Climate Politics

Anti-wind McCain delivers climate remarks at foreign wind company

Conservative presidential candidate Sen. John McCain chose a clever but ultimately hypocritical location for his big climate speech. I hope the media aren't fooled by his ironic choice of wind turbine company Vestas as the backdrop, but I have little doubt they will run enticing photos and videos of wind turbines. McCain, however, does not deserve to be linked to such images.

I would title the speech "Not the man for the job" (see "No climate for old men").

Let's be clear: Conservatives like John McCain, or more accurately, conservatives including John McCain, are the main reason McCain has to go to a Danish wind turbine manufacturer to give a climate speech. With the major government investments in wind in the 1970s, the United States was poised to be a dominant player in what was clearly going to be one of the biggest job-creating industries of the next hundred years. But conservatives repeatedly gutted the wind budget, then opposed efforts by progressives to increase it, and repeatedly blocked efforts to extend the wind power tax credit. The sad result can be seen here:

Enviros respond to McCain’s new climate plan

John McCain unveiled his plans to address global warming in a speech Monday afternoon in Portland, Ore. The candidate called climate change a “test of foresight, of political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next,” and called for a cap-and-trade system to drastically reduce the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions. John […]

Text of McCain climate speech

Here's text of the climate speech GOP presidential candidate John McCain gave today in Portland, Ore., his most major address on the issue to date.

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Thank you all very much. I appreciate the hospitality of Vestas Wind Technology. Today is a kind of test run for the company. They've got wind technicians here, wind studies, and all these wind turbines, but there's no wind. So now I know why they asked me to come give a speech.

Every day, when there are no reporters and cameras around to draw attention to it, this company and others like it are doing important work. And what we see here is just a glimpse of much bigger things to come. Wind power is one of many alternative energy sources that are changing our economy for the better. And one day they will change our economy forever.

Wind is a clean and predictable source of energy, and about as renewable as anything on earth. Along with solar power, fuel-cell technology, cleaner burning fuels and other new energy sources, wind power will bring America closer to energy independence. Our economy depends upon clean and affordable alternatives to fossil fuels, and so, in many ways, does our security. A large share of the world's oil reserves is controlled by foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart. And as our reliance on oil passes away, their power will vanish with it.

Emission reduction targets proposed by McCain are insufficient but squarely in the mainstream

Here is the schedule of targets John McCain has proposed for his cap-and-trade program: 2012: Return emissions to 2005 levels (18 percent above 1990 levels) 2020: Return emissions to 1990 levels (15 percent below 2005 levels) 2030: 22 percent below 1990 levels (34 percent below 2005 levels) 2050: 60 percent below 1990 levels (66 percent […]

New McCain climate ad aimed at independent voters

John McCain released a new television advertisement today to accompany his big climate policy speech in Portland, Ore., this afternoon. Here’s the ad: The ad illustrates McCain’s attempts to appeal to independents; climate change is a key area where he believes he can make inroads with voters outside the Republican party. Note these lines in […]

Republican candidate’s climate proposals better than expected but still behind the curve

On Monday, John McCain will deliver a speech on climate change from Portland, Oregon. In it he will lay out the framework for climate policy under a McCain administration. After a primary spent shoring up his credentials among the Republican base, this is the beginning of his general election strategy: Operation I’m Not Bush. (One […]

McCain to unveil new climate plan

GOP presidential candidate John McCain is slated to unveil his plans to address global warming in a speech Monday afternoon in Portland, Ore., where he’ll call climate change a “test of foresight, of political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next.” McCain will lay out a series of goals […]

Learning from the gas tax episode, Obama could treat rural whites like adults

Though the nation’s pundits have decided that the primary race is over, someone failed to get Clinton the memo — she is determined to stay in to the bitter end. The next primaries are in West Virginia and Kentucky, states where the number of poor whites is high and consequently the Obama campaign expects to […]

Candidate tips his hand at New Jersey event

In his remarks in Jersey City, N.J., on Friday, GOP presidential contender John McCain appeared to offer an off-handed endorsement of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. “I hope it will pass,” he told the crowd, “and I hope the entire Congress will join in supporting it and the president of the United States would sign […]

Fewer Republicans saying earth is warming

The science is clear about the reality of global warming and the fact that humans are the dominant cause. But, sadly, that isn't clear to most Republicans.

Anybody who thinks the public debate is over -- anybody who thinks the Big Lie doesn't work -- should look at the latest poll results from the Pew Research Center: