May 12, 2008
McCain's Balancing Act On The Environment
Washington Post: GOP Candidate Champions Some "Green" Causes While Casting Contradictory Votes On Others
-
Photo
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., laughs during a campaign stop at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., Friday, May 9. 2008. (AP)
-
Play CBS Video
Video
Eye To Eye: The McCains
Katie Couric speaks with the presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his 96-year-old mother, Roberta Wright McCain, about his campaign journey towards the White House.
-
Timeline
McCain's Quest
Mileposts in the Arizona senator's race for the GOP nomination and the presidency.
-
Interactive
Eye On The Environment
Find out how global warming, air pollution and alternative forms of energy impact our world.
From Our Partner:
In December 2005, Republicans were poised to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, an achievement they had sought for decades. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had attached the provision to a must-pass defense spending bill and threatened to keep lawmakers in Washington until Christmas if they tried to strip it. Desperate to remove the provision, leaders from national environmental groups turned to a handful of key GOP senators for help.
With only days left before the critical vote, League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski and Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund President Rodger Schlickheisen obtained a private audience with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). McCain had been on both sides of the Arctic drilling issue over the course of his career, and the two leaders of the fight against opening the refuge were eager to know whether he would come down in their column.
His answer disappointed them. In the brief meeting, the senator said he was unwilling to risk blocking a bill involving the military at a time of war -- even though it was clear the broader funding bill would pass quickly and by a wide margin if opponents managed to strip the ANWR provision from it. "We told him, 'This may be the key vote, this may be the time we win this,'" Schlickheisen recalled in an interview. "He said, 'Not on this bill.' That was it."
Ultimately environmental activists were able to defeat the measure with the aid of two Republican senators -- Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) and Mike DeWine (Ohio). But they have not forgotten McCain's decision, and many say it exemplifies his approach to environmental issues.
"There's no question that among a lot of bad Republican votes in the Senate, he's one of the better ones," Schlickheisen said. "He is perhaps the most unpredictable, erratic, of those votes."
McCain has made the environment one of the key elements of his presidential bid. He speaks passionately about the issue of climate change on the campaign trail, and he plans to outline his vision for combating global warming in a major speech today in Portland, Ore.
"I'm proud of my record on the environment," he said at a news conference Friday at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. "As president, I will dedicate myself to addressing the issue of climate change globally."
But an examination of McCain's voting record shows an inconsistent approach to the environment: He champions some "green" causes while casting sometimes contradictory votes on others.
The senator from Arizona has been resolute in his quest to impose a federal limit on greenhouse gas emissions, even when it means challenging his own party. But he has also cast votes against tightening fuel-efficiency standards and resisted requiring public utilities to offer a specific amount of electricity from renewable sources. He has worked to protect public lands in his home state, winning a 2001 award from the National Parks Conservation Association for helping give the National Park Service some say over air tours around the Grand Canyon, work that prompts former interior secretary and Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt to call him "a great friend of the canyon." But he has also pushed to set aside Endangered Species Act protections when they conflict with other priorities, such as the construction of a University of Arizona observatory on Mount Graham.
Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain's senior policy adviser, said the senator does not always please "environmental groups who are single-issue, litmus test" organizations. Instead, he said, McCain seeks to weigh the costs and benefits of each environmental issue.
"Look, he always balances what are the environmental implications of these enterprises and what are the economic benefits that could come from them," Holtz-Eakin said. "That is, in general, an approach which may be harder to read than a flat ideological X or Y, but it's how he reads these things, it's how he evaluates these kinds of decisions."
As a result, McCain scores significantly lower than his Democratic rivals for the presidency, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), in interest groups' studies of his environmental voting record. McCain's lifetime League of Conservation Voters score is 24 percent, compared with 86 for Obama and 86 for Clinton; Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund's conservation report card gave him 38 percent in the 108th Congress and 40 in the 109th. (McCain has missed every major environmental vote this Congress, giving him a zero rating.)
When Karpinski tells audiences about McCain's environmental scorecard rating, he said, "jaws drop. . . . I tell them, 'He's not as green as you think he is.'"
Obama has already sought to exploit this on the campaign trail: While campaigning in Bend, Ore., on Saturday he said McCain "opposed real solutions to our dependence on oil time and time again." In response, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds noted that Obama had supported the 2005 energy bill, which provided tax breaks for oil companies, while McCain did not.
The Republican's backers, and some environmentalists, say McCain deserves credit for taking the political risk of talking about these issues both on the Senate floor and in a GOP primary where he stood out as the only candidate committed to a specific target for reducing greenhouse gases. McCain supports cutting greenhouse gases 60 percent by the middle of this century compared with 1990 levels; Obama and Clinton back an 80 percent cut over the same period.
"There's no question he was both moved and troubled by the visible impact of climate change," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), who has traveled with McCain to investigate the effects of global warming. "This is inside him now. . . . He stood up against the president of his own party, and the majority of members of his own party. I think that makes him an environmental leader."
