Rick Santorum: I've Never Believed In The 'Hoax Of Global Warming'

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum targeted primary rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on Tuesday for allegedly buying into the "bogus" science of man-made climate change, while proudly declaring that he himself had never believed in the "hoax of global warming."

At a campaign event in Colorado Springs, Colo., Santorum first took aim at Romney for his support of a regional cap and trade energy pact as Massachusetts governor, a line of attack he previewed over the weekend on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Governor Romney proudly announced that they were the first state, Massachusetts, to put a cap on CO2 emissions in the state of Massachusetts," Santorum said in Colorado, according to Politico, before turning on Gingrich.

"Speaker Gingrich has supported cap and trade for more than a dozen years. Now, he wants business incentives to go along with cap and trade, but he supported cap and trade, and sat on the couch with Nancy Pelosi and said that global warming had to be addressed by Congress," Santorum continued. "Who is he or who's Governor Romney to be able to go after President Obama? I've never supported even the hoax of global warming."

Gingrich has been battered on the now-notorious spot repeatedly over the course of the campaign. He's gone as far as to call it the "dumbest thing" he's done in the "last four years."

As Think Progress points out, Santorum also gave a more thorough explanation of his views on climate change on Monday.

"If you leave it to Nature, then Nature will do what Nature does, which is boom and bust," Santorum said at an energy summit in Colorado. "We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit not for the Earth's benefit."

He then appeared to give credence to the importance of "science and discovery," but only to prevent the "vagaries of nature" that could damage humans' ability to benefit from the planet.

"We are the intelligent beings that know how to manage things and through that course of science and discovery if we can be better stewards of this environment, then we should not let the vagaries of nature destroy what we have helped create," Santorum said.

Where the GOP presidential candidates stand on global warming:

Comments

[Kenz300]

02:54 PM on 03/22/2012

Republicans are too extreme.... they want small government and then want to impose their views on everyone else. Sounds more like political opportunists.

[Dogs And Cats]

02:08 AM on 03/22/2012

There are facts. There's wishful thinking. There's denial. And then there's misformation. I think who fits in where is pretty much self evident at this point.

[This American]

11:59 PM on 03/21/2012

“The enormous benefits of CO2 have been documented for well over one hundred years. It is the source of 100% of our food and higher concentrations mean more and cheaper food, along with the agricultural surpluses that are the precursors of all economic development. The dangers posed by CO2 look more and more to have been concocted for purely (socialist) political reasons.

IF it could be shown that the dangers of CO2 outweighed the benefits, a tax on carbon combustion would make sense. Using the same logic, if, as seems increasingly likely, these risks do not exist, economic efficiency and human well being could be maximized with a subsidy on carbon dioxide emissions.

It is time to drop the discussion of carbon taxes and cap and trade and move on, for the sake of the children, to a "Burn and Earn" program (financed with a tax on food) that would pay big $ bonuses annually to those with big carbon footprints.”

[jimboy71]

12:09 AM on 03/22/2012

This is the worst pile of garbage I have ever read.

A tax on food. What a brilliant idea. Shift the burden of paying for the oppression of the planet by the rich industrialists even further to the poor.

Id/io/cy.

[This American]

12:17 AM on 03/22/2012

Thank you, you made my day.

[Pharos]

02:01 AM on 03/22/2012

Your first sentence is wrong. So is your second sentence. Amazingly so is your third sentence. Don't know about the rest as I stopped reading.

I just wish you would act on your micro-bio - end your nonsensical postings.

[Dogs And Cats]

10:43 PM on 03/21/2012

From today's WP:

Caribou, Maine: The normal high there is 36. It has reached at least 75 today, *a new record by 18 degrees*. On Monday, Caribou reached 60 or higher the earliest on record in March. On Tuesday, it hit 70+ the earliest on record (73). In Bangor, the mercury surged to at least 82 (breaking old record by 18 degrees), its earliest 80+ reading on record and highest March temperature.

Burlington:Tuesday it recorded its earliest 80 degree reading on record - 9 days ahead of the previous record. It was only the 6th 80 degree day observed in March. Today has climbed to 81, adding a 7th. Win Smith, president and owner of Sugarbush ski resort, blogged: “I have been in New England all of my life and while I have seen wild weather, this is certainly the warmest March I can recall.”

Moosonee, Ontario, reached 70°F. Normal high for the date is 25°F. Winnipeg, Manitoba set a record high for the month of March, with 74.7°F, beating the previous record of 73.9°F, set in 1946

[Dogs And Cats]

10:42 PM on 03/21/2012

From today's WP:

Chicago: Soared to 87 today, its eighth consecutive day of record warmth. That is the highest temperature so early in the season and just one degree shy of the all-time highest March temperature of 88. Chicago has hit 80 7 times in the last 8 days. It is now only one shy of the APRIL record for most 80+ days and could tie it Thursday.

Detroit: Tied its all-time March record of 82 Tuesday.

Milwaukee: Soared to 83 Tuesday, its warmest March temp on record. In nearby Madison, record highs have been set the past 6 days including today, when it reached 83 - a new record high for the entire month.

In Traverse City, Michigan, the high has reached at least 87 (45 degrees above normal), surpassing the monthly record set yesterday.

[Ross NW]

10:33 PM on 03/21/2012

In terms of global temperatures, 2005, 2010 and several others around that time are among the warmest on record. So I don't know where this idea comes from that we're "cooling" now, other than from very wishful thinking.

[Ross NW]

10:24 PM on 03/21/2012

Deniers love to kill the messenger -- first James Hansen, then Al Gore. They're having a harder and harder time killing the message though as global warming isn't only happening, but it is speeding up.

