Adding another bullet point to her resume of being a horrible person, MSNBC’s ReidOut host Joy Reid was in an unsympathetic mood Tuesday night over the suffering for millions of Texans without heat, power, and running water amidst a historic combination of ice, single-digit temperatures, and snow.
Instead, she boasted how it was almost ironic given the Republican-led state’s refusal to accept climate change and that this very storm was specifically caused by climate change. Nevermind ice storms from decades past as these same folks wouldn’t have attributed them to climate change.
Reid boasted in a tease that she’d discuss how “the sudden failure of Texas power grid leaves millions in the dark and shines a battery-powered spotlight on the state's long history of political dysfunction and hypocrisy.”
She added after a break that the “once in a generation storm” was “triggered, of course, by climate change, something that Governor Greg Abbott doesn't take seriously, given plans to sue the Biden administration for trying to do something about it.”
Before bringing in Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-TX) to further bash Castro’s fellow Texans, Reid denounced calls for Texas to receive federal help given Governor Greg Abbott (R) suing Biden and then the no votes from Texas’s two (John Cornyn and Ted Cruz) on Superstorm Sandy funding (click “expand”):
Then there's the state's fully independent electrical grid, which apparently buckled under overwhelming demand and forced rolling blackouts. Critics are saying that Abbott was too slow to respond, a criticism he has before given his laissez faire attitude toward the pandemic. Over the weekend, Abbott, the same guy suing Biden for federal overreach, called the president, asking for federal help, a perplexing move from a state whose leaders are chattering on about seceding from the country. It’s even more hypocritical when you think of the state’s long history of railing against the federal government, at least when it is in Democratic hands. Remember in 2013 when Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted to block New York and New Jersey from getting help after Superstorm Sandy. Yeah, so do I. You hear a lots [sic] of complaints from Republicans droning on about blue state bailouts. But these same folks from secession-curious states are happy to dial up the federal government in moments of crisis, as well they should.
The classless Castro said it’s been difficult for those in his San Antonio-area district, but also took a shot at how Texans were suffering thanks to the people voters elected to a “state government that's just been derelict in updating and maintaining the electric grid that only operates in Texas” and are “absolutely married to fossil fuels.”
Reid egged him on, suggesting that failures in fossil fuel instruments might not have been the case if the Lone Star State ran on alternatives.
A few minutes later, Reid and Castro concluded by again spewing hatred on millions of suffering Americans because, in their mind, their troubles were self-inflicted based on what they viewed as incorrect voting patterns:
REID: Yeah. Yeah. There's even frustration about Houston keeping the lights downtown on, people getting frustrated. Really quickly, is that a — a — an issue that politics can solve? I mean, you’ve had people like Senator Ted Cruz and Dan Crenshaw, the congressman, and attorney general, like, dunking on California constantly and saying ha ha, when California had wildfires. They're climate deniers, they supposedly dislike the federal government and need federal help, is — is this a political catastrophe in Texas that could be solved by voters changing out who runs that state.
CASTRO: Well, sure. I mean, look, if you pick people who are more committed to modernizing the grid and perhaps integrating it a better way, then certainly you could solve that issue. But, you know, what happened over the years is that Republicans, I think, got very spoiled winning statewide election after statewide election. And so, it — they haven't felt forced to deal with issues like this, but now, I think, millions of people without power and folks suffering is really hopefully a wake-up call for them.
Reid’s venomous celebrating of Texans suffering was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Ensure, LegalZoom, Lincoln, and Nutrisystem. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Bcak page.
To see the relevant MSNBC transcript from February 16, click “expand.”
MSNBC’s The ReidOut
February 16, 2021
7:30 p.m. Eastern [TEASE]JOY REID: And the sudden failure of Texas power grid leaves millions in the dark and shines a battery-powered spotlight on the state's long history of political dysfunction and hypocrisy. Stay with us.
(....)
