Keystone XL Pipeline Loses in Senate by One Vote

I've already lamented here about the mystery of exactly why conservatives have a big ol' chubby for the Keystone XL pipeline. Maybe it's because of that XL there, sounding like a super-sized SUV or a roller coaster. It's certainly not the scads of permanent jobs, because even the thing's builders have copped to 35-50 permanent jobs. It's not "energy independence," because it's not our oil, it's Canada's. Near as I can figure, Keystone gives conservatives a woody because liberals--especially Obama--are against it. Ipso facto, it's got to be good.

Image from source, MSN

I frankly see this as just about the best example of the worst of our politics, and while it is slathered all over the right, it drips onto quite a few of the left. This is a combination of a) "truthiness," the feeling that it must be good, whether or not the facts are in evidence; b) greed; c) money in politics; d) extremely divided "us vs. them" politics; e) blindness to the possibility of consequences; f) the inability to let facts change a full-speed-ahead charge to an outcome; g) craven politics on both sides. And oh, so much more.

Of course, when Sen. Mitch McConnell gavels in the Republican Senate in January, they'll put Keystone XL up right away, and it'll pass. And then the President will have to veto.

[Excerpt]

Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline
 
The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline. The Senate's 59-41 vote Tuesday night was a nail-biter to the end. The bill needed 60 votes to reach the White House. The House passed it overwhelmingly last week. . .

Read more at: MSN