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<\/a><\/p>\nLindsey Graham: Greener than Obama?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cObama now not as green as Lindsey Graham.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That little gem from Talking Points Memo\u2019s Brian Beutler <\/a>summed up our topsy-turvy world today. He was responding to a speech in which the South Carolina Republican senator said President Obama was unwise to propose an energy bill without putting a price on carbon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Graham accomplished a seemingly impossible feat (for a Republican) in his speech at the \u201cBusiness Advocacy Day for Jobs, Climate & New Energy Leadership\u201d in Washington D.C.: he outflanked Obama from the LEFT.<\/span>Here\u2019s an excerpt (the whole speech is posted at Grist.org<\/a>.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll ever have energy independence the way I want it until you start dealing with carbon pollution and pricing carbon. The two are connected in my view\u2014very much connected. The money to be made in solving the carbon pollution problem can only happen when you price carbon in my view.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He added that he won\u2019t get behind \u201csome half-assed energy bill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Graham also showed his mastery of the green jobs message, conjuring up the determination of China to win the cleantech race and saying,\u00a0<\/p>\n It is not about polar bears to me, it\u2019s about jobs. I like the polar bears as much as anyone else but I want to create jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n With his speech today, Graham hasn\u2019t just taken up the mantle from John McCain as the best hope for cooperation from the Republicans. He has actually become the most effective advocate \u2013 Democrat or Republican \u2013 in the senate for curbing carbon emissions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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