Ladd Ehlinger Jr., who shot a variety of fun viral videos for conservative and Tea Party-affiliated candidates in the 2010 election, takes one for the team and watches MSNBC so you don’t have to. Ehlinger comes across this unintentionally hilarious ad, starring Rachel Maddow in a blue polypropylene hardhat, directed by legendary hydro-construction engineer Spike Lee, from last month:
Ehlinger responds, “The Hoover Dam? Are you f’@king kidding me?”
ARE YOU F’@KING KIDDING ME?
We have been told by collectivists for decades that these big dams are bad for the environment! Awful for salmon! Destructive and evil!
WTF?
Seriously, Maddow. Do you want us to build things like the Chinese Three Gorges Dam? Displace millions of people, destroy thriving ecosystems, wipe out sacred and ancient Buddhist temples, kill countless river-living bottlenose dolphins and other species? Don’t you care about Mother Earth?
WTF are you SMOKING?
Is it simply that FDR built the Hoover Dam during the heyday of U.S. collectivism when Mankind existed to serve the State, and everyone was dependent upon the Government for their subsistence meals whilst risking life and limb to build a monstrosity? Is that as far as you thought this ad through?
For the last few months you’ve been doing fairly good reportage on the B.P. oil spill and its effects on the Gulf Coast and my hometown of New Orleans – in-between your snark and hatred of liberty, of course. Are you now saying that such destruction is okay as long as it’s being done on purpose by Der Stat as opposed to malfeasance by a private corporation?
Or is it that General Electric, parent company to your ramshackle channel, wants to build some dams? Maybe they’re softening up public opinion for their big push to suck more money out of the teats of Der Stat? Have you sold out to the corporate socialists, which G.E. most certainly is? Have you sold out to G.E., Maddow?
Maddow’s last sentence in the ad is this howler:
This is a project of national significance. We’ve got those projects on the menu right now. And we’ve got to figure out whether or not we are still a country that can think this big.
And the answer from the Obama administration, as Joel Kotkin noted at the Politico last fall is…No We Can’t!
When FDR commissioned projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, he literally brought light to darkened regions. The loyalty created by FDR and Truman built a base of support for liberalism that lasted for nearly a half-century.
Today’s liberals don’t show enthusiasm for airports or dams — or anything that may kick up some dirt. Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior Deanna Archuleta, for example, promised a Las Vegas audience: “You will never see another federal dam.”
Last year, Jonah Goldberg noted the environmentalist Catch-22 that has boxed-in the left. “Liberalism has become a cargo cult to the New Deal, but many of the achievements of the New Deal would be impossible now. Just try to get a Hoover Dam built today.”
Hey, I’m happy to see Rachel and GE give it the ol’ college try — but when the White House calls MSNBC, the person on the other end of the line isn’t going to be very happy with them.
Update: I wonder what the Dam Busters at American Express think of MSNBC’s ad?
Update: Much more dambusting spotted here.
Related: General Motors’ own special brand of corporatist propaganda — dallying with China — is explored by Seton Motley at the Tatler.
When I toured Hoover Dam some twenty years ago, the guide stated that a project of that magnitude could never be built again, as the EIR would cost $100,000,000, and be under review for 50 years.
Yeah, but look at all the jobs that 100,000,000 will create getting the EIR done:-)
That’s Rachel Maddow? I thought it was one of the Beastie Boys.
As the name implies, Hoover Dam was begun under President Hoover.
Herbert Hoover negotiated the treaty between the five states affected by the Colorado River. The project planning started during Hoover’s adminitstration and construction began in 1932. It was finished in 1935 under FDR. It isn’t really a collecivist project as much as an attempt (on a grand scale) to control the Colorado River which used to raise havoc during flooding in California. It was built so that farmers in CA could get water without dealing with the floods. As a benefit, electricity is generated and supplied to the Los Angeles area. I live less than 30 miles from the dam and love to go there at every opportunity. It has made our lives here in the Southwest possible. We get the majority of our drinking water from Lake Mead.
It was named “Boulder Dam” before being renamed “Hoover Dam”.
I thought Hoover Dam was started by the Engineer President, Herbert Hoover. And that FDR wanted hoover’s name strcken from the project so it was re-named. And that Hoover’s name was restored after the death of FDR.
The federal Boulder Canyon Project Act was signed into law on December 21, 1928 by President Calvin Coolidge.
Construction was contracted out to Six Companies, Inc.
Look for more history of Hoover Dam, including numerous technical facts and human interest trivia, here and photos here.
