With the 2016 primaries happening in about a year, candidates and the big issues are beginning to take a little shape now, namely climate change. Some climate denying Republicans are beginning to change their tune, reported New Republic.
Interestingly and curiously, the two main GOPers who are assuming the issue of climate change are Rand Paul and Mitt Romney, who is considering running for president a third time. Romney recently said to a group in Utah that “I’m one of those Republicans who thinks we are getting warmer and that we contribute to that.”
More recently, 15 Republican senators voted for a “conservative climate amendment that said ‘human activity contributes to climate change.’” Republicans have made a mantra out of the words “I’m not a scientist” and have dismissed the science in favor of religion in denying climate change. Romney, in his classic fashion, has flip-flopped greatly on the issue.
In 2010, Romney said humans were a “contributing factor” to melting ice caps, and he doubled down on that opinion the next year saying that we also contribute to global warming. Then came 2012, when he was the Republican presidential candidate. Romney changed his opinion to fit the conservative narrative by saying he didn’t know what caused climate change.
Paul, as early as last year, was the Republican, befuddled by science, who said the debate was “dumbed down” and that he doesn’t have a clue about what could cause climate change. For years, scientists have been saying human activities contribute to climate change. Now, Paul gave his support for the GOP climate change amendment.
With Republicans slowly adopting the concept of man-made climate change, it would seem that they are starting to come around to science and logic.
However, this is the GOP we’re talking about here. Since potential presidential candidates are warming up for next year, they know climate change will be a debate topic. Good PR would require them actually engaging with the issue, and the tired old “I’m not a scientist” routine is not going to cut it.
