GOP candidates on climate change: Liberal Hoax

Paris Accord:  UN Sec Gen Ban Ki-moon and French leaders

President Obama just said that the Paris accord on climate meant was a major achievement and the world could turn the tide on global warming.  

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the president was "making promises he can't keep."  He said the agreement by 200 countries in Paris can be voided immediately by a Republican president so it "is subject to being shredded in 13 months."

Is there any Republican constituency for addressing climate change?  A just published Huffington Post poll showed that 39% of Republicans said they supported the US pledge to cut emissions by 2025.

I don't believe it.

I watched up close, in person, about 24 different candidate events by Republican candidates.   Trump (3 events),  Cruz (1),  Rubio (1),  Christie (4),  Fiorina (2),  Kasich (3), Bush (1),  Paul (3), Santorum (1),  Graham (5).    In all those event I heard exactly one question asked on anything relating to support for addressing climate: a student started to give Rand Paul a mock trophy rewarding him for his fealty to Exxon and Chevron, and about 4 seconds into the comment Paul said that the Town Hall was over and he walked away from the podium.

Republican audiences care about many things, but climate is not one of them.

Republican candidates hasten to assure primary voters that they don't care about climate change and consider it a liberal hoax.   The strongest candidates, currently Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and Christy, are vocal on the issue.    Being "soft" on climate change is a fatal mistake.   "Soft" means you think it is real.

Trump:  On Obama saying in Paris that climate was a major problem: "I think it's one of the dumbest things I've ever seen, or perhaps most naive.   He is actually somewhat naive, if you want to know the truth, beyond the incompetent part."

Cruz:   "Climate change is the perfect pseudo-scientific theory for a big government politician who wants more power."  His official website includes an article describing a Cruz Town Hall question headlined, "Cruz humiliates leftist climate questioners."

Rubio: Rubio's official website includes an article headlined, "President Obama's Destructive Climate Plan: Another Bad Deal"

Christie: On Morning Joe on December 1, asked about the Paris talks: "The climate has been changing forever and it will always change and man will always contribute to it.  It's not a crisis."  And again, "I don't see any evidence that it's a crisis."

Carly Fiorina was concerned about the issue when Glenn Beck accused her of believing in climate change.  She said No!.  On Fox News Sunday she described Obama's claim that climate change was a threat to national security to be "delusional."

 Two candidates who admit that they think climate change may be real, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham, are both underperforming expectations and hasten to say that no policy change is needed.   Bush says that human effect on climate is perennial, inevitable, and will work itself out.

The candidates who are finding success are the ones who dismiss climate change and mock and climate change activists.  The fact that the Cruz campaign website celebrates Cruz humiliating a climate activist is a good indication of what the candidates consider to be the correct positioning on the issue.