I hate to break it to Maddow and the left, but it wasn’t the federal government that built the Hoover Dam… it was a company, M.K. Ferguson. It was MK’s engineers who designed it, and their laborers who built it. All the federal government did was pay the tab.
As was pointed out in the article, the TVA and Hoover Dam projects brought light to places where there was none. The government now can only offer a higher priced alternative to what we already have…
And it was built by contractors, not government employees.
When Maddow says “Hoover Dam”, she means “High speed rail”.
Glenn,
Of course — but it’s quite a fascinating analogy, she, Spike and the MSNBC brass chose, isn’t it?
I saw the one where this Maddow guy talks about some bridge built long ago. What doesn’t seem to dawn on Mr. Maddow is that the bigger government gets the less it is able to do.
The interstate highway system was built in the 1950s for national security purposes. The race to the moon in the 1960s for national security purposes. Do we see a pattern here?
The TVA, Hoover Dam, Eisenhower Interstate System, the Apollo program, even the Lincoln and Washington Monuments would be impossible in today’s modern failed liberal welfare state. I can’t imagine why.
I’m happy to see Rachel and GE give it the ol’ college try
Does that mean she is going to be the entertainment at a frat party?
M. Simon
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. As your co-blogger I must beg you not to put those images in my mind! Did you LOOK at her in that video?
Never mind the environment, can you imagine what the Hoover Dam would cost today given current Davis-Bacon wage rates and material and equipment costs? Why, the cost of workers’ comp insurance alone would be prohibitive. That sucker was a relative steal at $49 mil even in 1931. I shudder to think what we’d have to shell out for it today.
Um, the correct German in Staat (= state), not Stat.
Doch. Das ist richtig.
Ed,
Why are you so comfortable knocking the United States?
Do you think that because you disguise it in terms of Liberals and Conservatives that no one notices?
This is a free country Ed, and there are two large nations just to the north and south of us that you are free to go to; so, go already.
I love my country. I am loyal to the United States, not to liberals, not to Conservatives, not to my own ideas.
We are a great country, we have done great things, including ending slavery, extending the vote to women, defeating Hitler, and the Emperor who would have reigned over all of the pacific and Asia.
If you don’t like America, Please, Please, leave.
“If you don’t like America, Please, Please, leave.”
I did. I live in California now.
Ozzy,
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”.
Your view of history is so uninformed as to be laughable. The US “ended slavery”? Where? In the US? Bully for you – Britain, France, Germany, and even little old Canada had done it years before. (Why don’t you go look up the “Underground Railroad”?)
The US defeated Hitler? Really – that was after sitting out the first third of the war, you realize, right? If it weren’t for Britain and Canada standing up to Hitler while the US sat on its hands, the 3rd reich might still be in force.
Extending the vote to women? Sure, in 1920, after Canada, Britain, Ireland, Germany, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Latvia, Poland, Austria, Norway – I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.
“I am loyal to the United States, not to liberals, not to Conservatives, not to my own ideas. ”
You’re not loyal to YOUR OWN ideas? Doesn’t say much about you, does it?
Dolt.
Frankie…glad you didn’t continue with your drivel! All you did in a most ignorant way was confrim the historical comments of Ozzy. He/he didn’t choose to add commentary of when and by what means…just that those are some of the facts of our history.
By the way, being a United States ‘citizen’ is supposed to be all about ‘accepting/adopting’ the ideas of the constitution and ones patriotism to it.
Ozzy…You’re obviously grounded in constitutional patriotism….unlike so many who claim to be American citizens the past several decades. HURRAY for you!
More importantly, Ozzy, why aren’t you comfortable when people knock the United States (or, more accurately, the vision of the United States that somebody else wants to see)?
I mean… isn’t the freedom to dissent one of the key principles?
If so, being “knocked” by those that disagree with what is being pushed is what makes the country great. If not, it deserves to be knocked – and more.
Do schools teach anything anymore? Can liberals even read?
Ed’s comments were about liberal hypocricy.
If you are going to knock somebody, you might at least address the topic the person discussed, instead of inventing a straw man to knock down. Oh wait, that’s officially endorsed by the new Damn Builder in Chief, isn’t it. My bad.
the $800 billion stimulus act plus all the bailouts of the car companies, GE, AIG, European abd American banks, Fannie & Freddie, medicare/medicaid payments, cash for clunkers, $8000 home buyers credit, mortgage help programs, ad nauseum….are Obama’s “Hoover Dam”.
America can still do big projects. Look at how quickly we rebuilt the world trade center! Oh, wait …
Oooh, oooh, or rebuilding Muslim self-respect… er… yeah.
With Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation program, sometime in June the U.S. will find itself in a position it has not been in since February, 1962. The nation will have no means to launch a human into earth orbit with no system to do so even on the blackboard.
Heckuva job, Barry!
> The nation will have no means to launch a human into earth orbit with no system to do so even on the blackboard.
Well, almost right.
In fact, the nation will have no means to launch a human into earth orbit, with no *GOVERNMENT* system to do so even on the blackboard.
I think in the long run that will likely result in an upgrade for human spaceflight, though it’s an embarrassment for the government, and the upgrade will be more an accidental side effect of a poorly considered policy than the result of a strong vision from the government.
Except that private market launchers can get people into Low Earth Orbit for a thousand $ per pound (SpaceX) vice the NASA cost of 10 thousand per pound.
wall stree journal had an op-ed about this last week:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576317493923993056.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
dang– it is a subscription article
sorry; but the author of the piece has written extensively on this project on science blogs
You’re completely inaccurate. There were gaps between each of the NASA manned space projects, including over 5 full years between the last Apollo flight and the first Shuttle flight. Of the 50 years of US manned spaceflight, we had no flights for over 14 years.
Second, Bush canceled the Shuttle program following the Columbia accident with the last flight scheduled for last year (but with all of the typical NASA delays, it won’t happen until at least June). Constellation was proving a massive boondoggle. The cost of developing the Ares I booster and the Orion capsule was heading north of $50 billion for vehicles with less capability than the Shuttle and a per mission cost at least as high. Further, it wasn’t going to be able to carry the first people into orbit until 2017 at the earliest.
In what may be a rare example of Obama being at least partially correct about something, he canceled the Ares I but kept dumping billions into Orion. In the meantime, SpaceX has spend a total of about $800 million to develop the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 boosters, their Dragon capsule, the launch sites in Florida and Kwajelein (with work also in Vandenberg), all of the manufacturing facilities, test facilities, launch control facilities, etc.
The Maddow’s of the world want to use the past glories of the State to justify attempts at future glories. But their calculations are flawed. They scold us about “sustainability” yet few of their proposals can ever be economically sustainable.
One of their future Statist glories are to cover vast areas with churning and unsightly wind farms, which are unreliable, require 100% backup power to keep the heaters or air conditioners running when the wind quits, and cost 10x conventional power sources.
They want us to drive coffin-like electric cars yet have no clue about what this means for the generating capacity such a sea change in energy usage will require.
In the end, people like Maddow want what they want for reasons that are fickle, capricious, subject to change, and grossly inconsistent. Above all, they refuse to be held accountable for the costs their policies and proposals will incur, nor the social disruption that comes as an unintended consequence. They can never let people make their own choices, for the Maddows of the world know what is best for all of us and they don’t mind telling us of that fact every chance they get.
So well said! And (I think) the reason for this is that they want to be great and do good works but have no appreciation for first principles – for example, they tend to view the Constitution as a quaint artifact. With no anchor or rudder, they are subject to the whims of the biggest blast of air to come along – in some cases of their own emanation. They often squander their passion on “change.”
They recognize, embrace, and proudly wrap themselves in the flag of the (admittedly) noble intentions driving them and their compatriots, but fail to recognize that “good intent” does not compensate for “bad actions”. I recognize the pattern well, having fallen into the trap from time to time myself. The only cure is to be urged back into considering “first principles.”
Just goes to show the media and the left (yeah, the same thing) live in some alternative universe. From the looks of things, the universe they live in does NOT have all the laws, stupid regulations and useless bureaucracies they have championed over the years, because in THEIR alternative universe it is still possible to build a dam.
As many people have pointed out the Dam was begun by Hoover and if anyone has ready The Forgotten Man, the author points out quite distinctly that it was NOT a federally funded project. Hoover went out of his way to coordinate the 5 states that would be effected by the dam to cooperate on its construction because he firmly believed it should NOT be a national cost.
How about, as a worthy engineering project for the 21st century, that America vows to reduce its federal and state deficits to zero within five years, and thus return its finances safely to earth.
Of course that would make the Hoover damn and moon landing look like child’s play by comparison.
Wow, I can’t wait to see what big projects are on The Agenda now!!
Shoring up union retirement systems?
The only ‘big’ modern era projects the gov’t has built is bureacracy & debt.
The lower 48 states are pretty well dammed-out. There aren’t a lot of dam sites left to develop worth the cost. A few, maybe, but not many.
Actually, a consortium of constructors formed the Six Companies to bid since none of them allow could post the completion bond required. Six Companies meet at the Engineer’s Club in San Francisco (I’m a former member) and sealed the deal.
