First of all, GOTV tomorrow for Obama. Your own vote, your family's vote, your neighbors' votes, whatever. No election eve diary should go without that exhortation.
Second, just out of curiosity and (to be honest) expecting to find a little bit of tarnish on Governor Christie's last week of leadership on the disaster response issue, I looked up his position on climate change. I expected equivocation and hedging, if not outright denial. This is not meant to be a "big" diary, nor a diary that encourages support for a Governor who's done all sorts of unfortunate stuff on the economic, union, and public sector front in New Jersey. It's just a brief mention of what I found, to add to the overall conversation.
In 2011:
TRENTON — In case anyone had any doubts on where Gov. Chris Christie stands on climate change, he made his position crystal clear this afternoon: It's real and it's a problem.
In vetoing a bill (S2946) that would have required New Jersey to stay in a regional program intended to curb greenhouse gases — a program Christie plans to leave by the end of the year — the governor said "climate change is real."
He added that "human activity plays a role in these changes" and that climate change is "impacting our state."
Christie's words are his strongest to date in regards to climate change, a hot-button issue among the same conservatives nationwide who are clamoring for the governor to enter the 2012 presidential race.
Christie's come full circle on the issue. Last year, he told a town hall audience in Toms River he was skeptical climate change is the result of human activity. He backed off those comments at a conference of environmentalists in May and agreed to meet with climate scientists for a lesson in global warming.
...now, absolutely no one needs to fall in love or consider supporting Christie over his Democratic challenger. The bill he vetoed was a measure that would've made strides toward a unified, if imperfect, regional response against the causes of climate change. But one can hope that in the future he won't just admit the truth without following through with the policy. And hope that when it comes to other issues we can see an evolution away from Republican orthodoxy in his words, and
actions, as well.
That's up to Governor Christie. At some point (read: now) he'll need to not just rebuff the rhetoric of ignorance from his own side, but back it up with actual action -- and given his persona that seems necessary.
We'll see.
