My politician-of-the-year candidates for 2022 were George Santos, Pete Buttigieg, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, and his Schools Chancellor.
All of these government officials displayed remarkable levels of hypocrisy, arrogance, and sleaze, making them strong contestants.
And, given the oleaginous nature of politicians (described here, here, and here), that is not an easy task.
So who is a contestant this year?
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is an obvious choice.
Her recent behavior was so despicable that even the left-leaning crowd at National Public Radio gave it some coverage. Here are some excerpts from Camila Domonoske’s report.
When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm set out on a four-day electric-vehicle road trip this summer, she knew charging might be a challenge. But she probably didn’t expect anyone to call the cops. …between stops, Granholm’s entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia. …there weren’t going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy. …a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger? In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police. The sheriff’s office couldn’t do anything. It’s not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia.
How disgusting. Politicians and senior government officials have an entitlement mentality that is worse than the worst welfare recipients.
If I was the family that was blocked, I not only would have called the police, but also parked in such a way to make sure Ms. Granholm’s car also could not access the charger.
P.S. Needless to say, Granholm’s bureaucracy should not exist.
P.P.S. Most people (including myself) have mocked the so-called Inflation Reduction Act because inflation immediately increased, but that awful legislation also gave us the turbo-charged subsidies for electric vehicles that Granholm is promoting (sort of a pared-down version of the Green New Deal).
P.P.P.S. Thinking about yesterday’s column, Norway’s Prime Minister should be another contestant for Politician of the Year.
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Image credit: Center for American Progress | CC BY-ND 2.0.
