Incoherent Environmentalism

Interesting CJR piece on John McCain's "incoherent environmentalism"

McCain’s wholesale abandonment of a month-long environmental PR strategy is more than a knee-jerk response to a new peak in oil prices. It is a sign that the McCain campaign’s efforts to define the 2008 election narrative are in disarray. Oddly, the political press—which has a Midas touch for turning policy disputes into process stories—seems to have missed the full political significance of this policy shift.

Of course it's not that odd: The press loves John McCain! What's more, to understand the extent to which McCain has turned himself around on environmental issues, you need some kind of grasp of how the logic of his gasoline demagoguery conflicts with the logic of his cap-and-trade proposals, and that seems to be beyond the grasp of many reporters.

Comments

Or perhaps the press doesn't want to go into the policy details, because then they might have to report that Barry is running as the candidate of high energy prices, even though he often lies and tells people he's going to lower their gas prices.

Posted by Thomas | June 20, 2008 11:31 AM

hey Thomas, how many McCain points does it take to get a set of McCain's golf balls?

Posted by cleek | June 20, 2008 11:43 AM

Yep, covering policy is hard work and requires some intelligence and expertise. So the hairspray component of the national media (which these days is pretty much the entire national media) would much prefer to cover topics which only require speculating about emotional reactions (e.g., gaffes, scandals, etc.).

Posted by DTM | June 20, 2008 11:51 AM

Hey Thomas:

What's it like to be wrong all the time?

Obama:

I do disagree with one thing, though, that Bill said, and that is that on a carbon tax the cost will be passed onto consumers and that won't happen with a cap-and-trade. Under a cap-and-trade there will be a cost. Plants are going to have to retrofit their equipment, and that's going to cost money, and they will pass it onto consumers.

Greg Mankiw:

For the passages I put in bold, Bill Richardson and Barack Obama deserve special note, for opposite reasons. As a former energy secretary during the Clinton administration, Richardson has presumably studied these issues. But here he demonstrates extraordinary ignorance (or perhaps extraordinary disingenuousness) about the economic impact of cap-and-trade systems. By contrast, Obama shows extraordinary clarity and honesty about the effects of the policy he is proposing.

Pretty cut-and-dry. linky linky

Posted by Michael | June 20, 2008 11:53 AM

Speaking of John "Incoherent" McCain, let's not forget that he said that opening up offshore oil exploration would provide "short term" relief. Here's a link showing McCain's conflicting quotes made less than 3 weeks apart. He really doesn't understand the words that are coming out of his own mouth, does he?

I've come to the realization that McCain is as dumb as Bush (or dumb as a bush), but doesn't have the handlers that limit him to a list of simple talking points. This is basically Bush without the babysitters. It's the Straight Babble Express!

Posted by LFC | June 20, 2008 12:56 PM

LFC: remember that Bush promised to regulate carbon dioxide while he was campaigning. It's not a lack of handlers, it's a lack of honesty and comprehension.

Posted by jwg | June 20, 2008 1:24 PM

McCain says he supports cap-and-trade but not for a mandatory cap. I'm not sure what Obama would have to say to get under that bar, but it would have to be pretty damned stupid.

Posted by ed | June 20, 2008 2:19 PM

Michael, Obama has said that his policies will reduce gas prices. I know he's also said that he favors higher energy prices in general. That's why I said he's incoherent.

I do think it would be great for Obama to be clear that, were he elected president, he would work to keep gas prices where they are. That'd be a nice setting for a debate in the fall, don't you think?

Posted by Thomas | June 20, 2008 3:38 PM

Insinuating that McCain has some sort of unfair press coverage advantage against Obama is curious, can be politely described as a curious notion.

Posted by Shinyk | June 21, 2008 8:51 PM