The newly-chosen GOP vice-presidential candidate doesn't really believe in global warming, unlike her would-be boss John McCain, according to a brief interview with far-right Newsmax:
What is your take on global warming and how is it affecting our country?
A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.
This is a familiar right-wing argument, often heard from the likes of Dick Cheney, but complicated by the fact that Palin all but admits that the consequences of climate change could be serious, yet appears completely uninterested in the issue. This fits with her decision to sue the Department of the Interior over their long-delayed decision to list the polar bear as an endangered species.
Yesterday I said McCain would have to swing for the fences after the Democratic convention. He obviously has done that, and maybe connected -- at least with the GOP base. Too soon to say much more, I think.
Meanwhile back on earth, Palin's claim that the polar bear is doing just fine and that climate models that predict a dramatic loss of sea ice are "unreliable" took another big hit this week, when researchers said that northern hemisphere sea ice coverage had reached a low exceeded only last year.
Personally, the trend looks pretty clear to me...don't need a modeler to see where the ice is going.
[image from the The Cryosphere Today, via the Polar Research Group at U. of Illinois]
