Romney's Shifting Position on Global Climate Change
The longer former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stays in the GOP presidential race, the more Republicans seem to doubt his ideology as a true conservative.
Romney has been accused of changing his mind on many political issues and most recently his views concerning global climate change have come under scrutiny.
Before Romney gave his speech in Pittsburgh last week, he had been a Republican who fully supported the scientific claims that human activity contributes to climate change. According to Reuters, Romney had also said in June of this year that the U.S. should "reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
As recent as 2010, in his book titled No Apology, Romney stated: “I believe that climate change is occurring. ... I also believe that human activity is a contributing factor. I am uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to man and how much is attributable to factors out of our control."
However, Romney was singing a different tune in complete contrast to his earlier statements when he spoke on Thursday at a fundraiser held at the Consol Energy Center.
When asked what he thought about global warming Romney answered:
“My view is that we don‘t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us. “
Consequently, Romney said he did not believe in legislation like cap and trade.
However, in contrast to this statement, Romney made Massachusetts the first state in 2005 to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
In an email campaign titled “Romney Flips on Manmade Global Warming,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry seized upon the opportunity to attack his opponent. In a released statement, Perry’s communications director, Ray Sullivan, said, “Mitt Romney’s positions change, often dramatically, depending on the audience or location. Voters need to consider the fact that Romney, in one week, changed positions on manmade global warming, capping carbon emissions, and Ohio’s efforts to curb union powers.”
Perry has been a known disbeliever in the science behind global warming, calling it “one contrived phony mess,” in his book Fed Up!
Former Utah Gov. and presidential candidate Jon Hunstman called Romney a “perfectly lubricated weathervane” on CNN this past week. Huntsman is the only GOP candidate who openly embraces the science behind global climate change. His campaign released a short web video that displays a montage of Romney flip-flops on important conservative issues, like abortion and gun rights, over the last year.
Even President Obama’s campaign is using this as an opportunity to discredit the former governor. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for President Obama’s re-election campaign, has publicly recognized Romney’s change in positions.
“You’ve got an issue when the shift has to be called ‘new,’” LaBolt wrote on Twitter.
According to The Hill, Romney’s spokeswoman said Friday that the former governor has been “nothing but consistent on this issue.”
“This is ridiculous. Governor Romney’s view on climate change has not changed. He believes it’s occurring, and that human activity contributes to it, but he doesn't know to what extent. He opposes cap and trade, and he refused to sign such a plan when he was governor. Maybe the bigger threat is all the hot air coming from career politicians who are desperate to hold on to power."
While Romney’s new comments on climate change are likely to win over some voters within the GOP, it could backfire as many within the party believe his convictions are politically motivated.
Romney’s campaign did not return phone calls by The Christian Post for comments.
