Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the three orignal co-sponsors of the Senate climate change bill, has apparently joined the ranks of the skeptics/deniers:
The science about global warming has changed. I think they've oversold this stuff, quite frankly. I think they've been alarmist and the science is in question. The whole movement has taken a giant step backward.
-- Sen. Lindsey Graham, June 9, 2010
Graham has also said that he won't vote for the bill that he co-wrote, somewhat ironically (given Deepwater Horizon) because it doesn't contain enough support for offshore drilling.
So-called "moderate" Republicans and conservadems seem to make a habit out of watering down progressive legislation, and then turning around and voting against it anyways. It happened, of course, during the health care debate with the Max Baucus debacle. The stimulus bill. And on and on.
I personally don't see what's to be gained by negotiating with people who feel free to then oppose that which they negotiated for. You give up stuff, for nothing in return.
In the end what seems to happen is that they negotiate it past the point of effectiveness, and then they are free, not having voted for it, to campaign against its ineffectiveness. The weak stimulus was watered down by moderate Republicans and conservadems, and now everyone blames it for failing to deliver on its promise to hold unemployment below 8%. When the health care bill fails to restrain premiums, I'm sure we'll here the same chorus of complaints, some coming from members of the Baucus committee that wrote it.
In any event, so much for a "bipartisan" climate change bill. Might as well just go all the way and have a carbon tax, no?
1038 comments
231 comments
Comment Preferences