Bill Ritter Tapdances Away from Cap and Tax: No Memo to Betsy Markey?

Our “new energy economy” Governor Bill Ritter went before a Senate committee and tapdanced his way around the question of whether he supports the Waxman-Markey cap-and-tax bill. (Yes, I’m late to the story. Yes, I’m hopping on the bandwagon. Yesterday was an important personal day away from blogging, but with a story like this one, better late than never.)

El Presidente was quick to put up the video of Ritter’s exchange with Senator James Inhofe, as well as the video of Senator Kit Bond explaining how the governor’s highly-touted new “green” jobs are heavily subsidized by taxpayers: $71,000 per job.

Michelle Malkin brought national attention to Ritter’s refusal to endorse cap-and-tax. At American Spectator, Paul Chesser posted the transcript and observed that Bill Ritter offered a “whole lot of talk without saying anything”.

On the Denver Post’s Gang of Four blog, John Andrews highlighted “the squirmy nervousness in Ritter’s face, voice, and body language as he tries to wiggle past a direct yes or no.”

Finally, Face The State offered a wrap-up of different responses to Ritter’s testimony.

Here’s my question: Why didn’t Ritter send the message about the cap-and-tax bill to fellow Democrat freshman Congresswoman Betsy Markey, whose subsidized vote for the massive energy tax may have been the decisive moment in her brief political career on Capitol Hill?