Daily Kos: NYT editorial: Obama must lead on climate legislation

Unless it is revived and passed, the astonishing collapse of energy and climate legislation in the Senate will be remembered as this era's signature political failure. At a time when Democrats control the White House and both Houses of Congress. Paradoxically, this should serve as an even stronger motivation to elect more Democrats to Congress. There still is a chance to get this right, and we can't afford not to.

The tired excuse that we need 60 votes doesn't fly given the success of so many previous administrations and majorities in passing controversial legislation despite their majorities being smaller than those now held by the Democrats. But even if one accepts that excuse, it only underscores the necessity of changing the rules.

Liberal activists say good riddance to Kerry-Lieberman climate bill - TheHill.com

Charles Chamberlain, political director of Democracy for America, an advocacy group founded by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, said liberal voters are happy that a climate bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was shelved.

“The reality is that the base didn’t have a lot at stake in the climate bill,” said Chamberlain.

“After the BP disaster, all we’ve heard from our members, the No. 1 issue is climate change and offshore oil drilling and oil,” he said. “But we polled our members about whether we should be fighting for the bill and it wasn’t even close. The answer was no.”

Bill Scher: "This Thing Is Not Over": There Always Has Been a Plan B For The Climate Bill

At Netroots Nation today, Van Jones sought to rally attendees after the Senate leadership put plans for a climate protection bill on the back burner: "This thing is not over."

Flashback: Van Jones on Van Jones

“I had a much more colorful life than Ms. Sherrod,” he said. “I mean, let’s be honest: I was distinguishable as a radical leftist in the Bay Area. You’ve got to get up early, you’ve got to work weekends to be distinguishable as a leftist in the Bay Area.”