McCain Veeps and Cap-and-Trade
Nachama Soloveichik over at the Club for Growth kindly sends me a rundown of where the possible McCain veeps stand on cap-and-trade legislation. (But nothing on Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman.) Here are some excerpts:
Charlie Crist: This year, Crist has pushed for and signed legislation [for] a plan to cap carbon emissions in his own state.... Governor Crist also signed an agreement with the British government to join forces in creating a global cap-and-trade market for greenhouse gas emissions.
Tim Pawlenty: The Minnesota governor has already passed energy mandates last year, requiring utilities to produce 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025 and set targets for the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Now, Pawlenty is seeking to take his environmental progress regional. In January of this year, Pawlenty met with other Midwest governors, signing the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord to establish a cap-and-trade market in the Midwest.
Bobby Jindal: Governor Jindal supported some kind of government mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but to what extent remains unclear. In June 2007, he voted in support of (voted against removing) a section in the 2008 Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill that expressed "the sense of the Congress that there should be enacted a comprehensive and effective national program of mandatory, market-based limits and incentives on emissions of greenhouse gases that slow, stop, and reverse the growth of such emissions at a rate and in a manner that: (1) will not significantly harm the United States economy; and (2) will encourage comparable action by other nations that are major trading partners and key contributors to global emissions."
Mitt Romney: Mitt Romney's position on cap-and-trade is the hardest to pin down. Campaigning in New Hampshire last year, Governor Romney was captured on video saying about cap-and-trade: "I support it on a global basis as one of the possible solutions. I do not support it for the USA alone. I want to do it with other nations involved." The governor could also be found during the campaign attacking the McCain's sponsorship of cap-and-trade legislation, saying it would have increased energy costs for the average Florida family of four by $1,000 and would "kill jobs."
Mike Huckabee: Governor Huckabee has long taken a religious approach to the environment, and cap-and-trade is no exception. In a 2007 Bloomberg article, Mike Huckabee said he supports a cap-and-trade system because "it goes to the moral issues. We have a responsibility to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, to conserve energy, to find alternative forms of energy that are renewable and sustainable and environmentally friendly."
Governors Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin, and Rob Portman do not have a public position on the legislation.
Tags: running mates | John McCain | greenhouse gases
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McCain vp
Huckabee I hope. No Romney, i will not vote for McCain if he picks Romney. Huckabee shares the values of Christians, Conservatives and Southeners.
The Concept of CO2 Cap and Trade is Absurd
The real reason Cap & Trade is being foisted on the world is it creates a 3 trillion dollar commodity market for you guessed it: hot air. Finally politicians have found a way to put a price on their most abundant resource! And for politicians there is no downside as nothing has to be actually produced.
The real beneficiaries are the rich special interest who will get wealthier setting up and trading in this new commodities market. But citizens will pay more taxes to operate new regulatory bureaucracies and more for goods as business passes the cost along.
And all this is based on the premise that operating automobiles is resulting in global warming. Question: did Fred Flintstones truck fleet cause the last period of global warming or is global warming a cyclical event that is more affected by sun spot cycles. The Earth has had multiple tropical and glacial ages over the millennia. The most recent news is that the oceans of the world will be cooling for the next 25-30 years.
Furthermore, it is my understanding that the most prevalent hot house gas is water vapor. Should citizens of earth try to stop the rain cycle?
And if we are going to implement Cap and Trade who will decide what the optimal CO2 carrying capacity of Earth is?
And there are questions about how to implement financial controls and reliably audit such a system. Will every person and business on the planet be issued C02 permits? Is the permit an asset a business can liquidate when it goes out of business? If a business in California goes out of business and sells its CO2 permit to a company in England, will a new company in California have to find another seller to open his business and replace lost jobs? After all, if there is an optimal CO2 carrying capacity then an increasing population of people and businesses means a lower standard of living and reduced CO2 allotment for each new person or business.
Upon their death can Mom and Dad leave their CO2 permits to their children? Should Mom and Dad be limited to having two children?
What about the countries that do not subscribe to Cap & Trade. Will multi-national companies export new construction and jobs to 3rd world non-subscribing countries? And the flipside, will the people of the Amazon miss out on new opportunities because an American company bought 1000s of acres to be left unused to acquire carbon sequestration credits.
McCain's VP
Governor Mike Huckabee is the most likely and most logical choice for Vice President. Survey USA polls are showing that between Huckabee, Lieberman, Pawlenty, and Romney, Governor Huckabee is the best man for McCain in terms of winning votes this November.
Besides his immediate pull, the former Arkansas Governor would garner huge grassroots support that, over time, could make all the difference in this election.
Mike Huckabee also has Reagan-like speaking abilities. Should he be given enough publicity, or participate in any debates, he could counteract Obama's speechmaking skills and give McCain a sharper edge.
And don't forget, Huckabee has enormous pull in the evangelical community, many of whom have said (unfortunately) that they will not vote for Senator McCain unless he picks Huckabee as VP.
Mac 'n Mike '08!
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