John Fund:

Two days before Christmas, Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey sent a bizarre open letter to the North Pole to warn Santa about the “dramatic melting of the Arctic sea ice” due to the effects of carbon emissions.

“I am worried about your safety and your ability to deliver billions of Christmas gifts if the ice cap on the North Pole no longer stays frozen all year,” the senator wrote. “What will happen to your house, your workshop, the elves’ houses and your reindeer barns?”

The senator’s solution is for Kris Kringle to move to New Jersey. “Please know that I will work to mobilize the U.S. federal government to assist when you relocate,” he wrote. “I am sure we can both agree that on a warming planet, we need to do all we can to save Christmas.”

The missive prompted a reply from some of Mr. Menendez’s constituents in his home town of Hoboken, across the Hudson River from New York City. “Sen. Menendez is apparently unaware that polar ice melting is a completely natural phenomenon and certainly not unprecedented — as various photos of submarines floating around the North Pole have attested for more than fifty years,” said the Hoboken Republican Club in a statement. “We therefore seek to reassure nice children everywhere that Santa is just fine. They can happily look forward to Santa’s presents for many years to come.”

If further proof were needed that Senator Menendez’s musings were somewhat overheated, the day after Christmas brought one of the worst winter storms of recent years to his state.

Still too early to tell if there’s a “Menendez Effect” similar to the “Al Gore Effect,” but we’ll continue to monitor the situation.