Al Franken and Rick Perry had some cordial exchanges during the former Texas governor’s confirmation hearings. Franken is an experienced comedian and jokes were made. However, in the closing seconds of Franken’s comments he uttered some words that seem almost like a joke when reading them. When watching Franken speak one realizes he is dead serious.

The comment almost slipped by unnoticed. Franken awkwardly attempted to make the connection between renewable energy and a thriving community.

Those towers are big, they’re tall. Only young people can go up those towers. They keep young people in your community.”

Please try to imagine that Rick Perry had uttered these words…or George Bush…or Sarah Palin…or *insert reviled Republican here*.

Young people love giant windmills, y’all! Especially the kind that suck up thousands and thousands and thousands of livable, workable acreage to provide less than a tenth of the energy a much smaller and more efficient coal or gas plant produces. I’m looking forward to the next episode of “House Hunters: Energy Warriors” where the young, newlywed, grad student couple with a budget of eleventy billion dollars tells their agent they are looking for something modern, close to downtown and near some windmills that they can climb.

Oh, Al. Never change. Never. Change.