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Environment

Obama Says Climate Change ‘Not a Hoax,’ But Will the Issue Feature Prominently in This Election?

Sep. 7, 2012 9:30am Liz Klimas

Experts Say Climate Change Discussions Low on Presidential Candidates Priorities List During Election Season

(Image: Compiled by TheBlaze, Photos: AP/Jae C. Hong, Carolyn Kaster)

Even though President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney have answered the 14 questions about science asked of them by an independent science initiative, only one of these questions was in regard to climate change. In this election the politically polarizing issue of global warming and how it pertains to government regulation is a sticky one for both candidates, according to some experts.

And yet, last night during his acceptance for the Democratic presidential nomination Obama did drop a line in his speech regarding climate change.

“And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children’s future,” he said at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

But how important or beneficial is it for Obama to talk to his audience throughout this election season about climate change and what he proposes the government do about it? How will Romney address it?

To start, a Stanford University poll released in July found global warming was not the most important of environmental concerns among voters — let alone among the other issues voters faces as they head to the polls this fall. Given that the economy, jobs creation and the deficit are taking center stage, those in the political arena interviewed by TheBlaze believe climate change and climate change mitigation will be touched upon but ultimately glossed over.

David Johnson, a Republican strategist and consultant with the firm Strategic Vision, told TheBlaze climate change is not important to either candidate at the moment.

“Right now, neither party wants it to be a central issue … and would prefer not to address it.” Johnson said.

Obama though is being pushed by some groups in support of government action to mitigate the effects of man-made global warming. A study from Yale University recently suggested there are actually benefits for candidates to take a “pro-climate stand.” The university brief on the study states that at both the national level and in 10 swing states, a pro-climate stance would win Democratic votes as well as Independents. It also says a pro-climate stance would have little negative impact on Republican voters.

Ivan Kenneally, who has written for numerous publications and taught philosophy and political science at institutions including SUNY Geneseo and the Rochester Institute of Technology, told TheBlaze he would disagree. He said activist groups wanting to see climate change become a central issue in the campaign won’t help either candidate.

The League of Conservation Voters, for example, launched a petition to PBS’ Jim Lehrer, moderator of the first presidential debate, asking him to pose the question to the candidates and “confront the greatest challenge of our generation — climate change.” Similarly, Democratic strategist Betsy Taylor, president of Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions, recently told National Journal that the political donors she represents want Obama to “respond to Mitt Romney’s mocking and that he do so forcefully with a clear statement” about climate change.

If it does come up, most likely during one of the debates, Johnson said Obama will focus on the clean energy initiatives he has instituted and green jobs. Romney, on the other hand, would handle it as an opportunity to attack Obama’s record of failed green initiatives and job creation (think the Solyndra scandal and the angle of regulations hindering business). At the same time though, Romney would move the focus toward what he thinks would best create jobs and boost the economy.

Romney has already exhibited this tactic. For example, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last week, he cited Obama’s 2008 election promises to “begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet.” Romney said his promise, on the other hand, “is to help you and your family.”

Dr. David Reiss, who is a psychiatrist that has spoken and written about the psychology of politics from a non-partisan perspective, said the candidates could also take the angle of “caring” or “national security.” Here’s an example of the rhetoric Reiss thinks we could hear in a debate:

“We have been subject to extreme weather in certain parts of the country [provide a brief example]. (Regardless of the cause) we need to be better prepared for the safety of all. Therefore, I intend to… [and provide a short, clear statement of a realistic plan to help 'protect' affected areas].”

Using a tactic such as this that evokes a feeling of care and protection, Reiss said, could attract important swing voters, while not alienating other groups by tackling what is being debated as true and false in the scientific world.

Even if it’s an issue the candidates might avoid, it is one Johnson said should be discussed.

“It needs to be addressed [by candidates] in some respect so people are not surprised when a certain policy gets implemented,” Johnson said, looking further down the road.

With both Romney and Obama touching on climate change briefly in their respective acceptance speeches and the first presidential debate coming up on Oct. 3, only time will tell how this issue will play out for the election.

