More hot air from the left about Gov. Palin's position on climate change; Updated: More hot air

Let's start with the positive news: the left is finally moving beyond a discussion of Gov. Palin's wardrobe and is actually willing to talk about her policy positions. The bad news: they're as crap on policy as they are on trivia.

In today's Washington Post, Eugene Robinson writes about Gov. Palin's recent editorial in his paper, which dealt with climate change, the Climategate scandal and the Cop-15 Copenhagen summit. He thinks he's spotted something: Palin isn't the climate change denier that Al Gore says she is!

Good job, Eugene! I'd rate that at least a B+ for effort. Mind you: you would have scored a straight A if you had checked Gov. Palin's many previous statements on this issue, which show that she's always acknowledged the reality of climate change, while at the same time casting doubt on the Anthropogenic Global Warming theory which reduces all climate change to man's use of fossil fuels and keeping an open mind about alternative explanations, including the possibility of it being an entirely natural, cyclical phenomenon.

But wait, there is more! Robinson's also found an administrative order dated September 2007 and signed by Gov. Palin in which she announces the foundation of a Climate Change Sub-Cabinet to "advise the Office of the Governor on the preparation and implementation of an Alaska climate change strategy." Among the subjects for study and recommendation are issues like

the assembly of scientific research, modeling, and mapping information in ways that will help the public and policymakers understand the actual and projected effects of climate change in Alaska, including the time frames in which those effects are likely to take place

the potential benefits of Alaska participating in regional, national, and international climate policy agreements and greenhouse gas registries;

[and]

the opportunities for Alaska to participate in carbon-trading markets, including the offering of carbon sequestration;

"Ha! There you have it! See, see!! She's a flipflopper, a hypocrite!", the excitable Robinson seems to say: "She made any number of pragmatic, reasonable, smart decisions as governor -- and now, it seems, will be obliged to renounce them all."

Eh, no actually.

Here's the Merriam-Webster definition on the word 'advise':

1 a : to give advice to : counsel b : caution, warn c : recommend
2 : to give information or notice to : inform

To counsel, caution, and recommend, based on information. Information that, as the Administrative Order clearly states, was far from complete at the time. Which is why the order doesn't contain any hard policy prescriptions.

The most important decision she took as governor on this particular issue was indeed a "pragmatic, reasonable and smart" one, namely to seek further information on the scope of the problem, its potential ramifications and possible ways of dealing with it, before taking any action that might adversely affect Alaska's economy.

The reason Gov. Palin has called on president Obama to shun the climate summit in Copenhagen is not because she's suddenly come out as a global warming sceptic, but because the theory which underpins the package of measures being discussed there has lost its validity as a result of the Climategate scandal. Robinson dismisses the scandal as so much fluff: "Global warming is real, whatever the emails say." He's entitled to his opinion, but there are those even within the AGW camp who have looked at the mails and have drawn radically different conclusions from them.

The fact is that the scientific consensus that the UN claimed existed on the issue of man-made global warming is no longer there. In view of that fact, the sensible thing is to take a step back, look at all available facts again, and see what conclusions you might come up with. Instead of rushing to Copenhagen to sign a document based on questionable science which would carry enormous costs to US businesses and tax payers, Obama would do better to follow Gov. Palin's example on the issue: establish a sub-cabinet with the mission of advising the President on the preparation and implementation of a new American climate change strategy.

To counsel, caution, and recommend, based on actual information. Now wouldn't that be a pragmatic, reasonable and smart thing to do?

Update by Doug: Loony left internet tabloid Huffington Post provides yet more hot air today with another post promoting the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) hoax. In this latest bit of nonsense, the wacky HuffPo hilariously criticizes Governor Palin’s opposition to the scam by citing the disapproval of Palin’s position by, of all people, Governor Arnold Schwarzengger (RINO-Hollywood):

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says world policymakers do not have to choose between a clean environment and economic growth.

Schwarzengger said "we've proved that over and over again in California."

I’m not making this up, folks. When I first read this, I envisioned myself a major league baseball player standing in the batter’s box as an over-the-hill pitcher tosses a big, slow creampuff down the middle of the plate about belt high. Schwarzenegger is basically claiming that his unbelievably onerous environmental regulations have resulted in economic growth in his state, and that this has been proved “over and over again”.

Heh? The last time I checked California was an economic basket case and their unfortunate plight was caused by ridiculously high taxes and, ironically, the very regulations the “Governator” cites as “proof” that his economy is in good shape. In reality, of course, California’s economy is in shambles and businesses are literally fleeing the state. Schwarzenegger’s detachment from reality vis-à-vis the effect of his environmental regulations on his state’s economy match his detachment from reality with regard to the AGW con. His dismal approval ratings are not difficult to understand.

The cartoonish HuffPo, whose relationship with reality is as non-existent as Schwarzenegger’s, is attempting to promote the absurd meme that Governor Palin should be soliciting advice from the more sophisticated and urbane Arnold Schwarzenegger on weighty matters such as climate change. The HuffPo, predictably, has it “back-asswards”. Whether it’s managing government responsibly, or climate change, one of the two should be soliciting advice from the other…and it’s not Governor Palin.

Update II by Doug: In another article, this one in the Financial Times, Schwarzenegger bestows the following advice on America:

"America within 10 years could get 20 per cent of its power needs from renewables," he said. "We have sun, wind - you can even now get oil from algae. There is a green revolution [in California] but the whole US could be leading like that."

It might be of interest to the Governator that Alaska, under Governor Palin’s leadership, increased the amount of power it gets from renewable resources to 24% with a goal of increasing that to 50% by 2025. This is, of course, not because of the AGW hoax but rather a policy consistent with her long advocated “all-of-the-above” common sense approach to energy.