PORTLAND, Ore., May 12, 2008
McCain Breaks With Bush On Climate Change
Urges Free-Market Principles And "Effective Diplomacy" To Reduce Global Warming
-
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks at Vestas Wind Energy Training Facility Monday, May 12, 2008, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
-
Photo Essay John McCain Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
-
Interactive Global Warming The greenhouse effect, a look at the Kyoto Protocol and a history of the Earth's climate.
The GOP presidential contender also prodded China and India - two major emitters of the greenhouse gases blamed for the planet's warming - to join the effort, although he muted planned talk of tariffs against them in favor of "effective diplomacy" to encourage their compliance.
An aide later said the Arizona senator didn't want to be interpreted as being "at odds with his commitment to open trade."
McCain was less restrained in his approach to President Bush, who broke a 2000 campaign pledge to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions and who also backed off signing the Kyoto global warming protocols shortly after taking office.
"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto. The United States will lead and will lead with a different approach - an approach that speaks to the interests and obligation of every nation," McCain declared.
The language highlighted the political stakes for McCain, the Republican's presumed presidential nominee.
His visit to Oregon came days after the leading Democratic contenders, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton Clinton of New York, campaigned in the state.
Oregon is viewed by some as a general-election battleground, and its Columbia Gorge and Mount Hood National Wilderness are playgrounds for many outdoorsmen and environmentalists.
Among those attending McCain's speech was Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat. McCain heaped praise on him - despite mangling the pronunciation of his name - and said, "As president of the United States, I will sit down with Governor Ted Kulongoski and all other governors of this country, whether they be Democrat or Republican, and work for the betterment of this nation."
Global warming also stands with abortion rights and an array of social causes as important issues to the evangelicals and Christian conservatives whom McCain hopes will bolster his political base this fall.
Democrats derided McCain's record on the issue, noting contributions to his campaign from energy lobbyists, his recent proposal to temporarily suspend the federal gasoline tax as a means of making driving cheaper and some votes against alternate energy sources.
"It is truly breathtaking for John McCain to talk about combating climate change while voting against virtually every recent effort to actually invest in clean energy," Obama said in a statement.
Clinton said, "While Senator McCain's proposals may be improvement on President Bush's, that's not saying much."
McCain has long expressed a belief in global warming, arguing that even if he is wrong, acting as if the planet's temperature were increasing would only benefit the environment if scientists subsequently proved he was mistaken.
The main solution he outlined Monday is to implement a cap-and-trade program on carbon-fuel emissions, like a similar program in the Clean Air Act that was used to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions that triggered acid rain.
Industries would be given emission targets, and those coming in under their limit could sell their surplus polluting capacity to companies unable to meet their target.
McCain wants the country to return to 2005 emission levels by 2012; 1990 levels by 2020; and to a level 60 percent below that by 2050.
Internationally, McCain promised to challenge China and India, economic rivals who are fueling their challenge to U.S. market supremacy with heavily polluting fuels such as coal, gas and oil.
While the prepared text of his remarks had him promising to work with the European Union and other like-minded governments "to develop a cost equalization mechanism to apply to those countries that decline to enact a similar cap," he changed up his remarks to the audience.
"I would work with the European Union and other like-minded governments that plan to address the global warming problem to develop effective diplomacy, effective transfer of technology or other means to engage those countries that decline to enact a similar cap," he said.
©MMVIII, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From Politics
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 72 CommentsBig F&^%G Deal
what about the war?
what about the economy?
McCain=McBush=BUSHit 3rd term
Giving has nothing to do with it. One of these people has to earn my vote. As far as I can tell, McCain is the only one who has actually worked at anything in their entire lives.
Going to war over oil certainly is not a free market principle by the Republicans. However, going to war over oil and having Americans pay $3.75 at the pump is within their principles.
Hillary''s ...TOAST !!
PLEASE, GO VOTE FOR CLINTON`S 20 MILLION IN CAMPAIGN DEBT A$$ !!
SHE`S TOO FAR ...BEHIND !!!
The Clinton''s have so much Arab Millions,You might as well call Hillary & Bill ''Hussein'' Clinton.
So Much for ''Experience''
Bill Clinton: ''Change'' You now see the benefits and effects of (NAFTA), Giving Communist China Unlimited Access to the White House and Classified Documents (Norman Hsu), Bill''s 10 Million $ per year Saudi Arabian Money, Bill''s United Arab Emirates (Dubai Ports Deal), Millions, Kuwait & Qatar Millions, and You people are worried about ...
Obama...Puh-Lease !!
George Bush Jr: He was ''Change'' for the Good Huh and you voted his A!! in the Oval Office (Twice) !!
You see the, over 4000 Dead Honorable USA Soldiers, 100,000 Dead Iraqi''s under False Pretenses (WOMD), 20 Billion Dollar Per Month War, a Devalued Dollar, Lower than the Mexican Peso, Massive Foreclosures, Outsourced Jobs, to Foreign Countries and Most of You A!! Holes, Voted for him !!
