In an interview today with Hoppy Kercheval on MetroNews, Nick Casey (D-WV) said when he supported Obama for president in 2008 no one could have known he would have an ideological drive against coal. Unfortunately for Casey, Hoppy has heard that line before from Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) and was prepared to push back with a quote from Obama. In a January 2008 San Francisco Chronicle editorial meeting Obama explained his stance on coal:
“If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them,” Obama said, responding to a question about his cap-and-trade plan. He later added, “Under my plan … electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”
Rather than face his own contradictions, Casey launches into an attack against his opponent. What he doesn’t say is that he spent the next 10 months after Obama declared his war on coal on getting West Virginians to elect Obama president. Casey capped off his support for Obama in October 2008 with an an eight-county bus tour through West Virginia to rally voters to Obama.