7:34 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Texas Power Outrages Expose State Govt’s Dysfunction]
REID: Some of you woke up this morning wondering: why is Texas covered in ice, sleet and snow? Why was it colder in Dallas than Alaska? And why were nearly five million Texans, a state that is arguably the energy hub of the world, without power? All legitimate questions with complicated answers. First, the state was struck by a once in a generation storm triggered, of course, by climate change, something that Governor Greg Abbott doesn't take seriously, given plans to sue the Biden administration for trying to do something about it. Then there's the state's fully independent electrical grid, which apparently buckled under overwhelming demand and forced rolling blackouts. Critics are saying that Abbott was too slow to respond, a criticism he has before given his laissez faire attitude toward the pandemic. Over the weekend, Abbott, the same guy suing Biden for federal overreach, called the president, asking for federal help, a perplexing move from a state whose leaders are chattering on about seceding from the country. It’s even more hypocritical when you think of the state’s long history of railing against the federal government, at least when it is in Democratic hands. Remember in 2013 when Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn voted to block New York and New Jersey from getting help after Superstorm Sandy. Yeah, so do I. You hear a lots [sic] of complaints from Republicans droning on about blue state bailouts. But these same folks from secession-curious states are happy to dial up the federal government in moments of crisis, as well they should. For more, I’m joined by Texas congress Joaquin Castro. He’s back in San Antonio, Texas and joins me by phone. And first of all, I will ask how San Antonio is fairing now in terms of the number of people without power?
CONGRESSMAN JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): It has been very tough, Joy. There are still hundreds of thousands in San Antonio without power. A lot of people without water. You know, I’ve been without power for 24 hours. It was spotty before that. There are a lot of people still in the same situation and, you know, my family and I have been able to manage it, of course, but there are a lot of folks that are elderly, living by themselves, people that are diabetic and have other medical conditions where they need to be able to cook food or have relatives deliver it for them, and this is a city and state that's not really prepared for deep freezes. Very cold weather effects Texas in ways that it doesn't effect other parts of the country because other parts of the country are better prepared and are expecting those conditions. Then layer on top of that a state government that's just been derelict in updating and maintaining the electric grid that only operates in Texas. You know, unfortunately it's led by people who are absolutely married to fossil fuels, some of whom are climate deniers, and that’s made it very tough to modernize our system.
REID: Let’s talk about ERCOT for a minute. It is unique that Texas has its own power grid. No other — I don't know of any other state that has it that way. But to your very point, one of the experts at ERCOT has said the blackouts are primarily because instruments are getting frozen in gas, coal, and nuclear plants. Meanwhile, sort of Texas politicos on the Republican side are saying it is the green power grid that's the problem. Do you have a sense of — of — of — of that? Because that — that doesn't seem logical. It seems like it is a gas powered —
CASTRO: Right now, you still have just a fraction of the Texas grid that operates off of renewables and as folks made the point to me earlier in the day, what happened was even with the wind turbines, for example, that the grid is operating off of, Texas didn't buy the equipment and servicing necessary to operate them well in cold weather, in very cold weather. And so, it’s like refusing to insure against an event you don't think will happen or don't want to spend the money on. And so, now, here we are with four or five million Texans without power. In terms of the traditional energy, you know, that's the lion's share of what operates the grid. And yeah, the problem there has been delivery of — of this energy. And now what you're seeing are reports of skyrocketing, spiking prices for natural gas. And so, as I posted earlier on — on Twitter, we need to make sure that we’re monitoring anybody that may be price gouging at this point because the — the tragedy of all this is that even though so many Texans have gone without power now for a day or two, people could get the highest electricity bills that they've ever received because of a spike in cost over the last few days.
REID: Yeah. Yeah. There's even frustration about Houston keeping the lights downtown on, people getting frustrated. Really quickly, is that a — a — an issue that politics can solve? I mean, you’ve had people like Senator Ted Cruz and Dan Crenshaw, the congressman, and attorney general, like, dunking on California constantly and saying ha ha, when California had wildfires. They're climate deniers, they supposedly dislike the federal government and need federal help, is — is this a political catastrophe in Texas that could be solved by voters changing out who runs that state.
CASTRO: Well, sure. I mean, look, if you pick people who are more committed to modernizing the grid and perhaps integrating it a better way, then certainly you could solve that issue. But, you know, what happened over the years is that Republicans, I think, got very spoiled winning statewide election after statewide election. And so, it — they haven't felt forced to deal with issues like this, but now, I think, millions of people without power and folks suffering is really hopefully a wake-up call for them.
REID: Yeah. We shall see. Let us know if you feel like filling one of the statewide roles maybe down the road. Congressman Joaquin Castro —
CASTRO: Thank you.
REID: — thank you very much.
