Posted on 11/06/2007 12:06:23 PM PST by pissant
During the question-and-answer session of his town hall meeting in Hampton Tuesday night, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., received a question about his thoughts on global warming.
McCain appeared to recognize the man who fielded the question, Sam Witherbee of the non-partisan environmental action group Carbon Coalition, and asked him whether the group felt he had a strong position on the issue. Wetherbee replied, "Yeah, you've been pretty good."
In an interview after the event, McCain said he didn't understand why more Republican presidential candidates aren't more outspoken on climate change.
"I think young Americans are deeply concerned about [this issue] and people in New Hampshire are environmentally-concious," McCain said, adding that he's been hearing about this issue from Granite State voters since his presidential campaign in 2000.
New Hampshire voters, both Republican and Democrat, have a reputation for requiring a strong environmental record from their politicians. In a state where tourism is a major industry, protecting the lakes, streams and forests is key to the economy.
For those Republican voters looking for a candidate willing to aggressively reduce carbon emissions, they don't have many to choose from, said Ted Leach, a New Hampshire Republican and co-chairman of the Carbon Coalition.
"They're not addressing it. I have no idea why," said Leach.
The Carbon Coalition does not endorse candidates, but instead pushes presidential hopefuls to make global warming a top issue in his or her administration and to outline a specific action plan to reduce carbon emissions to be implemented in the first 150 days of office.
Leach said he thinks Republicans who do not have solid plans to reduce carbon emissions are overlooking a large contingency of the party. He pointed to a resolution passed by 164 towns this winter at their annual town meetings calling on government to take action on the issue.
He attributed Republicans' reluctance to put forth specific policies on global warming to former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, who is seen by many as the de facto spokesman for the issue.
"The best thing that's happened in global warming is Al Gore's ‘Inconvenient Truth.' The worst thing that's happened in global warming is Al Gore did it," said Leach.
The Carbon Coalition's sister group, Clean Air, Cool Planet, last week held a Global Warming and Energy Solutions Conference in Manchester. McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee were the only Republican presidential candidates to attend and both received good reviews from the activists there.
McCain has also received the endorsement of the Republicans for Environmental Protection. In a speech earlier this month, president Martha Marks commended McCain's record on conservation and climate change.
"Senator McCain is the only Republican candidate in this year's race who shows he understands the connection between conservative values and environmental stewardship," she said. "Unfortunately, in today's political world, for a conservative Republican to take bold stands on such issues as climate change and natural resource stewardship is also truly courageous."
McCain and Huckabee are both for a federally mandated cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emission. McCain is in favor of joining the Kyoto treaty, as long as India and China are involved, and Huckabee said he wants America to stop using fossil fuels completely and as soon as possible. While there are some positions these candidates hold that do not fit with the Carbon Coalition's platform, Leach said they have the best positions of the Republican candidates in the presidential pack.
A look at former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's past comments in New Hampshire shows he is against government mandates to reduce carbon emissions in favor of a free-market approach. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has also said he favors giving companies incentives to move toward cleaner energy technologies. Giuliani, Romney and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson have all expressed interest in investing in domestic carbon based energy, like clean coal and expanded drilling for oil.
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has told New Hampshire voters that states should take the lead in reducing carbon emissions and has indicated there needs to be more study on the causes of climate change. Thompson is on the fence when it comes to the causes of global warming as well. On his Web site it states, "While we don't know for certain how or why climate change is occurring, it makes sense to take reasonable steps to reduce CO2 emissions without harming our economy."
This continued skepticism about global warming and its causes from Republicans is something that irks Leach.
"I think they are very uninformed on the issue," he said. "A lot of them preface [their position on global warming] with, ‘Well, if global warming is real we should be addressing it,' or ‘Yeah, there is global warming occurring but I'm not so sure it's man induced.' Those are the arguments from 10 years ago. ... It's just denial. It's just a way to get off that topic as quickly as they can."
GOOD !!!!
Ping
Environmentalists, LOL, as authoritative as mentalists.
Hey pissant! Huckabubba & McSlain in one article? You’re really doing double duty today, bud.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
“McCain and Huckabee are both for a federally mandated cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emission.”
I was wondering what lobbies were behind the scenes in the media push for Huck-a-ster of late.
Cap and trade is a fraud, the little talked mammoth in the closet.
Why not dump all of these non issues and just vote Duncan Hunter as President?
That should solve things rather neatly.
In their case it means no connection between the sides of the brain.
does that mean he’ll steal the dead voter votes that typically swing dem?
Maybe the Republicans have figured out that, no matter how much we spend on the environment, the environmentalists will say it isn’t enough. Maybe they’ve noticed that, after 35 years of environmental laws and regulations, the environmentalists say we’re worse off than ever. Maybe they’ve noticed that some environmentalists are “watermelons” - green on the outside and red on the inside.
I really do like Duncan, but with any realism I can not see him getting the nomination.
So I guess you and his other supporter will have to vote for him.
LOL
Don’t be so sure.
~~ AGW™ ping~~
I’ll give you a double ping.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
Are there any indications that he even begins to fathom what that means, industrially/economically?
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