"Politics stops at the water's edge." Senator Arthur Vandenberg (R-MI) is credited with the phrase circa 1947, although it originated with Daniel Webster:
Even our party divisions, acrimonious as they are, cease at the water’s edge. They are lost in attachment to the national character, on the element where that character is made respectable.
In the Age of Obama, when the President is routinely compared to Hitler, that notion seems more and more quaint. Just when one thinks that Republicans can't possibly go any lower...hey! look down there! there they are, in the Ninth Circle!
Even Sarah Palin, in calling for President Obama to boycott Copenhagen, doesn't venture as far as Representatives Barton, Blackburn, Issa, and Sensenbrenner and Senators Barrasso and Inhofe. They'll cross the Atlantic to ally themselves with foreign interests and against President Obama.
Politico reports that at least four Republican Representatives will be traveling to Copenhagen "looking to derail Democratic efforts to negotiate an international climate agreement"
About a half-dozen Republicans will make the trip to Denmark to oppose plans for cap-and-trade legislation, express their discontent with the scientific community that researches climate change and call for the United Nations to halt any negotiations until the academic scandal known as "Climategate" is resolved.
At least Texas Rep. Joe Barton, the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with Republican Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Darrell Issa of California and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee are making the trip.
All of these clowns duly elected Representatives are well known in enviro circles.
Joe Barton, recipient of $2.5M oil, gas, and utility lobbying money, believes that the solution to climate change is simple: find some shade. May I suggest a nice relaxing visit to the Maldives?
Marsha Blackburn has special ire for fellow Tennesseean Al Gore, suggesting to his face that he fights climate change because he's motivated by greed, prompting a far-too-polite response from him: "if you believe the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don't know me." She even opposes garden clubs' planting trees for Arbor Day because that might fight global warming. Perhaps she needs to sit in a pine bark beetle-infested tree, during a forest fire, to rethink?
James Sensenbrenner's last two pronouncements on climate change rival each other for stupidity. He's demanded that the EPA cease all work on greenhouse gases until the Twelfth of Never until the Agency can demonstrate that the science underlying these regulatory decisions has not been compromised. And he's labeled NASA scientists "scientific fascists." Watch this exchange between Representative Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Senselessbrenner:
Perhaps some of those NASA scientists whose integrity Sensebrenner attacks might find a use for him in zero gravity?
Issa, a shameless political opportunist who initiated the petition to recall Gray Davis and thus elect Arnold Schwarzenegger as California's Worst.Governor.Ever, blindly follows Sensenbrenner and the Heritage Foundation's attack on energy efficiency -- because it's far better for a conservative to waste energy than to, you know, conserve it? Perhaps he can explain to this California river why the hacked emails show a conspiracy to fake a relentless megadrought in California.
Senator James Inhofe (R-River In Egypt) has already announced his plans to attend, along with John Barrasso (R-WY), and his secret person (Cheney? Palin? inquiring minds so want to know!)
Have politicians from the opposing party ever traveled outside the United States to oppose the President's work on an international treaty? Remember the fuss about "Hanoi Jane," when actor Jane Fonda traveled to North Vietnam? More recently, when Nancy Pelosi (D-SF) visited Syria in 2007, at a time when no major treaty was being negotiated, Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials were quick to call her action bad behavior: "The president is the one who conducts foreign policy," Cheney thundered to Rush Limbaugh. Pelosi responded:
"We understand our responsibilities when we leave the country," Ms. Pelosi said. "On all the issues, it was a very direct message, very consistent with the Bush administration’s message."
Republicans do not let such quaint notions as respect, honor, and loyalty to one's country stop them. They're taking politics past the water's edge, and will not show as much respect to Obama as Pelosi showed to Bush. They are traveling to Copenhagen for one purpose: to undermine the President's actions in negotiating with other countries' heads of state. Republicans who travel to Copenhagen are allying themselves with the interests of another country over the United States. Dante named people like that and reserved their place in Hell.