Last night on the Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, former Congressman Barney Frank had said that he was for Ed Markey as Senator, and today, he told WBUR, a Boston radio station, that he is supporting Congressman Markey's bid for the Senate. He also had said that Congressman Michael Capuano, who ran in the special election last time but lost to horrible candidate Martha Coakley, probably won't run.
Frank specifically praised Markey on two issues:
“He was a leader in gun control when we were in the Legislature together in the 1970s,” Frank said. “And he has since that time been a very important leader, one of the national leaders, on the whole question of climate change.”
I have already diaried Markey's
record on gun control. Massachusetts supports strict gun legislation and we lead the country by banning magazines that hold more than 10 rounds(a few other states also ban those too) and Massachusetts is the only state with an assault weapons ban(I expect other states will follow Massachusetts's example if only because Congress is so dysfunctional). Markey consistently gets Fs from the NRA and Scott Brown has never gotten lower than a C from them and Brown recently did an 180 on his position on a federal assault weapons ban. It also should be noted that Brown got As from the NRA when he was a State Senator from Wrentham.
Ed Markey is a fighter on environmental issues and he's still taking on Big Oil. He's taking the fight to Shell over their handling of the Kulluk, and he is accusing Shell of moving the rig through horrible weather conditions so it could avoid taxes. Markey had previously asked for Shell to provide contingency plans for the Kulluk, and as of last night, Shell still hadn't provided those. Last night, Rachel Maddow also provided evidence that Shell was lyingabout relying on weather reports from the National Weather Service, which would have told them that weather conditions were quite bad. And all of this, just to save $6 million dollars when Shell is a multi-Billion dollar corporation.
We need Ed Markey in the Senate to fight against the insanity of offshore drilling, and to fight for offshore wind. Wind power is the future of American energy along with other renewables, and we really need to stop these practices where we are very ill-prepared for a disaster if something does wrong like with all tar sands oil, and past disasters like the BP Deepwater Horizon. Markey is the guy who knows how to lead on this, and I am glad that it looks like Michael Capuano won't tr to divide the progressive vote. It is time for Stephen Lynch and Ben Downing to also step aside for the good of the people of Massachusetts and help us elect a progressive champion to join Elizabeth Warren in the U.S Senate.
Ed Markey links:
Ed Markey for Senate campaign site
Contribute to Ed Markey's Senate Campaign
Ed Markey-ActBlue page-2013 MA-Sen
2:18 PM PT: Also, Lawrence O'Donnell endorsed Barney Frank to be interim Senator. I heartily agree with that if our Governor, Deval Patrick is adamant about a caretaker appointment. Barney Frank would be very valuable to the Senate Finance Committee and he would protect our earned benefits.
http://tv.msnbc.com/...