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Posted on 04/10/2007 1:19:25 PM PDT by xjcsa
In a heavily hyped debate – one that environmentalist Democrats hoped would be a “smack down” on Republicans -- former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich disappointed them and conservatives alike when he declared that human activity was causing the Earth to warm.
The concession was made in a debate on global warming with Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) today on Capitol Hill that was sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the RAND Corporation.
In his first portion of allotted time Gingrich said there were two undisputed areas of scientific consensus on global warming: that the earth is getting hotter and the warming had been caused by human activity.
At one point, Kerry asked Gingrich what he would say to conservatives like Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla.) who do not believe global warming is caused by human activity. Gingrich said, "The evidence is sufficient that we should move to the most effective possible steps to reduce carbon."
“We should be moving to develop all kinds of new green technology,” Gingrich said. He challenged Kerry to find market-based solutions to reduce carbon emission instead of increasing environmental regulations.
“Regulation and litigation are the least effective ways of getting solutions,” the former Speaker said. “Reshaping markets with incentives are the fastest way.”
Kerry argued that environment laws drafted with help from the United Nations have been successful.
Kerry said the laws were “needed to create the leverage and the market so they would go out and invest in the technology because they don’t invest without it.” Government regulation, he said “is the only way to invite people to make that investment.”
“We are not arguing bureaucracy and regulation. We are arguing whether putting a price on carbon is bureaucracy.”
Kerry said it was not. “This is not bureaucracy. You set the standard the market will set the price,” he said. “We all live in a world where we don’t pay for the cost. We don’t pay for the loss of fish, we don’t pay for the lost of these species. None of that is priced into the goods today.”
Before launching into his initial speech, Gingrich endorsed the book Kerry had co-authored with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry "This Moment on Earth.".
“This is excellent, this is a very good book,” he said. “I would commend this book to anyone who wants to see local leadership make a difference.” Gingrich said he didn’t agree with “about 60% of it” but would urge others to “read it because it’s an example of individual local leadership against the odds.”
Gingrich’s concession was expected in many news circles as part of his long-shot strategy to run for President in 2008. He has said since last year that he would make a decision to run or not sometime in the fall of this year. He is planning to release a new book, "Contract with the Earth" this November that he co-wrote with conservationist Terry Maples.
Yesterday, in his weekly email newsletter “Winning the Future” Gingrich said that September 27 would be “Solutions Day.” This is to honor the 13th anniversary of his 1994 “Contract with America.”
Last week, Gingrich called the Spanish language a “ghetto language.” Immediately after the mishap, he recorded an extensive apology, in Spanish, directed to the Hispanic community that made available on YouTube. Last month, he revealed to Focus on the Family’s James Dobson that he had an extramarital affair on Dobson’s radio show.
In January, Gingrich appeared at a hearing conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to talk about how to stabilize Iraq.
LOL!
Absolutely classless.
If you're going to go on the public airwaves and have an affair on a radio show, the least you can do is go on a show like Howard Stern's where that kind of trash is expected.
I bet Dobson's listeners were appalled!
That was started it all.
To be fair, I think many of Dobson's listeners become appalled at some particularly racy Cole Porter lyrics.
My support for him is over.
BTW, here’s a nugget for everyone. If Al Gore believes his message, why does he live the lifestyle he does?
Strike another one off the list.
I think you missed my point.
Well said.
I STILL do not understand what the Newt Cult is all about. He does this kind of stuff ALL the time.
G*****it, NEWT!! Just when we’re making headway against the greenies, some Repubs start going goofy.
I wasn’t paying attention to your point. You just lobbed what we in the wisecrack business call a ‘softball,’ so I had to indulge!
should be “That was what started it all”
New!!: Dr. John Ray’s
GREENIE WATCH
Please ping me if you find one I’ve missed.
OKSooner and I are doing the POGW
ping list while xcamel is on vacation.
Gingrich is not now and, essentially since 1995 when the Clintonoids got onto his affair, has not been a reliable conservative. They probably used the affair to blackmail him into not mounting an aggressive campaign against Clinton and, ever since then, he's essentially been a eunuch. Along with McCain, he's one of the two '08 pubbie candidates I've decided not to support for the nomination.
I’m with you.
Or Ted Danson on TV 17 years ago on tv telling everyone that “if we don’t do something today, the oceans will not exist as they do now in 10 years”?
I’ve been saying that Newt was a closet Global Socialist for over ten years.
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