A lot of these clips you may remember seeing, but when you watch them all together – the effect is somewhat stunning.
For one brief, shining moment around 2007-8, taking action on Climate Change was a mainstream Republican position.
Below, a press conference jointly held by John Kerry and Newt Gingrich in 2007. I remember hearing about this at the time and thinking it signaled a real sea change in politics. Naivete.
In 2014, Gingrich demanded Kerry’s resignation and called him “delusional” for comparing climate change to WMD. He furiously spins denialist talking points to justify his flip-flop.
That was before:
1) TEA Party = Kochs + Tobacco, as per this.
2) A 4-way political split (Democrat, Independent, Republican, TEA) highlights differences inside (R+T), but the intensity of T drove almost all R politicians.
See Larry Hamilton’s nice survey Polar facts in the age of polarization. That’s New Hampshire, but it would not be surprising if it fit other places.
Meanwhile Solar keeps chugging along:
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/u-s-solar-is-producing-50-percent-more-electricity-than-we-thought/
U.S. Solar Is Producing 50 Percent More Electricity Than We Thought
Actual solar electricity production in the United States is 50% higher than previous estimates, according to new analysis by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and kWh Analytics.
All told, analysts found that solar energy systems in the U.S. generated 30.4 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in the 12 months ending in March 2015. Three states – California, Arizona, and Hawaii – can now say that solar provides more than 5% of their total annual electricity demand.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/blogs/assets/plugged-in/File/March_2015_US_Solar_Generation_580_376.png
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/blogs/assets/plugged-in/File/In_state_solar_generation_580_236.png
How can these people look themselves in the mirror?