoax.
Considering that her reelect chances are pretty much shit, the only question left is whether she's retired by the GOP in November, or by Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in a primary, giving us a chance at holding the seat.
Draft Bill Halter.