AJ - The Modern GOP Has Completely Abandoned Climate Science, Any Chance Of Action

[hatrack]

EDIT

The problem for environmentalists and their allies is that, bubbling Miami drainpipes notwithstanding, the public feels little urgency about climate change. People consider jobs and terrorism much higher priorities. In January they ranked taking action against global warming 19th out of 20 on a to-do list for the president and Congress.

That’s where leaders should come in — to look beyond immediate concerns and plan for the future. There are several variations of Republican failure on that front. They include denying there is climate change; denying that human activity is largely driving it; claiming they don’t know enough about science to make a judgment; welcoming climate change as a good thing; opposing U.S. policies designed to slow it down, such as a carbon tax, a cap-and-trade system and EPA regulation; attacking emission regulations as job killers; proposing to eliminate the EPA; and calling it pointless for the United States to act, given the massive level of carbon emissions produced by China and other nations.

Candidates who have taken many (or all) of these positions are cropping up in the statewide races most crucial to climate policy. Environmental groups are active in governors’ races in Maine, Wisconsin and Florida (where Gov. Rick Scott has been skeptical about man-made climate change and repeatedly says, “I’m not a scientist”). The top Senate races attracting green money are in Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa (where the Sierra Club and the LCV are running separate ads that highlight the GOP candidate Joni Ernst saying, “Let’s shut down the federal EPA”), Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina (where Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis has called it “false science” to say humans are driving climate change and has accused liberals of using it as “a tool to put fear in people”).

That’s not to say there aren’t potentially hopeful signs for Republican voters and officials who wish their party would take climate change seriously and act accordingly. Some politicians may be more open to climate measures privately than they will say publicly before an election. Reporting suggests that in apolitical contexts, conservatives acknowledge climate change and respond in practical ways. So bipartisan leadership could emerge as the United States transitions to a new, less-carbon-based energy economy.

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http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/10/gop-republicans-midtermelectionsclimatechangeenvironment.html

[longship]

1. Well, as they have oft said, they aren't scientists.

But that doesn't stop them from being anti-science. Or, just maybe that explains it.

Maybe they should stick with Jesus. Wait a minute... That's precisely what they do.

Pshaw! When are we going to rid politics of these loonies?