[Dogs And Cats]

10:13 PM on 03/21/2012

The hoax of global warming? Cleveland Ohio was 83 degrees today. Grand Rapids, MI, 82. Burlington Vermont broke their record by 12 degrees. Before global warming began accelerating, records would be broken by a couple degrees, now they're going down in staggering fashion. And this after California has pretty much skipped winter altogether. The rains didn't come until mid March this year. (December-March is the rainy season).

[jimboy71]

10:43 PM on 03/21/2012

Toronto Canada skipped winter this year. We had no snow on the ground all winter, and the passion flower vines that were blooming in December didn't get frosted as usual...so they don't need re-planting. They are budding gangbusters and we are set to break the all time high for March ever tomorrow.

And Europe endured record cold. All predicted by the models.

[Pharos]

02:24 AM on 03/22/2012

You really should be more careful in your comments. Next thing you know, Orkneygal is going to flag your comments as, unfair and abusive, for using facts.

[Jamgrae]

02:51 PM on 02/21/2012

Rick Santorum is the perfect example for why the Founding Fathers decided to separate church and state. His views on Global Warming, in the face of scientific fact, is appalling. And he wants to lead this country into a new era of progress and science...HOW? His concept on Global Warming seems to go against the Bible he claims to honor. God gave us stewardship over the earth...to protect it from harm. If we fail to do so, it won't be coming from the Bible...but from the Devil. And his views on getting state and federal government out of the public school system is outrageous. Doesn't he have the sense to know that if that were to happen, the public school system would seize to exist? That only the very rich could afford education? That our whole system would plunge back decades...and then our entire country would fall? If these GOP candidates have some personal ax to grind about America, they should keep it to themselves...way back in the dark curves of their minds and not let it out for the public to hear...especially if they want to be POTUS. By revealing these things openly, one might assume that they are in need of some serious mental health.

[une]

08:50 AM on 02/21/2012

Rick, the greater understanding knows you are being paid by the oil industry to position yourself against climate change. Positioning yourself with the convenient lie that there is not enough evidence only appeals to the lower understanding. You, and the others, which position yourselves to deceive are profiting at our expense. Greed is the non-understanding of Christ.
I invite you to the understanding of Christ, which is the understanding of The Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ:
11:18 - “and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth”.

You can say you are all about Christ, yes, but you are following the non-understanding of Christ. You can’t get much further from understanding than right wing extremism!

13:18 - Let him who has UNDERSTANDING calculate the number of the beast…..

[realpolitic]

07:13 PM on 02/19/2012

Why does one need to be the village idiot to be a Republican candidate for president?

[Pharos]

02:35 AM on 03/22/2012

As one who grew up in a time when there were decent Republicans, I ask myself the same question. Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller, Dwight Eisenhower, and earlier Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln; now mitt and ricky boy - WHAT happened?
Can anyone imagine any of the current Republicans as President during the Civil War? What would this country be like today?

[MGhamma]

11:38 PM on 03/22/2012

300,000,000 people with no teeth.

[Steve Provost]

12:37 PM on 02/19/2012

This guy is needs a straitjacket.

[jdey1234]

04:39 PM on 02/16/2012

Oh my the earth's got 0.5C warmer in 240 years. How will we cope. rofl.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/

[ubrew12]

10:26 PM on 02/16/2012

I think we'll cope fine. As long as we, like you, are living in the past.

[Publicola]

07:53 PM on 02/17/2012

Oh my that's not what your link shows, and nor is it true.

Why do you continually post climate science disinformation, Jdey? Such a mystery.

http://www.monbiot.com/2011/02/23/robot-wars/

[StephenBP]

06:45 AM on 02/15/2012

The Reality of Global Warming Admits: Rick Santorum Is Working For Me

[Swamp People]

08:28 AM on 02/14/2012

Uh oh...: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html

[Publicola]

04:05 PM on 02/14/2012

You are posting a link to a 2 year-old, repeatedly-debunked* science-denying UK Daily Mail tabloid article - good for you.

--------------------------------
* Journalistic malpractice on global warming

Since I've advocated a more explicit use of the word "lie", I'll go ahead and follow my own advice: that Daily Mail headline is a lie. Phil Jones did not say there had been no global warming since 1995; he said the opposite.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/climate_change_and_media

[Publicola]

04:55 PM on 02/14/2012

Netdr as Neptune2*: "Nothing you posted refute the link he posted."

Wrong again. Netdr - you evidently don't understand basic, high school-level statistics.

The Daily Mail tabloid he posted a link to has the following (infamous) headline:

"Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995"

As the Economist article I link to explained, that tabloid headline is a lie:

"that Daily Mail headline is a lie. Phil Jones did not say there had been no global warming since 1995; he said the opposite.  He said the world had been warming at 0.12°C per decade since 1995."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/02/climate_change_and_media

Netdr: "There still has been no statistica­lly significan­t warming since 1995"

Lie.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13719510

Stop lying. Netdr.

------------------
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
http://www.monbiot.com/2011/02/23/robot-wars/

[StephenBP]

06:43 AM on 02/15/2012

From the article:

Professor Jones criticised those who complained he had not shared his data with them, saying they could always collate their own from publicly available material in the US. And he said the climate had not cooled ‘until recently – and then barely at all. The trend is a warming trend’.

Mr Harrabin [ the interviewer] told Radio 4’s Today programme that, despite the controversies, there still appeared to be no fundamental flaws in the majority scientific view that climate change was largely man-made.