Democrats Target Bush on Blackout
Originally published by ABC News
Democrats Target Bush on Blackout
Democrats Target Bush on Blackout, Bash Trend Toward Larger Power Grids
The Associated Press
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa Aug. 15
The Democratic presidential contenders blamed President Bush Friday for the massive blackout in the northeastern United States, saying the White House's refusal to invest in the nation's infrastructure caused the problem.
"It underscores a blackout in this administration on energy policies," Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry said. "They have ignored the investment needs of our infrastructure in favor of a tax cut for the wealthy."
Northeastern cities from New York City across to Toledo, Ohio, were gripped by a massive blackout Thursday afternoon that left officials scrambling to restore power and searching for causes of the failure.
While no one has yet pinpointed a cause, Democrats were quick to bash Bush.
Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt argued that the blackouts can be linked to flaws in Bush and the Republican party's energy policy. "These events illustrate how shortsighted the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress were in 2001 when they rejected modernization of our nation's power grid," Gephardt said.
Much of the criticism came during a labor forum featuring six of the Democratic presidential candidates. One of the candidates, the Rev. Al Sharpton, was forced to cancel because of jumbled air schedules after the blackout.
Florida Sen. Bob Graham said Bush called for new investment in electrical transmission systems but Republicans blocked a Democratic effort to do just that.
"Just two years ago, he and his allies in Congress blocked a Democratic proposal to invest $350 million in upgrading America's electrical grid system," Graham said. "The blackout is further evidence that America needs to invest in its infrastructure."
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards chose not to immediately attack Bush. "I think we need to find out what happened," Edwards said.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean said the Bush administration, through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, tried to merge the New England's electrical grid with New York's when he still governor.
"I raised hell and told them they better get a lot of lawyers," he said in a telephone interview. "The president always sees bigger as being better and that's not true. What we really need to do is let local people take care of things. What we need is good, strong regional grids. We do not need huge mega-grids.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said he has fought the big utilities since he was the mayor of Cleveland and resisted efforts to sell of the city's utilities.
"I stood to the Enrons of that day, and I'll stand up to the Enrons of this day," Kucinich said.
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, speaking earlier at the state fair, said the blackouts, along with the latest virus attacks on the Internet, have Americans feeling less secure even though neither event has been linked to terrorism.
"Electricity is too important to the quality of life to all of the American people to allow it to become a gap in homeland security," Lieberman said.
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