You all Voted for those 2 Presidents for (2 Terms) too !!
No more talks of Obama not being ''Experienced Enough'' because none of the Past or Present Presidents, had National-International ''Experience''
NOTE: The Only ''Experience President'' is Fmr. CIA Dir. and 2 Term Republican VP (George H. Bush Sr), and he lasted only (1 Term) !!
STATE GOVERNORSHIPS...
DOES NOT QUALIFY for ''NATIONAL-INTERNATIONAL POLICY OR LAW MAKING .
"Two aides to Republican presidential nominee John McCain have stood down over ties to a lobbying firm that has represented Burma''s military leaders."
Oh Yeah...John McCain is a ''''''''True Patriot'''''''' US Veterans can Depend On...Huh
WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has suggested he would OPPOSE a Bi-Partisan measure by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb to expand college Tuition Benefits for (Military Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan).
McCains new move comes as a blow to Webb, a freshman Democrat and former Navy Secretary who had been Quietly building Bi-Partisan support for months.
Note: Webbs GI Bill, a centerpiece of his 2006 campaign, would pay the college tuition of many Military Veterans who have served since the (Sept. 11, 2001, Terrorist Attacks). The amount of tuition paid would not exceed the cost of the most expensive state school in a Veterans Home State, in most cases.
The Current Montgomery GI Bill pays only a SMALL FRACTION of the COST of COLLEGE TODAY.
Posted by ibsteve2u at 06:54 AM : May 13, 2008
Oh no....he really believes this hogwash! He sides with dems over his own party almost every chance he gets. That''s the BIGGEST reason we don''t like him.
He cannot seem to remember what his position was on any issue last week, let alone a year or five years ago. He admits to knowing nothing about economics, and wants to keep our young men and women in Iraq forever.
Yesterday he admited that global warming might be real, but methinks that might be written on toilet tissue with disappearing ink.
His only real qualifications are that he has been in Washington too long, cast mostly in the mold of our current Decider-In-Chief, and he was a prisoner of war.
(And "pandering" in political terms too often means "Promise them whatever, because you can blow the promises off once you are in office.". You know - like how Bush used promises of a moral and uncorruptable Administration to contrast against recent Democratic history? lollll...I bet it makes your *** pucker recalling those promises...)
less respect in the world, and constant incompetence in terms of remembering basic stuff like Shia vs. Sunni, etc., you''ll vote for Obama.
Most Americans want guaranteed health care.
Most Americans believe woman should have the right to choose.
Most Americans believe that we should tax the rich more not less.
Most Americans think the current path we are on is the wrong path.
Most Americans are against privatizing Social Security.
McCain stands in strong opposition to the majority of Americans on all these issues.
Two things have become evident to me even though they don''t
make any sense at all.
The first one is that the Democratic Party Leadership
knows damm well that if Obama where to actually make
it past the Republicans and get in the White House, the results will be disastrous.
The second one is that the Democratic leadership
is throwing this election.
I know it''s hard to believe. I know it doesnt make any sense. But it''''s happening everyday right in front of us, and I can''t go on telling myself that it isn''t.
---
If McBush offered the honesty we crave, he would admit playing footsie with the telecom lobbyista, Ms. Whatshername. (You know, the one the McBush staff had to tell McBush to leave alone? "Bad dog! Baaaad dog!")
If McBush is his "own man", why is his principled character always up for sale? Or, is that the principle?
Wasn''t McBush against torture? Is that the reason he blocked the Senate bill opposing torture?
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/13/mccain-waterboarding-fail/
And after his Senate performance, McBush mentions Straight talk? If that is the shortest distance between two points, it cannot define McBush. McBush points change by the hour, making it impossible to construct anything but a rambling discourse.
McBush believes in a good defense. So, he has most of his staff covering things he said, might have said, is said to have said. Rumor is, they have come up with a two-hour videotaped summary of McBush arguing brilliantly with himself.
No "double-tak"? But Double-Think is OK, as long as you don''t draw too much attention to it?
"I would work with the European Union and other like-minded governments that plan to address the global warming problem to develop effective diplomacy, effective transfer of technology or other means to engage those countries that decline to enact a similar cap," he said."
In short, he flopped even before he flipped.
Then maybe you can answer the question of how "free market principles" is any different from Bush, who has always believed that the ecosystem should be sacrificed for the profit of a few?
Chrrrp...chrrrp...
Posted by dumbshun at 03:30 AM : May 13, 2008
At least, some people learned to unlock the Caps Lock key.
Talk to some people who live in Arizona to see how much of a flip flopper McCain is. I have. Heck, I met him 15 years ago and wasn''t too impressed then.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- next
See all 72 Comments