Russ Steele
According to a first hand report by Stephen Spruiell in National Review Online the global warming plank in the Republican platform got a good scrubbing:
The new version dropped the sentence that attributed warming to human activity. It also added a line after “measured and reasonable steps” that stated, “Any policies should be global in nature, based on sound science and technology, and should not harm the economy.”
These changes fit with the views of Sarah Palin, McCain's VP candidate, who wants to rely on the science. Plus, these language changes give McCain some wiggle room for his cap and trade program.
The subcommittee improved the working draft by specifying that any proposals “should not harm the economy,” but it did not add anything that explicitly precludes McCain from supporting cap-and-trade. McCain is still free to argue that a cap-and-trade regime wouldn’t inhibit economic growth, and conservatives are still free to disagree.
It appears there is some climate change sanity at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis after all. Stay tuned, things could change.
