Wave Maker

Jumping to the top of my summer reading list is Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound, by Providence Journal editor Robert Whitcomb and Wendy Williams. Never heard about this book? That doesn't surprise me -- the Boston Globe fails to mention a word of its publication. In fact, I learned of the book just this morning courtesy of the Herald's gossip columnists, Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa.

According to one reviewer, this is a "book on politics that reads like a whodunit," and tells the story of the behind-the-scenes efforts of extraordinarily rich people to thwart the Cape Wind project.

The cabal of uber-privileged who live in the Wianno Avenue - Hyannisport - Nantucket axis really take it on the chin here, and who doesn't like to read about rich people being hypocrites.

Some special quotes, courtesy of Fee and Raposa:

The portrait of the opponents is not kind. Bunny Mellon calls one windmill supporter “a traitor to your class.” Jamie McCourt, co-owner of the L.A. Dodgers, tells a Cape Wind attorney, “I bleeping hate you.” “John Adams” author - and Vineyard resident - David McCullough rants and raves while ex-CBS newsman Walter Cronkite - who made an infomercial for the Alliance before reversing his opinion and deciding he no longer wanted to oppose the project - is portrayed as “a pitiful old man.” As for RFK Jr., Whitcomb calls him “a troubled person.”

“His reaction is so irrational and incoherent, there’s not much to say,” he said.

But I think this remark from Ted Kennedy sums up the opposition:

“The sight of them bothers me,” Sen. Kennedy is quoted as telling retired utility exec - and wind farm supporter - Jim Leidell.

When told that most of the time the turbines - which would generating enough energy to power Cape Cod during peak usage times - would be either invisible or barely visible from the Kennedy Compound, Ted reportedly replied, “But don’t you realize, that’s where I sail.”

That's where I sail.

Man, what can you say to people who adore this man as the savior of the downtrodden?