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

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Comments (69)

teddrunk
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:32am
Obama wants you to buy a Volt from Government Motors to save the planet. The Volt get’s plugged in to charge. When you plug it in you’re getting your power from a coal fired or nuclear plant. The Democrats hate coal fired and nuclear plants, to save the planet. Logical conclusion: Democrat are complete morons.

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- Sparky101
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 12:04pm
  Earth to Obama, no one refutes that climates change. Many do not accept what lying scientists have promoted as the reason. Therefore, many think you are easily led and not nearly as smart as you claim to be.
  
  Report this comment
- Liberalismkills
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 1:30pm
  The Volt doesn’t do it in my book. Every single one of these watermelon communists (green on the outside, red on the inside) has ZERO credibility on the global warmongering hoax. Unless they are walking or riding a bike everywhere they go, living in a tee-pee, gathering nuts and berries to eat, and cooking over an animal dung fire I will have nothing to say to them. Live it 100% or shut the HELL up!
  
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- ginger100
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 3:12pm
  Forget GMs Volt, the car of the future is here today! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkcn8ZkvKKc
  
  Report this comment
PlaneDoc
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:30am
Those sad,sad, people. Okay , let’s go over this one more time. WHEN THE SCIENTISTS THAT STARTED THE GLOBAL WARMING HOAX, COME OUT AND SAY IT IS A HOAX, THEN IT IS A FN HOAX YOU IDIOTS!!!!!

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- zappadogg
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 12:00pm
  What scientists? Where did you get your information, 99.9 percent of scientists agree that man made global warming is happening. You and the sheep of Americans for Prosperity are the ignorant ones. It is easy information to acquire, just look past people like Glenn Beck and the truth will reveal itself on many issues. Assuming you aren’t a ******:)
  
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- 00100111
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 1:29pm
  You should have stopped at “What scientists?” They’re not scientists. “Climate science” is no more science than astrology is. Climate change is a political platform, not science.
  
  Report this comment
- purecolorartist
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 1:32pm
  Zappdog: These scientists believe it’s a hoax:
  http://www.climatedepot.com/a/9035/SPECIAL-REPORT-More-Than-1000-International-Scientists-Dissent-Over-ManMade-Global-Warming-Claims–Challenge-UN-IPCC–Gore
  
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- zappadogg
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 3:04pm
  First of all, if you want me to read about climate change from a site whose major donors include, exxon mobile, chevron and the automobile industry, I will not be convinced. Second, these are the only sites where you people get your info! There is a bias no matter where you look, especially on Glenn Becks site. I dont take any politician at their word, including Obama. To completely ignore science though, is totally ridiculous. You ignore science at every turn, evolution being another fact that I am sure many of you regard as false. 200 years of fossil fuel emissions, many of those years had no type of regulations and all of you actually think that this has no effect on our climate? To ignore such obvious facts is to be IGNORANT!
  
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- purecolorartist
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 3:40pm
  zappadogg, you should post on WUWT if you want your views known by scientists from both sides of this issue and in the middle. I look at all sites related to climate change including skepticalscience.com. WUWT gets no donations from big oil or big anything. You should check it out (unless you have been already banned from posting there).
  
  Report this comment
BurntHills
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:25am
are AMERICANS –even former PRESIDENTS– expected to BOW DEEP & LOW to dictator fuhrer obama now??

or was thatALSO a private democrat joke MOCKING the USN SEALs.

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woodyl1011fl
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:23am
Just more evidence that Obama and democrats are a delusional group of people given to believing in mythologies. The democrat politicians are Marxist totalitarians and they know that their voters will believe just about anything that will put somebody else’s money or assets into their pockets by any police powers available to the state. This should not surprise anyone as democrats have clearly shown us that for them government is their god power; not the only true living Creator God of the cosmos and us. For a democrat then truth is what they say it is and better get used to it.

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Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:11am
Taxing the power plants and forcing them to comply to ever stricter regulations will not do a damned thing. These arrogant people who think they can affect anything the earth does are delusional. It take a catastrophic event, like a volcano erupting to make even a slight dent in our climate.
Stealing and redistributing our wealth will do nothing, but make us poorer, but I’m just preaching to the choir, here.

