Santorum Puts Industry Before Environment

With the Alabama and Mississippi primaries bearing down on him, Rick Santorum took some time over the weekend to muster up one of his less publicized yet still highly inflammatory views—his belief that man has no impact on global warming.

[See pictures of Rick Santorum.]

In an op-ed penned for RedState.com, Santorum explained that he is the only presidential candidate who has not "bowed to the liberal orthodoxy" of man-made global warming. "The apostles of this pseudo-religion believe that America and its people are the source of the earth's temperature," he writes, "I do not." Santorum argues that the Washington establishment, specifically President Barack Obama and Republican rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, would rather fight against global warming than for the American worker.

In an effort to distance himself from his rivals, Santorum points out that both Romney and Gingrich have flip-flopped on the issue of global warming in order to pander to more conservative Republicans.

As Governor of Massachusetts, Romney once bragged that the state was "the first and only state to set CO2 emissions limits on power plants," an idea Santorum thinks is a counterproductive job-killer. Romney wrote about the negative effects of greenhouse gasses in his 2010 book, No Apology, but claimed during a speech last October that scientists still do not know what is causing global warming. Likewise, Gingrich once condoned "urgent" action to stem the effects of greenhouse gases on the environment, but has changed his tune on the issue as of late.

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On Monday, Santorum's campaign kept the focus on jobs and the environment, assailing Romney and Gingrich for their support of cap-and-trade.

Referring to the now well-known TV spot that featured former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sitting on a couch together talking about the dangers of global warming, Santorum's National Communications Director Hogan Gidley said, "[They] should've gotten a bigger couch—so Mitt Romney could've joined them. While all three support job-killing cap-and-tax, at least Pelosi is honest enough to stand by her position—unlike Gingrich and Romney who are trying to change for an election."

• See a collection of political cartoons on climate change.
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