The Red Sox and California, both En Fuego
October 24th, 2007 by Carbon CoalitionThree of the top GOP contenders formally filed for their candidacy yesterday and scribbled a note on a poster commemorating their presidential run. John McCain signed “He’s Ba-a-ack,” Rudy Giuliani penned “God Bless America,” and Ron Paul scribed “For Liberty.”
Giuliani held a town hall in Lebanon later on last night, and while there wasn’t much in the way of climate change talk, Giuliani did have time to talk a little baseball. The Union Leader reported that Giuliani will root for the Red Sox in the World Series - “it makes me feel better if the team that was ahead of the Yankees wins the World Series - then I feel we’re not that bad.” For some reason I am reminded of the popular NE bumper sticker “I root for two teams: the Red Sox and anybody who is playing the Yankees.”
After announcing his candidacy in Concord, McCain warmed up a Hampton crowd with a few of his famous Mo Udall jokes before getting serious. McCain’s first issue of discussion for the night was climate change. McCain stated:
“I am not saying that these forest fires that your are hearing about in California are a direct result of climate change, but I will say to you that we are experiencing weather and conditions such as sever droughts all across the Southwest that are symptoms of the violent climate conditions that result from climate change.”
For ten years now scientists have warned about an increase in wild-fires caused by climate change. In 1998 the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released a report that found that ”in most cases, climate change would lead to dramatic increases in both the annual area burned by California wildfires and the number of potentially catastrophic fires — doubling these losses in some regions.”
Back in Hampton, an audience member asked what he thought about the other GOP candidate’s climate change plans. McCain responded “I have not seen any plans from the other candidates” and then touted his work in the senate where he tried to pass an emissions reduction bill.
When asked about what he would tackle within the first 100 days of his presidency, McCain included climate change among the top four issues.
Listen to audio of McCain in Hampton
