T. Boone Pickens loves America, hates taxes and trusts Sam Brownback

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If the hundreds of people sardined into the lobby of the Dole Institute were hoping to be inspired by a determined visionary, they might have been disappointed.

Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens has spent millions of dollars amassing an army of  Americans to back his plan for replacing foreign oil with homegrown power sources, like wind and natural gas. Yesterday he stumped at the University of Kansas, preaching about his “mission” in the raspy voice of an over-extended 80-year-old and the attention span of someone with one ear open for his next boarding call.

Sure, Pickens had his charming moments and his ideas have certainly shot energy issues to the top of the national agenda. But Pickens was clear that he isn’t an environmentalist. He doesn’t really give a damn about global warming. He doesn’t like taxes, so he dismisses any talk about a cap-and-trade system. And, if he gets a question from the audience he doesn’t like, well, he just brushes it off.

“Don’t tell me you don’t like my plan, unless you have a plan,” he told the crowd somewhat derisively.

In concept, Pickens ideas sound inspiring. In person, the oil man came off as the arrogant, overbearing, obsessively patriotic grandfather that nobody likes to sit next to at the dinner table. And the disinterested environmentalist who loves America and hates taxes had the perfect partner at his side: Kansas U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback.