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.

    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)

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(AP)  John McCain broke with the Bush administration and Republican Party orthodoxy Monday as he not only declared global warming real, but reached out to Democrats and independents with a free-market solution that includes capping carbon-fuel emissions.

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.
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by ponco seno May 13, 2008 11:58 PM EDT
McCain Breaks With Bush On Climate Change



Big F&^%G Deal

what about the war?
what about the economy?

McCain=McBush=BUSHit 3rd term
Reply to this comment
by May 13, 2008 8:21 PM EDT
omnibus66 said "Age should not be a factor in choosing someone to give or not give a vote."

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.
Reply to this comment
by whitepicks2 May 13, 2008 4:35 PM EDT
''And I just want to promise you this: My friends, I will have an energy policy, that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East,'' MyCane said. ''That will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.''

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.
Reply to this comment
by omaar-101 May 13, 2008 3:24 PM EDT


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 .
Reply to this comment
by oscarez May 13, 2008 3:19 PM EDT
From BBC:
"Two aides to Republican presidential nominee John McCain have stood down over ties to a lobbying firm that has represented Burma''s military leaders."
Reply to this comment
by omaar-101 May 13, 2008 2:55 PM EDT
McCain won`t back Webb`s GI Bill plan


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.
Reply to this comment
by libh8er May 13, 2008 2:01 PM EDT
McCain''''s seemingly radical change can be summed up in one word: Pandering.
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.
Reply to this comment
by mjvw2 May 13, 2008 11:51 AM EDT
Smirk5 - Are you enjoying your conversation with yourself?
Reply to this comment
by omnibus66 May 13, 2008 10:22 AM EDT
Age should not be a factor in choosing someone to give or not give a vote. But in the case of McBush, it is not age but senility that is the issue.

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.
Reply to this comment
by missingamerica May 13, 2008 9:54 AM EDT
lollll...McCain''s seemingly radical change can be summed up in one word: Pandering.

(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...)
Reply to this comment
by smirk5 May 13, 2008 8:41 AM EDT
Pick McCain for President and our economic and foreign problems will continue to get worse. That''s really the choice this November. If you like things the way they are, you''ll vote for McCain. If you''re afraid of neverending quagmires, more wars, more borrow and spend that your grandchildren will get stuck with,
less respect in the world, and constant incompetence in terms of remembering basic stuff like Shia vs. Sunni, etc., you''ll vote for Obama.
Reply to this comment
by smirk5 May 13, 2008 8:28 AM EDT
Most Americans want out of Iraq.
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.
Reply to this comment
by smirk5 May 13, 2008 8:05 AM EDT
Obama leads McCain in the head to head polls right now and most voters still think the maverick John McCain exists. Wait until they find out he''s abandoned nearly everything the voters support and is left only standing pretty much exactly square with Bush on foreign and economic policy. Wait until they find out McCain''s answers to the problems caused under Bush are the exact answers Bush employed to create those problems. McCain can''t run away from his clone, George Bush Jr. Voting for McCain is voting to keep things just the way they are currently in Iraq and in America on into the future. McCain is the status quo.
Reply to this comment
by truthyness May 13, 2008 7:49 AM EDT
I also come from a long line of Democrats but I have to face the fact that the Democratic Party isn''t what it used to be.

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.
Reply to this comment
by smirk5 May 13, 2008 7:47 AM EDT
McCain''s word on the environment and a couple of bucks will buy you coffee. McCain doesn''t stand strong on issues anymore. The right wing wind blows and McCain falls over backward in seconds.
Reply to this comment
by alphaa10-2009 May 13, 2008 7:37 AM EDT
dumbshun said, "McCAIN IS HIS OWN MAN! BELIEVES IN "STRAIGHT-TALK" TO THE NATION NO "DOUBLE-TAK"!
---
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?
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 May 13, 2008 6:55 AM EDT
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."

In short, he flopped even before he flipped.
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 May 13, 2008 6:42 AM EDT
"A JIHADI MIND IS A CLOSED MIND" Posted by dumbshun

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...
Reply to this comment
by abbe91 May 13, 2008 6:34 AM EDT
IS THAT ALL YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR PARENTS AND FIRST GRADE TEACHER?
Posted by dumbshun at 03:30 AM : May 13, 2008

At least, some people learned to unlock the Caps Lock key.
Reply to this comment
by buttonjockey May 13, 2008 6:29 AM EDT
Wow, those were impressive words from McCain but they really said nothing. My handy dandy BS generator could do about as well if I dial the political correctness *** up to about 8.

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.
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