In 2007, GOP leaders were generally in favor of tackling climate change. Since 2007, we have witnessed the increasing political engagement of the Koch brothers, the rise of the Tea Party, and the appropriation of Tea Party ideas by GOP politicians. So it was refreshing to recall the GOP of 2007 in this Media Matters report on the GOP’s about-face on climate change. In the four years since the report was published, the GOP has become even more intransigent regarding climate change.
Look at these seven prominent Republicans' climate views in 2007:
John McCain
McCain was a leader on climate. Ten years ago, he sponsored a bill on cap and trade with Joe Lieberman and campaigned on cap and trade when he ran for President in 2008. He was a climate hawk who argued that climate change needed to be addressed using language indistinguishable from Bill McKibben.
Now he won’t vote for anything that addresses climate or speak on anything that refers to our warming planet.
John Boehner
Spoke favorably about McCain’s efforts to reduce emissions. In 2008, as House Speaker, he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, "we need to begin reducing our CO2 emissions" and went on in the interview to say most Republicans would agree with McCain.
Now he doesn't feel qualified to have an opinion.
Mitt Romney
As Governor of Massachusetts, was a leader in addressing climate, passing far reaching legislation to reduce emissions. And in 2008 when he first ran for president, he said climate change was a threat that needed to be addressed and later wrote in a book about the melting ice caps.
More recently, at the 2012 GOP Convention, he mocked the issue generating huge applause. Even today, when he decided not to run for president in 2016, he is still silent on climate change.
George W Bush
While President, called for reductions in emissions, called a climate change a serious challenge that must be addressed and even promoted an energy efficiency standard. He said the US must lead the world to produce fewer emissions.
Now I wonder what Jeb Bush thinks of his brother, the climate hawk. Someone should ask GW Bush what he thinks of the current GOP consensus that climate change is not a problem.
Newt Gingrich
Spoke in favor of a mandatory cap and trading system. He said emissions needed to be reduced. He wrote a book about it called the Contract with the Earth. He appeared with Nancy Pelosi arguing the climate change is a serious problem that needed to be addressed.
More recently, when he ran for president in 2012, that seriousness was gone.
Mike Huckabee
Said that we have to recognize climate change is real and said he supported cap and trade of carbon emissions.
Now he says ‘the science is not settled on climate change.’ In the past eight years, the science has become even more settled. What happened to change Huckabee’s mind in the interim? He certainly wasn't keeping up with the scientific literature. The scientific consensus on climate change is even more established than it was in 2007.
Marco Rubio
Was a big fan of clean energy. In 2007 he said, "global warming, dependence on foreign sources of fuel, and capitalism have come together to create opportunities for us that were unimaginable just a few short years ago," in a video recording cited by BuzzFeed.
He now will not even admit climate change exists.
As scientific consensus on climate grows, Republicans are more and more stuck in denial. As I have written earlier, a Presidential candidate probably can't run a campaign declaring climate change is not a problem, and win.