The Nation: Will the Media Give McCain a Free Pass on Climate?

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 02/07/2008 @ 04:13am
Will the Media Give McCain a Free Pass on Climate?
David Roberts


After a decisive Super Tuesday win, John McCain is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. (Why? I'm with Ross Douthat: it was luck.) It's time to start thinking about what a campaign against him is going to look like.

According to the Villagers, McCain is a maverick, and nowhere is that alleged quality more evident than in his pundit-titillating (punditillating?) position on climate change. He is the Republican apostate, a visionary who has reached across the aisle. Why, now that McCain is the Republican nominee, we're practically guaranteed to get bold action on climate no matter who wins! Right?

McCain will be running as a climate champion against a Democrat who claims the same mantle. There's two ways the political media could cover it:

1. It could probe a little deeper: seek to clarify the strength and detail of each candidate's climate/energy plan; uncover those policy positions that distinguish one candidate one another; compare their respective records on the issue.

2. Or, the media could write off climate as a non-controversy that's not worth covering.
History does not inspire confidence. Recall, if you will, the 2000 presidential race. Seeking to counter Al Gore's perceived advantage on the environment, Texas governor George W. Bush pledged to instruct his EPA to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

The media, which had covered climate change as a he-said she-said controversy if at all, breathed a sigh of relief. Aaah, now we can talk about interesting stuff. And poof! The issue disappeared. Al Gore gave speeches and released statements on global warming (yes, really), but he couldn't pay reporters to cover them -- or the public to give a damn. The political significance of global warming was reduced to nothing.

Could it happen again? Could climate vanish from the political radar just as it's gotten a toehold? .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/passingthrough?bid=769

[Faygo Kid]

1. What's his position on raiding Great Lakes water?

As an Arizona politician, it's a question he better answer.

And be asked.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Of Course! They Give McCain a Free Pass on Everything. He is the ANOINTED ONE!

They are all under orders to speak no ill of McCain,
and to always use the words "maverick" and "moderate" EVERY time his name is mentioned.

McCain gets a pass on everything, because they have chosen him to be our next President.