by Jonathan Hiskes
Climate and energy
issues barely registered in this month’s primary coverage, but Rand Paul (son of
Ron) saw fit to take on the Copenhagen climate talks after becoming the
Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky last night.
“We have a president
who went to Copenhagen and appeared with Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chávez and others—Evo
Morales—to apologize for the Industrial Revolution,” he said. “These petty
dictators say that to stop climate change it’s about ending capitalism. The president, by attending Copenhagen, gives credibility and credence to these
folks, and he should not go.”
Reality check: Obama supports
a market-based (i.e. capitalist) response to climate change—cap-and-trade. That’s
the policy he backed in Copenhagen. He joined more than 100 heads of state
there and didn’t show any love to Mugabe, Chávez, or Morales. In fact, when Bolivian
president Morales boycotted the Copenhagen Accord reached last December, Obama’s
State Department withdrew climate adaptation funding from the country.
Sounds like we can look
forward to more nuanced discussions of who’s for and against the Industrial
Revolution.
A few other notes from
last night’s election:
Paul’s victory gives
Democratic candidate Jack Conway a swinging chance in typically red Kentucky,
according to Internet
Speculation. Actually, Salon’s Alex Pareene points
out that both Conway and his Democratic opponent got more votes in Tuesday’s primary
than Paul, which suggests Kentucky isn’t entirely excited about a Paul-style libertarian
rEVOLution.
And while Conway, who currently serves as Kentucky’s attorney general, professes
his love for Kentucky coal, he sounds like he could be a potential “yes” vote for a Senate
clean-energy bill.
In Pennsylvania’s rather
conservative 12th Congressional District, Democrat Mark Critz decisively beat Republican Tim
Burns in a special election. That’s good news for Democrats but bad news for
cap-and-trade, Michael Levi notes,
as Critz loudly opposed the climate policy and professed
his love for Pennsylvania coal.
Arkansas Sen. Blanche
Lincoln failed to win a majority in the Democratic primary and faces a runoff against challenger Bill
Halter. A while back we summarized her dismal
environmental record and his blank slate on green issues.
Related Links:
Obama admin overhauls MMS, the agency in charge of offshore drilling
Robert Redford and green groups tell Obama to step up on Gulf oil leak
Friedman nails Obama for his timid response to the “environmental 9/11”
