GOP's Latest Litmus Test - Denial Of Climate Shift Evidence, Denial Of Science

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON - — It wasn't long ago that Marco Rubio and Tim Pawlenty, two of the brightest fresh faces in the Republican Party, supported legislation to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming. But in recent weeks both have suddenly begun to express doubts about whether burning coal, powering cars with gasoline and other human activities in fact have anything to do with a warming Earth.

The shifts by Rubio and Pawlenty — as well as other prominent Republicans — reflect the rising power of climate change skeptics in the GOP, where global warming is becoming a litmus test for conservatives. Rubio, former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, is running for U.S. Senate. Pawlenty, Minnesota's governor, is eyeing a 2012 presidential bid. They and other candidates courting GOP activists are questioning climate science in the wake of "Climategate" and mini scandals involving climate data.

The kerosene for the skeptics came in December, when leaked e-mails from a British university showed top climate scientists from around the world apparently discussing skirting public information laws and other practices of questionable ethics. Then came revelations of flaws in a key United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, including a claim not supported by scientific evidence: that Himalayan glaciers could disappear due to warming by 2035.

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That's particularly true among Republican candidates. Rubio has pummeled his primary opponent, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, over Crist's support for emissions limits. Pawlenty, who once backed emissions limits in a radio campaign with Democrat Janet Napolitano, said on "Meet the Press" recently that there are questions of how much climate change is man-made. Even GOP presidential candidate John McCain, who argued often with climate skeptics on the 2008 primary campaign trail, recently played along with a Fox News interviewer who mocked global warming. In the face of a stiff primary challenge for his Senate re-election, McCain has backed away from his support for emissions limits.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-nw-climate-politics-20100305,0,187394.story

[depakid]

1. Sadly, the Democrats have proven so complicit and inept in getting anything done

that these fools will end up back in power....