After his semi-sad and anything-but-effective debate performance this week, Jeb! Bush doesn’t seem to be poised to win first the GOP nomination and then the general election... but stranger things have happened (like his witless numpty of a brother getting elected twice – and that pot-bellied pig I saw buzzing the Space Needle early this morning).
Even if the Bush donors are uneasy after his recent crash-and-burn on the debate stage, Jeb! is a member of one of the most powerful political families on the planet, and has a huge amount of money stashed away in his Super PAC. I wouldn’t count the guy out just yet.
That said, if you care about climate change in the least, you can cross Jeb! off the list of "not as horrendous as the other Republicans on climate change" GOP hopefuls, despite recent reports that he has softened his denier stance.
In July, The Hill noted that Jeb! had recently said that human activity is contributing to climate change, and that:
I think it’s appropriate to recognize this and invest in the proper research to find solutions over the long haul but not be alarmists about it…
Sounds promising, no? He’s opened the door – he’s talking about research – he thinks we humans do have a hand in the warming climate, right?
Alas, not so much. More about his real policy views below the fold.
In addition to all of the weaseling around that Jeb! has done to water down even such an anodyne statement about “recognizing” the human influence on the climate and “investing in research,” the energy policy plank on his campaign website speaks volumes about how he REALLY thinks about this issue.
The Bush campaign’s Energy Policy page says it all – leading with “Unleash the Energy Revolution” and diving right into a smackdown of the “damaging federal energy policies” that he contends need to be reversed. Let’s read more:
The Energy Revolution and Growth
Energy is not just a sector of our economy. It is also an input into every other economic sector. That means cheaper, more reliable energy benefits American families in multiple ways. More domestic energy leads to more jobs, higher wages, lower gas prices and smaller electricity bills. In short, it means more money in people’s pockets, allowing them more freedom to make more choices for themselves and their children.
Current federal energy policies impose Washington, DC’s will on how states, tribes, businesses and families produce and use energy. In spite of this, the United States has managed to benefit over the last several years from an American innovation. A combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling is transforming the United States into a global energy superpower. For instance, since 2008, U.S. crude oil output has increased by over 80%, an increase of over 4 million barrels a day. That is the fastest increase in U.S. history. Even with the recent slowdown in production due to lower energy prices, America will continue to produce vastly more oil and gas than it has in decades, with corresponding economic and strategic benefits.
Yes, it’s the usual GOP cant about oil and gas, fracking and “freedom,” and “choices” for families.
Jeb! is further calling for lifting restrictions on exports of oil and natural gas, approving the Keystone XL pipeline, reducing what he calls “over regulation” (presumably for a Republican, any regulation is “over regulation”), and what is phrased as “deferring to willing states and tribes” – which, translated, means opening on- and off-shore drilling opportunities off the north coast of Alaska.
And Jeb! takes the unserious-about-climate-change model of an “all of the above” energy policy and ratchets it up.
In addition, we must create a level playing field for all energy sources including, but not limited to, nuclear, renewables, coal, natural gas, oil and alternative fuels. We unnecessarily drive up energy costs on Americans when we play favorites and suppress the dynamism of free markets.
This typical Republican free market argle bargle is the antithesis of what we need to be doing right now. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, reduce consumption of oil, gas and coal, stop fracking, and work hammer and tongs on ramping up production of
green and clean energy from sources like bioenergy, direct solar, geothermal, hydropower, and ocean and wind energy.
A damning analysis of the US climate plan that was released back in June states, unequivocally, that:
For the sake of the world’s future, the American lifestyle can no longer remain non-negotiable.
Strong words, and light years away from what Jeb! Bush is proposing for a US energy policy on his watch, should he be elected.
I’m not a single-issue voter. I care deeply about racism, women’s rights, reproductive freedom, voters’ rights, and income inequality – the full panoply of progressive issues so dear to many readers of this site. But I also think that climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, and it’s of interest to me when a GOP candidate for president has recently come to be seen as a bit more moderate than some of the other fire breathing denier members of his party. But an equivocal, watered-down, and hedged-about-with-caveats admission that yes, the climate does appear to be changing, and humans may have some influence on that, isn’t enough. It’s not NEARLY enough.
For a peek at a couple of energy and climate policies that look like good starting places, see Sanders, Bernie, and O’Malley, Martin.
I'm out there swinging for Bernie. He's not our ONLY hope, but he's close.