On the campaign trail, McCain is more than eager to go toe-to-toe with skeptics of global warming who attend his town hall forums. When a man in Michigan asked him last week why the United States was not drilling in the Arctic refuge and off California's coasts, McCain replied that, as a federalist, he thinks states have the right to make those decisions.
"I can't say we should drill in the most pristine parts of America," he told the questioner, adding that he believes in finding new sources of oil, "But I also believe sooner or later we have got to become energy-independent, we've got to reduce greenhouse gases. That means nuclear, wind, solar, tide, et cetera."
Holtz-Eakin said McCain is flexible in his federalist approach when it comes to he question of drilling because, while many Alaskans support opening the Arctic refuge to oil and gas exploration, the senator has concluded that it's not worth exposing 250 species of wildlife there to damage.
For the most part, McCain follows a fairly instinctive approach to deciding environmental questions. In recent interviews he has said he thinks the government should list polar bears as endangered because shrinking sea ice threatens their survival, that sharks deserve protection because they're a crucial part of the marine food web, and that the nation needs to act on climate change because it risks an environmental catastrophe if it doesn't.
The senator does not boast an extensive staff of experts on these issues, however, and doesn't delve into the scientific and policy details the way former vice president Al Gore or some of his Senate colleagues do. In one conversation on his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus, he voiced his frustration with activists who oppose nuclear power plants.
"We start building nuclear power plants, we'll have cheaper energy. Duh," he said.
Tim Profeta, who directs Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and served as Lieberman's counsel on the environment from 2001 to 2005, said McCain feels strongly about addressing climate change but often resists wading into the legislative weeds.
"He's really focused on the impacts and the problems climate change will beget, and the need for action," Profeta said, "but he has, I believe, worked with what Lieberman and his staff saw as the appropriate policy approach."
As a result, many advocates said they remain uncertain as to how McCain would tackle environmental issues if elected president this fall. They are still waiting to see whether he will vote in favor of Lieberman's latest climate bill, which is headed to the Senate next month.
"Global warming is the most pressing environmental issue facing the country, and Senator McCain carved a path of leadership on the issue in the past," said Jeremy Symons, who directs the National Wildlife Federation's campaign on global warming. "A lot of people are looking to see how he's going to handle it in his campaign, and as president."
By Juliet Eilperin
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
|
|
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 6
- next
See all 292 CommentsWhewwwwwwwwww! Ok I feel better about it all now.
McCain has in effect stealing our tax money to help this supporter. Using his position to his benefit himself ! That''s an impeachable offence, he should go to jail!
what a joke he is
He thinks he is Slick...
-----
That is until the campaign is over and they return to lobbying the very man they put into office. Straight talk? Just Straight BS.
Posted by SgtRDS-E4
I wish America had more people like John McCain instead of people like you. Do you live in the USA???
Oh, and John McCain accepts social security AND his senator pension of 161k. I could not sleep at night if I accepted social security meant for the ''regular people'' while I was wallowing in cash, not even to mention my wife''s fortune.
He''s going to look out for himself until the Alzheimers sets in. He is not going to represent America well.
Posted by hungrymama
Hahahaha - Don''t fret hungrymama. There are plenty of senior citizens in the USA. Nappy time for the GOP nominee... Shshshshshsh - he just had his warm milk so he''s sleeeeeepy.
Posted by hungrymama
Hahahaha - Don''''t fret hungrymama. There are plenty of senior citizens in the USA. Nappy time for the GOP nominee... Shshshshshsh - he just had his warm milk so he''''s sleeeeeepy.
Posted by EddyNewHope
************************************************
You are going to be shocked in November. Obama and all his UN American friends will never succeed putting him in office. The American people are not as dumb as you and all the liberals.
May this code of behavior for enhanced ethics hullabaloo spread to all candidates regardless of party, apply at all times and all levels of their incoming administration.
Crux of most political mishaps seems to linger around simple straightforward honesty. Taxpayers deserve nothing less than a government operated by candor not slander.
Lobbying is not a new phenomenon in politics.
Voluntary grassroots lobbying by members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to elected officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same is a healthy expression of a working democracy. Please participate.
However the scale and aggressive nature of professional lobbying in todays politics is one of the identifiable toxins poisoning our entire political system. All candidates please resist the alluring power of the lobbyists ring. Please banish these public purse parasites and fumigate the government.
The proliferation and misery of paid career lobbyists is spreading like venom.
Total Lobbying Spending.
1998 $1.45 Billion
1999 $1.44 Billion
2000 $1.54 Billion
2001 $1.63 Billion
2002 $1.81 Billion
2003 $2.04 Billion
2004 $2.17 Billion
2005 $2.41 Billion
2006 $2.60 Billion
2007 $2.80 Billion
2008 $0.70 Billion
Source. Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org
Of course he will have to get permission from his owner Cindy before he makes any such decision.
Posted by Element51
**********************************
Element51, Nancy is lying or doesn''t know what she is talking about. I read this earlier and didn''t know and there is a democrat congressman here in town that I know and I called him. He said no way does any congressman draw Sos Sec. It''s against the law. Now that was a democrat I talked to and he could be lying as most democrats do, but I think he was telling the truth. I''m going to research it further for my own knowledge.