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purecolorartist
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:03am
Global warming, er climate change, er climate disruption, er climate propaganda is the biggest scam posing as “science” in the world today. For more info from informed scientists, save this link:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/

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Detroit paperboy
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:02am
If we give the communists all of our money, they will make it all better………..trust me.

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randy
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:02am
Climate change not a HOAX? The HeII it is!
Not only is it a HOAX, it’s criminal fraud and extortion being perpetrated against us!
God, I miss the days of global cooling and the coming ice age back in the 70′s.

Solar activity is responsible for climate change on Earth.
Mars is heating up also.
So, Is man causing co2 emissions on Mars to warm also you morons?

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- Balpit
  Posted on September 8, 2012 at 9:09pm
  How is is that humans can’t stop hurricanes,
  can’t stop tornadoes,
  can’t stop tidal waves,
  can’t stop earthquakes,
  can’t stop volcanic eruptions,
  but have the ability to change the entire planet’s temperature?
  When we were younger, they warned us that if we didn’t stop driving cars or using appliances, the Earth would be completely destroyed by global warming in ten years. People didn’t stop driving cars or using appliances. Twenty years passed since that warning.
  
  Report this comment
NHwinter
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:02am
He has to say he believes in climate change or he would not be able to implement his cap and trade by EO or through the EPA. Maybe HAARP is helping him change the climate.

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watersRpeople
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:59am
When you really think about it human life is pretty dependent on the earth. Three or Four years of severe world-wide drought and bye bye about 3 or 4 billion people.

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- rosegrower
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:10am
  True, but none of that is dependent on human activity. If it were, believe me, the people of Texas, Oklahoma and the corn belt would do more (or less) than pray. Funny how we have experienced the worst drought since 1936 during a time when our administration has shut down the coal and oil industries in this country and promoted “green” energy initiatives. Perhaps God is poking fun at the enormous ego that promised to “…lower sea levels and heal the planet.”
  
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The_Cabrito_Goat
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:58am
Uhh actually I could care less about global warming/cooling, Obama

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Daveed
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:58am
You have to remember that Progressives use great words and concepts to cover up what they really mean, example is “Climate Change”. It has nothing to do with the weather. We all know that it is a hoax, used to transfer America’s wealth and drain her resources. I am thinking it means that the climate has changed on, “corrupted Politiians scamming the American people, that the lightbulb has come on for millions finally!!
That the RNC/DNC and this whole charade of conventions is just manure, a dog and pony show, a B rated Hollywood theatrical presentation. Gee I wonder why I was excommunicated from “the Blaze” for the live of the conventions? The two parties is the biggest hoax to date. There is only 1 party on Capitol Hill. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Good people making their lives better for them and their children have never been the culprit in America. That is what made America great. What is not making America great is the corruption in the ever expanding Governments, state, local and the monstrous Federal. The idiotcy of the Conventions and the news media rhetoric is just the corrupt fiddle-ing while America burns. Just bums stealing money.

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cookcountypatriot
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:57am
the hoax is beleiving that only democrats are the stewarts of our weather,,,after 4 yrs of almost 4 and 5 dollar gasoline and a president who is on tape stating that his policys would make energy costs skyrocket ..like they have,,, and no new fuels on the market i say he is all talk and no action…the man has proven to me he is an empty suit sitting in an empty chair making empty promises to people who want to live full lives…the best man for the job in our times is romney….obama has hoodwinked and bamboozled us long enough!

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tzion
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:55am
Of course climate change isn’t a hoax. The climate isn’t and has never been constant. It’s always changing. Why do so many people think that the climate is capable of being constant over time?

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- Wildblue3
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:03am
  I agree that climates will change but to think that the amount we drive will trying affect it is stupid. Earth is a tough old planet.
  
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- WindyDualism
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:06am
  Ooh ooh . . . Because it fits a green weanie narrative, funds tenured sky-ence, and launders money to backers?
  
  Report this comment
watersRpeople
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:55am
Climate change isn’t actually a hoax, and people really are affecting the planet to a certain degree. Not that it matters, because once people affect the earth enough the planet will just burp a couple times, and the problem will disappear.

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- AnOregonian
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 2:42pm
  CO2 dosen’t drive climate change, it’s shadows climate change. It’s actually atmospheric water vapor that effects the thermal event. Begin said, increased CO2 levels perpetuate an abundance of life on earth. CO2 is a building block of life, necessary for plants to create what….. Yes Oxygen. Every plant requires one atom of carbon for each cell it produces. Our current CO2 saturation is about 400 ppm. 800 ppm would be a boom for agriculture and to all creatures who live off their waste.
  
  My questions are…. Why do you hate life on Earth so much?
  
  Why would you think robbing plants of their true potential is a good thing?
  
  Remember, Potatoes have peelings too.
  
  Report this comment
PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:52am
This is UN Agenda…NEW WAY TO TAX EVERYONE FOR REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH FROM Wealthy (none left now) to Third-World countries. It is a HUGE LIE and a SCAM – invented !

The same tension that hold all of the universe together is the same tension that can tear it apart – GOD

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HOOT_OWL
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:49am
He’s trying to destroy what industry we have left in this country. Meanwhile places like China …
Who has no intention of bowing to his regulatory standards …Is making the industrial revolution
look like a growth spurt.

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BloodSweatandTears
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:47am
The damage this prez could inflict in a second term goes beyond imagination. HealthDeprivation, appointing two to three Supreme Court Justices, a civilian army, altering the banking system, green energy, ‘social justice,’ and stemming the tides…we are sunk.

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Tigress1
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:45am
Obama had to mention it. He is laying the foundation for more Solyndras.

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- Polarized America
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:27am
  I see more and more solar panels going up every year, and i’d like a few myself. After all, many people talk about survival, so what’s wrong with getting energy from the Sun, after all it comes up every day !
  
  From the “”Wall Street Journal”"… A German Solar co. is fighting for fair competition. “Chinese manufacturers are breaking the rules,”
  
  The World is on the verge of a “Solar Panel Boom” and America will fall way behind “”AGAIN “”
  When we need Jobs because of Politics..btw… did you know that during the Bush administration they had Energy meetings with big oil. and you can’t get to those records threw the Freedom of Information act !!…..And no, i’m no a tree hugging commie pinko …i just want to keep the lights on :-)
  
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- Tigress1
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 12:34pm
  There’s nothing wrong with getting energy from the sun. It’s the problem of making it a sustainable/profitable industry (without gov. funding) that is the problem. Something that I never hear from all the environmentalists is how acres and acres of land is used to set up all those fields of solar panels for so few people to reap energy from it. Also, those panels are reflective. How many birds commit suicide from crashing into those surfaces?
  
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Amy
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:38am
When will conservatives take hold of the REAL environmental movement?

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Edohiguma
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:38am
The climate has always changed and will always change. It has never been stable.

Blaming humans for it, now that is a hoax and a multi-trillion Dollar scam.

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- CatB
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:43am
  Amen .. and ALGORE should be in PRISON along with others. Snake oil used to control us and our freedoms.
  
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- AnOregonian
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 2:57pm
  But don’t ya see.. It’s all you warming critics that have mucked everything up. Had you simply gone with the plan there would already been a carbon tax bail out for Europe, economic parity for the world, and a crippled colonizing America. Obama wouldn’t need for more years if you’d just shut up and believe what your told. A lot of money was spent trying to educate you cretins. How do we pay for socialism now?
  
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yougottabekidding
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:38am
Of coarse climate change is not a hoax, it changes all the time. It’s not the same as it was a million years ago.
What is a hoax is what you claim changes it! But you would not be able to make billions of dollars if we don’t go along with your stupidity!

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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:37am
Global warming is a proven hoax and fraud of the UN. Fire Obama the insane this November.

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- Rothbardian_in_the_Cleve
  Posted on September 7, 2012 at 10:14am
  Would someone tell that to Romney?
  
  “I don’t speak for the scientific community, of course. But I believe the world is getting warmer. I can’t prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer. And number two, I believe that humans contribute to that. I don’t know how much our contribution is to that, because I know there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past, but I believe that we contribute to that. So I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that you’re seeing.”
  
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Amy
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:37am
Climate changes? Sure – as long as we still have that big, bright globe in the sky.

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topperj
Posted on September 7, 2012 at 9:35am
Climate hoax is a joke and so is Obama.

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