The Coal Cowbunk

Does the Gov wanna dig some coal or not? He trots around the country getting his mug on the idiot box (where it belongs!) and letting fawning celebrity's call him "The Coal Cowboy." He does a huge dog and pony show (More dog than pony) in front of the Bull Mountain coal mine, acting like he personally saved Montana (the mine's buried in permitting trouble as the least of its failures).

But he has trouble making up his mind whether he supports the new coal plant in Great Falls. And now?

His economic development guru Evan Barrett says Schweitzer doesn't support new coal fired plants.

What the Governor really supports is talking. He supports telling Montanans that he's gonna make the State a major player in American energy policy. He supports telling environmentalists he's gonna protect the state from those nasty little carbon emissions from coal, so Baucus doesn't have to buy more pollution credits. He supports telling reporters that he's gonna be in tomorrow's headline.

When some legislators called out Barrett's anti-coal remarks, Barrett told them not to assume they understood what they were talking about. Nice.

And how many of the so-called "clean" coal plants the Governor claims he does support are operating in Montana since he's begun his crusade?

I'll give you a clue: It's less than .0001, and more than -1.