Reuters’ Deborah Zabarenko wrote a great piece yesterday entitled “Climate Change Becomes a Republican Issue, Too.” It’s about time. Here’s why, in an excerpt taken right out of Deborah’s article that quotes my good friend, former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman:
“Democrats used to own the environmental issue, grabbing votes from party loyalists and independent voters when they stressed their plans to curb global warming.
This could be the year Republicans, the party of President George W. Bush, use climate change as a rallying cry at election time…
Climate change can draw support from outside the party ranks, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said. Republicans could use the help after losing control of both houses of Congress in 2006.
’Republicans lost in 2006 because independents abandoned our party,’ Mehlman said at a political discussion several weeks before the Feb. 5 “Super Tuesday” vote.
’How do we earn the confidence back of independents? This (climate change) is an issue on which not only you can do it, but it’s an issue on which you can do it consistent with conservative values,’ Mehlman said.”
Amen, Ken. This is a unique opportunity for Republicans to put their conservative stamp on the issue through a market-based cap & trade system.
Want to create new markets, spur new energy innovations and create new jobs in the energy sector that will help grow our economy? Check. Want to protect America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil? Check. Want to promote responsible stewardship of the environment that God entrusted to our care? Check. Want to be able to get tough on China and India by having a policy in our pocket when we sit across from them at the negotiating table? Check.
Want to take one of the Democratic Party’s key election-year issues off the table before November? Checkmate.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and is filed under Climate Change, Politics/Government . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