SUMMARY OF SENATOR MCCAIN''S ACTUAL (NOT COMMUNAL) INCOME [FROM STATEMENT A OF TAX RETURN]
2006
2007
Senate Salary:
$161,675
$161,708
Book Royalty Income:
$80,390
$176,508
Social Security Income:
$22,104
$23,157
US Navy Pension*:
$56,496
$58,358
I am not an expert on SS rules but I believe the income limits for SS recipients are not in force after a certain age.
Posted by david1737
******************************************
You shouldn''t feel that way about your next President. He will be yours where you like it or not.
Pastor John Hagee
"I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans..."
-Pastor John Hagee
Perhaps you won''t be hungry anymore after Nov. when another Dem. takes the Exec. office and creates another 26 million new jobs.
In just over a year the Democrats reduced, by 25% the record "earmark" spending created by the Republican dominated Congress.
In spite of this the Repubs. continue spending, the top three remaining "earmark" spenders are Republican
Perhaps you won''''t be hungry anymore after Nov. when another Dem. takes the Exec. office and creates another 26 million new jobs.
Posted by david1737
******************************************
I have never been hungry. Probably be better off if I did go hungry for awhile. No democrat is going to be President. Hillary may have been able to beat McCain, but in now way can Obama beat him and Hillary is not going to be the nominee. The democrats have really screwed it up this year.
McCain openly admits that he doesn''t understand how the economy works.
Posted by milesbrown49
*******************************************
Americans are down on Bush, but they had rather have four more years with McCain than put Obama in. Look at who his friends and most Americans are scared of him and don''t want a Muslim in there. He will never be elected. He had a lot of people fooled for awhile but they have found him out. The republicans have so much on him and holding it back for the GE that there is no way he will be elected.
Posted by hungrymama.
That''s the name that you choose to post with, it''s called "word play."
Fact:
Bill Clinton created 26 million new jobs.
Balanced the budget 3 times.
Left our country with a projected 5.5 trillion dollar budget surplus.
The Republicans:
Projected 10 trillion dollars of debt.
5% un-employment.
Dollar has been devalued.
Oil at 126 dollars a barrel.
Subprime melt down.
Sold 3/4 of a trillion dollars worth of t-bill to China.
Enough is enough!
Repubs out in 2008!
hungrymama: The only way McCain would be the next President of the Untied States is if racism prevails and I dont think it will. My true feelings are that a lot of Americans will feel the pain in their pockets alot by November and will be in fear as well. I think Obama will GET IT.
Miles Brown49: Hungry Mama actually Believes that Numbers... LIE
SHE ALSO THINKS THAT EVERY WHITE PERSON HATES BLACK PEOPLE AND THAT EVERYONE THINKS LIKE HER...
SHE`S DEAD DOG WRONG, BUT THATS HER TRADITIONAL RACIST CONDITIONING, NOVEMBER 2008, WILL PROVE TO BE HER LITTLE BI HORN HER... ''CUSTER`S LAST STAND''
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has always been difficult for Mrs. Clinton to compete against an opponent who once received thunderous applause for blowing his nose. But as Mr. Obama seized nearly every headline in the last several days, Mrs. Clinton appeared ZAPPED of her usual ENTHUIASM.
The SMALL CROWD she attracted in RURAL (South Dakota) on Thursday was Quiet and Polite, with none of the EXUBERANCE that usually greets Mrs. Clinton at her campaign stops. (A Campaign aide suggested it could have been due to the cultural mores of South Dakotans.)
On Thursday, she mentioned Mr. Obama only when she DEFENDED HIM from Mr. Bush%u2019s remarks that implicitly compared him to Appeasers Of Nazis.
She cut short what was scheduled to be a 2-Day visit to Oregon, where Mr. Obama is Expected to WIN, deciding instead to fly to Kentucky late on Friday. She will spend four days there, make an election-night speech on Tuesday and then return to Washington later that day.
Late Friday, Mrs. Clinton stopped by her campaign office in Salem, Ore., to thank a group of Excited Volunteers, Shaking Hands and Eating Cannoli.
%u201CI don%u2019t really get the POINT of her CARRY ON,%u201D said Tim Ledford, 29, a store clerk who had Wandered Upstairs to catch a Glimpse of Mrs. Clinton. %u201CIf it%u2019s Done, It%u2019s Done.%u201D
"I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans..."
-Pastor John Hagee
McCain said he was "very honored by Pastor John Hagee''s endorsement."
"Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist."
-Pastor John Hage
McCain said he was "very honored by Pastor John Hagee''''s endorsement."
The market was described as being %u201Clike a normal outdoor market in Indiana." When in fact, McCain had to be protected by more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees, with attack helicopters circling over head, and snipers on the roof tops near by.
Bottom line McCain can''t be trusted, especially in respects to his depiction of the situation in Iraq.
McCain isn''t Able.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
...
- 6
- next
See all 292 Comments