They were the only serious bidder. They made their money off early completion.
The actual design was by government engineers in the Bureau of Reclamation.
Yes, government seems incapable of doing big things itself and makes it so difficult for any other people to so to.
For example, I’ve been working on the design and licensing of a new nuclear power plant in Texas for FIVE YEARS and still the application hasn’t been approved. This is for a pre-approved reactor design on an existing nuke site. The South Koreans could have had it up and running by now!
If the leftist dems wanted dams, why didn’t they start some in the trillion $ stimulus bill, when they had the votes to get whatever they wished? The fact that they did not shows me that this is just a transparent excuse to avoid spending cuts, and spend some money.
Build the Hoover Dam today? I still find it rather telling that there’s still just a big hole in the ground in Manhattan.
YES!!!!!!
Doesn’t that just pi$$ you off no end????
My guess is that the next big series of engineering marvels won’t need much in the way of state support. Lack of state interference? Probably. State protection in the form of an orderly and predictable legal structure allowing the talent free range to play out their potentials? Definitely.
But not state sponsorship. Not at all.
Ed…can’t think of a better shehe representative of the socialists than Ms-Mr Madcow standing at the base of Hoover Dam, looking just like a union bosstress, perpetuating the idea of…can’t we just borrow a few more trillion, form a new unionized WPA force and build a few more of these things as a legacy to ‘our’ high tech educated moron welfare-collective generations. Poor thing, she can’t even build an audience and she wants to champion building another Hoover Dam. She’s a real HOOT!
Don’t worry Ed.
95%+ of the marxists are only playing the conservation game so they can get their rocks off with Statism. The guy in the Amex ad…they think he’s a bigger nut than we do.
No, manly Rachel is telling the truth as she climaxes thinking about the constant thrusting thrusting of big-statism. That’s what they really really want. Power, lots and lots of it over people, lots and lots of them. In the meantime if snail darters can be used to thwart their enemies (who care more about building stuff than ordering people around), they’re happy to exploit any tool they can get their hands on.
Financial Disclosure: Obama Not Bullish on Long-Term U.S. Debt
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
By Terence P. Jeffrey
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-not-bullish…
As they say on Blue collar comedy,”Here’s your sign”!
“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.” George Washington
The key thing to understand is that when the Hoover Dam was complete, we had something to fuel our economy for generations to come. It was an investment, and a very good one at that!
Investing in Health Care Reform isn’t like that. It isn’t infrastructure. Instead, investing in solar power projects in the desert could make a good return on our investment. We could invest in research on smaller scale nuclear power plants that are inherently safe. We could invest in better sub-orbital space-craft to cut the time crossing oceans to just a couple hours.
There are lots of things we can invest in to improve the infrastructure of our economy –but I haven’t seen much of that kind of vision from this administration. Can we please stop electing lawyers and put someone with experience doing almost anything else in office?
Thanks…
Who’s Rachel Maddow???
Also, I think Boulder City might take issue with the idea that “you can’t be the town that built this.” Since, you know, they are the town that built that.
The left has been contradicting itself on both energy and public works for decades.
They have gone to court numerous times to stop bridge and highway projects and have found the judges, usually Democ-rat Party scum like them, to rule their way. The most well known examples are stopping TVA dams in Tennessee because of the snail darter and stopping the reconstruction of the West Side Highway in New York City because of river bass.
They even, through the use of State legislation, stopped a project in Canada that would have supplied needed electricity to New York, the James River Project. Here a State Assemblyman, now a Congressman Maurice Hinchey proposed legislation to prevent New York State from purchasing any electric output and the project ended abruptly. Now that same politician is engaged in attempting to decommission the nuclear power plant at Indian Point on the Hudson River AND stopping getting natural gas out of the ground through hydraulic fracturing. He, like most Democ-rats has a Groucho Marx energy policy–whatever it is they’re against it.
In Florida our senior senator, a Democ-rat naturally, (Bill Nelson) is against drilling for energy of either coast, a policy which will allow the Cubans and Chinese (and Brazilians and Venezuelans) to get at those resources.
“Scum of the earth” only begins to describe them! Indeed, as applied to them it’s a moderate use of language that only serves to raise their stature.
Meanwhile Immelt Insanity continues.. General Electric is spearheading
a ‘Business Leaders for Human Rights’ push at the UN.
http://wwwtwosetsofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/05/immelt-insanity-update-immelt-kills.html
im surprised rachel maddow wasnt there to install lo-flow contraptions on the dam
Who was that man?