In a press release issued today, Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr addresses some of the confusion over his apparent flip-flop on global warming.
“One of the most complicated and controversial issues facing America is global warming,” says Barr. “Although temperatures have increased in recent decades, the scientific community has been unable to make definitive judgments as to the past cause or future course of climate change. Indeed, the models which predict problems in the future did not predict the lack of any temperature increase over the last decade. Unfortunately, many climate processes are not yet clearly understood.”
Addressing the recent mutual praise between him and Al Gore, Barr says: “Although I do not agree with the tax and regulatory policies advanced by former Vice President Al Gore, I do believe his call for greater reliance on alternative energy could be given positive effect by American industry. Only the market economy can balance his passion with the reality of preserving the growing economy upon which our future—and that of our children and grandchildren—depends.”
2 responses so far ↓
1 darolew // Jul 24, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Well, he avoided mentioning anything about the “global warming is a myth”/”global warming is a reality” flip-flop, but the press release did voice support for libertarian ideas like cutting regulation, ending subsidies, etc., while not (that I noticed) advocating any anti-libertarian ideas.
Eh.
2 cxxguy // Jul 24, 2008 at 5:12 pm
There are two possible definitions of “global warming”.
1) The emperical definition: the earth is (or is not) slightly warmer, on average, than it was 50 years ago.
2) The political definition: Prosperity is sin, and sinners will burn in the everlasting fires of “human created global warming”.
I believe that Barr was referring to definition 1 in the “Gore” soundbite, and to definition 2 in the “Beck” soundbite. In other words, the earth is 0.8 degrees warmer than it was 100 years ago, but it has nothting to do with us.
Leave a Comment