Sarah Palin Hits Back at Schwarzenegger
"You have to ask: what was she trying to accomplish?" Schwarzenegger said of Palin, who penned a questionable op-ed for the Washington Post expressing skepticism over the scientific consensus that global warming is real and man-made. "Is she really interested in this subject or is she interested in her career and in winning the [Republican presidential] nomination?"
Palin responded to Schwarzenegger's questioning of her motivations on her Facebook page last night, accusing the California governor of acting "greener than thou."
"Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment?" she wrote. "Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation's only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can't primarily blame man's activities for those changes."
"And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn't do was hamstring Alaska's job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act 'greener than thou' when talking to reporters," added Palin.
Schwarzenegger is an advocate for the United States taking a more aggressive role in forging a global consensus on fighting global warming, and has pointed to his state's moves to address climate change as a model for the rest of the country.