Recently, conservative Andrew Sullivan (an actual conservative, as opposed to a wingnut Republican “conservative”), decried the Rightwing “resistance to the overwhelming data behind carbon and climate change” and what he describes as the “obvious role for conservatism here at every stage”, as he bemoaned the buffoonery on the issue from once-serious folks like George Will and Charles Krauthammer as “deeply dispiriting”…
…
No amount of denial or distraction can change that fact. Either we adjust or we face the consequences. Or both. But pretending we live on another planet in another era does not seem to me to be a conservative position.
No, it’s not a conservative position, but it is the “conservative” position, as of now, even as Sullivan still seems to have trouble grappling with the all-but-disappearance of what once used to be a legitimate political movement in America.
For another take on the Rightwing abandonment of reality, see former Republican D.R. Tucker’s recent take-down of Republican Joe Scarborough after the MSNBC host blamed Al Gore for Sen. Marco Rubio and the Republican Party’s newly-found climate denialism.
For my money, however, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse still offers the most plausible explanation for the GOP’s madness in the face of our ever-quickening climate crisis.
A rare sighting of that most endangered species — the honest and prudent Republican. Hunted down by the tea-party zombies to the point of extinction.
Climate science denial amongst Republicans has nothing to do with “conservatism” and everything to do with Koch campaign funds.
A very cogent and relevant article – prior to 2010, there were some prominent Republicans who weren’t denialists – since, it’s like a switch was flicked – either they toed the line to keep big $$$ donors happy, or their opponents got the big bucks to primary out anyone who didn’t toe the denial line. I hadn’t really put the two together before, but while correlation doesn’t prove causation, the theory seems to explain observed behaviour very well.
When a political party has no real ideology except where the money is coming from (and is basing its convictions on the irrationalities of eccentric billionaires) you will get an indefensible political platform like the Republicans. It is amazing to me that the general public keeps following the eccentricities of the Republicans. I guess they have been trained for so long to hate anything left of them that they can no longer think rationally, they only think of issues as being relative left or right of their current position (and being more right is better than anything to the left). This is why Andrew Sullivan is a dying breed.
But really, Andrew Sullivan isn’t worth quoting on any subject, not even one like this. How wrong do you have to be before your credibility is shot?