Graham to GOP: stop demonizing climate change: You’re risking ‘your party’s future ...'

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/01/graham-youth-climate/

Graham says GOP should stop demonizing climate change: You’re risking ‘your party’s future with younger people.’


Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to discuss clean energy legislation. During the interview, Graham warned his party that it will fall into irrelevancy if it continues to embrace climate change deniers:

I have been to enough college campuses to know if you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with recycling and a sensitivity to the environment — and the world will be better off for it. They are not brainwashed. … From a Republican point of view, we should buy into it and embrace it and not belittle them. You can have a genuine debate about the science of climate change, but when you say that those who believe it are buying a hoax and are wacky people you are putting at risk your party’s future with younger people.

It’s a hopeful sign that at least one leading Senate Republican is acknowledging the fact that Americans want clean energy reform. According to the Benenson Strategy Group, 58 percent of voters in 16 battleground states support a cap-and-trade bill like the House-passed American Clean Energy and Security Act that invests in clean, renewable energy sources. The same poll shows that Americans desire regulation of carbon polluters so much that 59 percent of voters believe the Environmental Protection Agency should act on the issue if Congress does not.

[Jennicut]

1. The thing is, among Rethugs, Graham is what passes for a moderate Repub these days.

The real extreme RWers hate Graham (and McCain). Can't stand them. The Repubs are going further and further to the right.

[Birthmark]

2. It's a sad day for the Republican party

...when the wisest among them is Huckleberry Hound's evil twin.

[damntexdem]

3. Wrong focus: they're jeopardizing the world's future.

[applegrove]

4. One of the neocons in canada just came out against climate change. Obviously he thinks

that will score him some political points. Seems as if some neocons don't care about a lack of young people voting for them. They just want to get elected today at any cost. Like the CEOs of banks who gave themselves huge compensation every year and upped their bonuses by taking huge risks. Seems the political cycle for neocons is the same as the business cycle for ceos.

[Swamp Rat]

5. dupe

:hug:

[Swamp Rat]

6. The GOP cannot stop their downward spiral.

:hi: babylonsister :hug:

[Juche]

7. They already lost young people

A poll asked people do you support capitalism, socialism or unsure. For every age group except those under 30, the support was overwhelmingly capitalistic. However for people under 30 it was split 3 ways.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/april_2009/just_53_say_capitalism_better_than_socialism

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.


Young people are also the only ones who self identify as liberal. When asked, most people claim to be conservative 2:1 or 3:1 over liberal (40:20 or 45:15) with the rest undeclared, other, moderate. With young people it is basically 1:1 at 30/30.




Point is, the GOP lost young people a long time ago. The GOP is the party of dogmatic, angry, bitter white people in their 50s. People under 30 (in my experience as a 30 year old) find almost nothing appealing about that. At least not the majority of the ones I've known.

I don't think there are any political or moral issues that young people support the GOP on more than 51%. I believe even terrorism and taxes (issues the GOP thinks it owns) young people tend to prefer the democrats.

[old mark]

8. They already are dead, just too stupid to fall down. Graham may be

the smart republican, but only in comparison th toe rest of them.


mark

[Project Grudge]

9. I posted a variant of this yesterday.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x521350

That's a link to the original Thomas Friedman article.