By Adam Bitely
Fred Upton, who will be the next Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, has flip-flopped on the light bulb ban, an issue he championed until this very day.
While it is uplifting that he switched his stance, it is difficult to trust the sincerity of this move. Consider the following.
Upton has proven over the years that he is a liberal, Big Goverment Republican that has supported the efforts of the EPA on a various assortment of issues. His sudden change of heart on the light bulb ban is not due to any change in his philosophical beliefs, but rather, a change-in-name-only so that he can gain more political power.
Upton is no dim-bulb. He is smart. He knows that his liberal record is being exposed to conservatives and tea party activists around the nation. In the last minutes before the House GOP Steering Committee announced their decision on the committee, the chameleon Upton switched his position.
“We have heard the grass roots loud and clear, and will have a hearing early next Congress,” said Mr. Upton, a Michigan Republican who is facing several others in his party in a bid to earn the gavel of the powerful committee. “The last thing we wanted to do was infringe upon personal liberties – and this has been a good lesson that Congress does not always know best.”
But alas, Upton is too late. The bulbs have been banned. The factories have been closed. The jobs have been lost. And the personal liberties that he did not want to infringe, were infringed upon by Upton himself. A last minute switch will not save the damage that he has done. But it has saved him, resulting in his rise to the Chairmanship.
Unfortunately, the GOP Steering Committee did not see through this John “I was for it before I was against it” Kerry theater that Upton peddled. For shame.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
