League Of Conservation Voters rates the candidates

[losthills]

http://presidentialprofiles2008.org/

The League of Conservation Voters has a new Presidential Profiles website where they interview and rate each of the 08 presidential candidates. It's not surprising that the Democrats come off better than the Republicans, or that most of the Republicans with low ratings refused to participate. But some of the ratings may surprise you...

The ratings are a score of 1 to 100 based on each candidate's environmental voting record. One surprise for me was that Joe Biden scored much higher than John Edwards. In fact, John only got a 59-- the lowest of all the Democrats. Another surprise was that Dennis Kucinich refused to fill out the questionaire, even though he got a 90% rating.

LCV rates all congress members every year, and it's one of the best things they do. The Presidential Environmental Profiles page is a good resource for those voters who are having a hard time making up their mind, or for those who are looking for something concrete to back up their support for a given candidate.

[Mass]

1. LCV ratings are about votes not programs. Also it rates non-voting as a negative vote.

Edwards has missed quite a few votes in 2003 and 2004, hence his particularly low scores those years.

This said, his score in 2002 was not great .

[losthills]

2. Allthough I like John Edwards a lot,

I have to say that I think counting a non-vote as a "no" is fair. If there is important environmental legislation coming up for a vote you should be there...

[XemaSab]

3. My take on this:

I was impressed with Richardson's command of the issues. He's got long and pithy answers, and he used the word "SWANCC" which says to me he's on his game.

Clinton's answers are all like "Yeah, that's really important to me too... yeah."

Edwards' intro is too folksy for me, and some of his answers are... confusing.

New Coal Plants

"Coal will be an important source of U.S. and global electricity for decades, but it is responsible for more than 30 percent of America’s carbon dioxide emissions. I will require that all new coal-fired plants be built with technology needed to capture carbon dioxide emissions. Plants can use integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology or other effective approaches. As a result, the plants built today should be able to permanently and safely store their carbon emissions tomorrow.

Coal is one of the cornerposts of his environmental policy, according to his website.

:eyes:

Biden's answers are mostly solid and honest. He says the environment will not be his #1 priority (rather ending the war), and I find that refreshing. He's also got a lot of detail in quite a few answers, and talks a lot about what he's done as a senator.

Dodd: "Yes." :eyes:

Gravel says "Protecting the environment is a continual and perpetual responsibility and cannot be ranked with other issues. Unlike other issues it has no beginning and has no end and must have the constant vigilant attention of those entrusted with its protection." Why does this remind me of Mad-Eye Moody? :crazy:

Obama has a strong environmental justice take on the issues, which I respect.

Thanks for the post! :hi:

[losthills]

4. Obama actually has the highest score

(96) of all the presidental contenders.

But since his career is so short, it's hard to guage his his true commitment...