But the real joke of the commercial is the argument behind it. Maddow objects when "people tell us no, no, no we're not going to build it. No, no, no, America doesn't have any greatness in its future. America has small things in its future. Other countries have great things in their future. China can afford it. We can't." She replies to this chorus of strawmen, "You're wrong and it doesn't feel right to us and it doesn't sound right to us because that's not what America is." It's one of several ads equating American greatness with big infrastructure spending on the scale of the Hoover Dam.
The reason the ad is so funny is that nobody thinks liberals such as Maddow would support anything like the Hoover Dam today. The Hoover Dam is a marvel. But by today's green standards, it is a crime against nature. If you tried to build it, the Natural Resources Defense Council and
Greenpeace would be in court tomorrow blocking it, with Ms. Maddow cheering them on.
