Above, Senator Lindsay Graham blames Al Gore for Climate denial. Then asks if anyone knows what the Republican program on environment is, because he doesn’t.
Oh, but we do.
Staking a position on climate change is a dilemma facing many GOP presidential hopefuls. The party lacks a coherent message on the issue, which is increasingly important to the US electorate. While Republicans have been clear and aggressive in pursuing energy policies that foster domestic oil and gas production, the party has been less uniform about how – or even if – emissions from those sources should be curtailed. The majority of voters – and, critically for Cruz, most Republicans – back government action to curb global warming, according to a January New York Times poll.
“I think there will be a political problem for the Republican Party going into 2016 if we don’t define what we are for on the environment,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina, who has worked on climate legislation with Democrats, told Roll Call in November. “I don’t know what the environmental policy of the Republican Party is.”
Though he voted for an amendment in January stating climate change is real, Mr. Cruz has repeatedly questioned the role humans play in it. Cruz has said global warming is not supported by data, despite scientific consensus to the contrary. And though questioning climate science polls poorly with the general electorate – only 27 percent were more likely to vote for a candidate staking such a position – the New York Times poll found 49 percent of Tea Party voters were more likely to pick a candidate who avoids taking a stand on climate change.
In other words: “It recruits more Tea Partyers than it repels,” Jon Krosnick, a professor of political science at Stanford University and author of the survey, told the New York Times.
UPDATE: John Stewart’s take on Ted Cruz announcement – poor quality vid, but still funny.
One of John Stewart’s funnier pieces—-many great lines (the best being “turn to the person on your right and….”). Stewart is THE master of irony and satire. Thank you.
Lindsey Graham made some small sense for the most part—-if you ignore “Al Gore has made AGW into a religion” I wonder how many of the younger voters even know who Al Gore is and what Graham is talking about? It’s like saying “Abraham Lincoln is the reason that the ‘used-to-be-Democrats’ racists in the South are now Republicans”. A meaningless non sequitur.
We should be eternally grateful for whatever it is (gene, virus, brain-eating amoeba infestation) that causes nearly all Repugnant politicians to say or do stupid things. That same “infection” also keeps them from coming up with coherent and intelligent policies in many areas besides climate change. I called 2012 for Obama in the spring when it became obvious that the Repugs were racing to the bottom and whoever survived would be unelectable. I am doing the same one full year earlier for 2016. Get ready for Hillary!
Cruz has set the bar so low (and to the right) that it will be “deja vu all over again”. Saying what he did where he did shows that he is pandering to the base and looking to the primaries rather than worrying about November 2016.
The Repugnants will continue to stub their toes on immigration, women’s issues, LGBT issues, income and wealth inequality, race issues, and “obstructive bipartisanship”. The fact that there is likely to be much bad news about climate change over the next 18 months and the Repugs are not ready to deal with it is just spreading mustard on the **** sandwich they are making for themselves. Bon appetit, Repugs! (Life is good).
And the Clown Car arrives at the circus. A Clown with funny hair speaks:
“Real estate tycoon Donald Trump cast doubt Monday on whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) can run for president, because Cruz was born in Canada.
“It’s a hurdle; somebody could certainly look at it very seriously,” Trump said during a phone interview Monday on My Fox New York.
“He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don’t know how the courts will rule on this.”
(Stay tuned, folks. We’re not sure how many Clowns are still in the car—-it was up near 25 at one point—-but we know it is going to produce much laughter)
Well for once Trump actually said something with an element of truth with his statement about Cruz’s eligibility being up in the air.
Even a blind hog…
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2013/aug/20/ted-cruz-born-canada-eligible-run-president/
Don’t give the blind hogs too much credit. Where were you when the Orly Taits and the other crazies were carrying on about Obama?
Someone born to an American citizen (mother esp.), whether that happens in an airplane over Russia, on a ship in the middle if the Atlantic, on vacation in Australia, or on a trip through the looking glass with Alice, is an American citizen. It has been that way from the early days of the country and is not likely to change. The people saying “the Supremes haven’t ruled on it” are pedants.
Trump is just a narcissistic attention seeker—-we will likely hear him announce his own candidacy at some point—-he will say he is “doing it for the good of the country because none of the other candidates would do as good a job as he can do”.
I totally agree that Trump is a (asshat) narcissist and attention seeker, which is why he is talking about another run as a candidate. Purely a self-serving way of keeping his name in the press, and probably insincere IMO.
I only said “element of truth” due to the Politifact article that I cited. I seriously doubt that Cruz could be successfully challenged on his citizenship, but these days it does seem that ‘pedants’ are getting their day in the U.S. Supreme court, so who the hell knows?
Yep, it’s true that “it does seem that ‘pedants’ are getting their day in the U.S. Supreme court”. But they’re mostly right-wingers speaking to a right-leaning court. I would think that any movement to disqualify Cruz would not get any traction since he’s a libertarian tea party right wing darling, not a Black Muslim communist born in Kenya. Who would do it? The Dems aren’t that stupid, and Trump is just flapping his mouth and hair for attention. Maybe that nut-job Orly Tait, if she decides to be “fair and balanced” in her nuttiness?
But where was Trump’s hair born could be the rejoinder.
Maybe the Repugs have a secret plan, push a few dupes to lead early on and then bring in somebody a bit more moderate, Voldemort perhaps.
See the second Luckovich cartoon here.
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=59235
And the plan is truly “secret” because the Repugs are keeping it from EVERYBODY, including themselves. It’s one of those “unknown unknowns” that so perplexed Rumsfeld, Cheney, and W—-remember them?.
Well I’m blowed! Luckovich, I had no idea of the existence of that cartoon.
Google “trump hair images” for photos and “trump hair cartoon images” for more depictions of trump hair than you’ll be able to stomach. At least many of the the photos are of the Trump women, and they’re easier on the eyes than The Donald.
Un-effing-believable the hypocrisy about privacy and then data mining the audience!
That should be actionable.
I’d suggest everyone on the planet text “constitution” to 33733, and dilute their mobile spam list but that number is only national.
Cruz has a snowball’s chance in California of getting anywhere with his smug and arrogant attitude, let alone his repugnant beliefs.