Once again, John McCain has shown a propensity of being a fair-minded, common sense politician who will do what's right regardless of ideology and partisanship. I realize the right-wing crazies won't be happy about this, but they'll just have to deal with it.

Anyway, here's the article:

LINK:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080512/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_climate_dc_2;_ylt=AuQAAvsGWwPhVTyHT5WGac6pg9IF

McCain pledges to combat climate change

By Tim Gaynor 1 hour, 36 minutes ago

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - Republican John McCain pledged to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of President George W. Bush.

In remarks he prepared to give at a wind technology firm in Portland, Oregon, on Monday, the Arizona senator said he would seek international accords to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and would offer an incentive system to make businesses in the United States cleaner.

"The facts of global warming demand our urgent attention, especially in Washington," McCain said in remarks he planned to give at the Vestas Wind Technology plant.

"Good stewardship, prudence, and simple common sense demand that we act to meet the challenge, and act quickly," he added.

McCain is visiting Oregon where Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama is favored to beat Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary on May 20.

The speech set McCain apart from fellow Republican Bush, who has been skeptical about global warming throughout his eight-year term, and was calibrated to win support from independents and centrist Democrats he will need to convince to win office in the November election.

"I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges," he added.

If elected president, McCain said he would push for "meaningful environmental protocols" that included developing industrial powers India and China, to seek to cut worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

He planned to present a so-called cap and trade system to Congress that sets clear limits on all greenhouse gas emissions for U.S. businesses, while also allowing the sale of rights to excess emissions, so as to "change the dynamic" of the U.S. energy economy.

"Those who want clean coal technology, more wind and solar, nuclear power, biomass and bio-fuels will have their opportunity through a new market that rewards those and other innovations in clean energy," he said.

McCain said the plan would set out specific goals on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including a return by 2012 to 2005 levels of emission, and by 2020 to 1990s levels.

McCain has campaigned on his support for alternative energy sources including wind, solar and biomass technologies in his run for the White House, as well as support for nuclear power.


-Steve

Now is the time!

He can push this as long as it leads to productive and real energy development benefiting the free market, i.e. supply and demand. If a genuine and cost efficent alternative energy is developed the people will demand it as long as it doesn't break their wallets or cause a world food shortage as our government mandated and subsidized use of ethanol is doing right now. Government controlling and forcing a market that isn't technologically ready yet causes huge problems, just ask the starving rioters in Haiti what they think of our tax payer subsidized ethanol production. Is McCain going to meet the demands of the UN and allow them to levy an international tax on us based on our nation's carbon emissions? Said money to be presumably used by third world countries to help modernize in preparedness for the upcoming global warming crisis. If the UN's past record with monetary shenanigans is any gauge of historical record, you have to assume this international tax on us won't be used as they'd like you believe.
And, how is John McCain going to make China & India meet the standards that our nation will be required to meet? Is he going to demand a rewrite of the Kyoto Protocol to include them, then sign it?
Last, why is McCain so quick to discount the growing science that is pointing to the current GW models as seriously flawed? Why do we need to have knee-jerk government issued deadlines when well funded private sector R&D departments are working on alternatives that will send their stock through the roof when a real alternative emerges. Government can't speed up development by appeasing the UN, taxing it's citizens, & subsidizing and mandating flawed engineering. But, apparently, John McCain thinks he can. Didn't he admit he knew nothing about economics? No lie!


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"Under construction. Please pardon our mess.


-Pete

Wholly unimpressive. I'll be much more impressed if he pushes the legislative branch to complete the wall they've approved and earmarked money for. But then, that's for another thread.

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Kansas Kelly--Ignoring Scotott's sound advice in the New Millenium, on a daily basis.