Kennedy Calls Skeptical Politicians 'Traitors' and 'Corporate Toadies'

July 9th, 2007 6:42 PM

So much for that non-political “Live Earth” I heard about from the concert people and NBC brass.

It turned out that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the radical environmentalist, had some strong words for politicians who stand against climate change legislation.

“Get rid of all these rotten politicians that we have in Washington, who are nothing more than corporate toadies … This is treason. And we need to start treating them as traitors,” Kennedy said at the July 7 concert held in New Jersey, according to Newsday.

Let's see. If I remember correctly, the penalty for treason is execution.

“[Y]ou hear this from the oil industry and the coal industry and their ‘indentured servants’ in our political process that global climate stability is a luxury that we can’t afford,” said Kennedy without specifically naming names. Though it didn't take a genius to know who he was talking about. (Cough ... Inhofe ... Cough) I should note that Kennedy himself used air quotes around “indentured servants.”

Kennedy also laughingly said that environmental policy is “identical to good economic policy,” conveniently leaving out the billions it would cost taxpayers.

“Live Earth” was presented to Congress as a non-partisan event when some politicians and Chad Griffin, an adviser to “Live Earth,” attempted to get permission to hold an event on the Capitol grounds. But when an event is hosted by a former vice president lobbying for political change, you still have to call a spade, a spade.

The concerts ran on several networks, including NBC. Dan Harrison, an NBC senior vice president, also defended “Live Earth” as a non-political effort.