July 08, 2009 07:04 PM UTC

Blame Scenic Canada--Everybody's Doing It

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• by: Colorado Pols

Scott McInnis might find this cold comfort, but it seems Canadian mountains are popping up all over GOP websites–the Washington Post’s Al Kamen writes:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce alerted us Monday to an interesting photo on the Web site of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Seems, with summer heat bearing down soon on the area, as “readers consider how to escape the heated climate change debate and spend their vacation dollars this summer,” that senators wanted to be sure Americans don’t forget the glories of . . . the Rockies, the Chamber told us by e-mail.

The committee’s home page featured a beckoning photo of a spectacular vista in that mountain range. One problem, though: It was of Lake Louise, which happens to be in the Canadian Rockies. [Pols emphasis]

We called the committee’s majority Democrats to ask about this promotion of foreign travel. But a spokesman referred us to Republican members, saying “they were responsible” for the photo.

And indeed, a committee GOP spokesman said that back on Dec. 22, 2006, with Democrats poised to take over the Senate, “we put together this fantastic new Web site,” and the Republicans were rushing to put it up “before they took over.”

Oops! Did you notice that it was the Republican-allied group U.S. Chamber of Commerce who thought they had a live one on Democrats? Thanks for playing.

Back in Colorado, we overheard an interesting theory about McInnis’ misplaced Lake Louise photo yesterday–McInnis, as most of you know, served a tour as a lobbyist for none other than Encana Corp., the Canadian oil giant who has a large interest in the Western Slope gaspatch and is headquartered just down the road from Lake Louise in Calgary. Maybe a popular corporate retreat location that McInnis confused for another further south–that is, the one he lives in?

Ockham’s Razor says no, but it brings up some, ah, interesting subpoints.