From a Yahoo! story about gas-natural gas food trucks in New York (not our usual beat, but bear with us):
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy mogul from Texas, joined Bloomberg at a press conference outside New York’s City Hall to unveil the city’s first natural-gas-powered food truck and to talk about clean energy efforts—an issue both he and the mayor are passionate about.
Speaking to a large group of reporters and political types on a frigid February morning, both men showered each other with compliments. Bloomberg praised Pickens as “one of the great Americans” in business and someone who has emerged as a “powerful voice” for clean energy efforts.
“I used to read about T. Boone Pickens in the paper, and I never thought I’d know him on a first-name basis,” Bloomberg said.
A few seconds later, Pickens returned the compliment, telling Bloomberg, “Mayor, if you were in Washington today, we’d be a hell of a lot better off than where we are.” Bloomberg beamed, as several people applauded.
This, of course, is ridiculous. If Bloomberg were to ever head to the White House, his brand of “conservatism” would be shellacked by the right for its nanny-state tendencies and by the left for its pro-big business stances. Little would get done. Still: T. Boone, natural gas, etc., etc.
