Romney Uses Sham Front Group To Slam McCain For Confronting Global Warming
Romney Uses Sham Front Group To Slam McCain For Confronting Global Warming
Last weekend, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) previewed some of the right-wing attacks on global warming that will be featured during the upcoming presidential election, slamming Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his actions to confront climate change. He accused the senator of supporting “radical climate change legislation,” and “pushing for a massive new energy tax.”
To hit McCain, Romney has relied on an anti-environment front group, the American Environmental Coalition (AEC) to do the work for him. Last week, George Landrith, the co-Chairman of the group, likened McCain to Al Gore and compared the senator to a wolf in sheep’s clothing:
When it comes to climate change, John McCain and Al Gore are far too much alike for my comfort. John McCain has been sponsoring legislation for the past several years that would give Al Gore much of the regulatory control and power he sought when he and Bill Clinton tried to get America to sign on to the UN’s Kyoto global warming treaty. [...]
When listening to John McCain, it would seem that evangelicals should remember the biblical warning found in St. Matthew 7:15 to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
It turns out that AEC is closely tied to the Romney campaign — something Landrith apparently didn’t think to disclose. A scan through AEC’s member rolls reveals the group’s links to the Romney campaign:
Gary Marx, who holds the registration to the AEC website domain name, is “charged with handling conservative outreach for Romney.”
Jay Sekulow, an AEC member, serves as “the co-chair of Mitt Romney’s Faith and Values Coalition.” His son, Jordan, is “a Romney staffer.”
Paul Weyrich, a prominent leader in the social conservative movement who is listed third on AEC’s list of members, endorsed Romney in November.
Lou Sheldon, an AEC member and chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, endorsed Romney and serves as “one of the co-chairs of the ‘Romney for President Faith and Values Steering Committee.’”
Gary Jarmin, seventh on the AEC list, is a vice-chair of Romney’s National Faith and Values steering committee.
While McCain’s climate change plans aren’t nearly as ambitious as others’, he is certainly the best of the worst that conservatives have to offer. Meanwhile, Romney insists the U.S. shouldn’t take the lead on global warming policy. “We don’t call it America warming,” he often quips.
UPDATE: AEC sent this statement to ThinkProgress:
It has just been brought to my attention that you have posted a statement on your blog that is attributed to me and AEC. Neither I nor AEC made or released any such statement. I ask that you remove the statement from your blog immediately. In the future, please contact me prior to attributing statements to me or AEC.
Sincerely,
George Landrith
Co-Chairman
American Environmental Coalition
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keep rubbing that magic lamp gg!
January 15th, 2008 at 4:11 pmThe Repuke slime machine is getting warmed up, getting ready to swiftboat the Democratic candidate.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:13 pmThey always practice on McCain first for some reason. Probably because he is not quite as far right as rest of the nutjob rebumblingkin candidates.
I feel the love.
Comment by good_golly — January 15, 2008 @ 4:08 pm
No, that warm feeling is because you peed your pants again.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:14 pm“he is certainly the best of the worst that conservatives have to offer. ”
YES! Can we get that on a bumber sticker…? ;)
PLEASE let McCain defeat Rombot tonight in Mi, please….
January 15th, 2008 at 4:19 pmIt’s just safer to assume that if it’s a republican talking, it is lying.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:22 pmIt’s just safer to assume that if it’s a republican talking, it is lying.
Comment by Bobwurst — January 15, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
And a racist, right Bobwurst? I thought you retracted your blanket apsersions yesterday…
January 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pmIt’s almost like when GWB/Rove threw everything but the kitchen sink at McCain… illegitimate children with black prostitute, fag candidate, drug addicted wife, insanity caused by POW experience, committed treason while a POW. You name it, they invented it.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pmSo if a Repbublican says he is a racist, is he still lying, Bob?
January 15th, 2008 at 4:24 pmBumper sticker: “CONSERVATIVES FOR HILLERY.â€
So if a Repbublican says he is a racist, is he still lying, Bob?
Comment by Keltoi
January 15th, 2008 at 4:30 pmHe said assumes…….it is a fair assumtion.
So Romney has set up a sham group to be his mouthpiece….
Didn’t Bush/Cheney do that also… they called their group Congress
January 15th, 2008 at 4:31 pmIt’s just safer to assume that if it’s a republican talking, it is lying.
Comment by Bobwurst
It’s a fair assumtion.
Dems are voting for Mitt in MI tonight
January 15th, 2008 at 4:32 pmkeep rubbing that magic lamp gg!
Comment by joe cantwell @ 4:11 pm
is that what you guys call it nowadays?
January 15th, 2008 at 4:33 pmGood afternoon Keltoi,
You can do better than post ten. How about if a republican says he’s a liar is he telling the truth? As far as my retraction, it’s still safer to assume that one is deaIling with a racist, or liar when dealing with a republican, but that statement leaves the door open to be proven wrong. Both Romney and McCain have proven themselves to be decietful.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:34 pmAs his make-or-break Michigan primary approaches, Mitt Romney is betting on his biography. Positioning himself as the home state boy done good who will do right by his home state, a new Romney ad says the contest there is “personal.” But while a New York Times headline proclaimed that “Romney embraces his Michigan roots” and the Politico announced “Romney plays nostalgia card in Michigan,” less attention is apparently being paid to Romney’s revisionist history. His claims notwithstanding, the man who declared he will save Michigan’s auto economy is not just “a guy from Detroit.”
For the details, see:
January 15th, 2008 at 4:34 pm“Romney Counts on Bogus Bio in Michigan.”
I’m delighted the Republicans push back on Climate change so vocally. My kids (10 & 14) and most all of their friends are very engaged in the global warming debate and they despise those who make light of the problem. They see Republicans as really dangerously stupid. Happily, first impressions are really hard to shake.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:38 pmBoth Romney and McCain have proven themselves to be decietful.
Comment by Bobwurst — January 15, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Well, most politicians fit that bill, be they Dem or Repub, it is all a matter of degree.
Huckabee is clearly a freak, Romney is a male/conservative Hillary clone who would say or do anything to win….McCain is indeed the best of a bad lot on the R side. And I didn’t know Floridas primary was open – if he took it it would be huge.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:39 pm19 the difference is that dems will lie if they have to…if they get cornered….like Bill Clinton did….you would have done the same….
republicans for the most part would rather lie when the truth would work just as well. It’s kind of a way of life for them.
Yeah…the degrees are startling.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:43 pmFIXED
When listening to George Landrith, co-chairman of the American Environnmental Coalition, it would seem that evangelicals should remember the biblical warning found in St. Matthew 7:15 to “beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.â€
Why is it that the people who have to quote the Bible in order to make their point always seem to be the people lieing in an attempt to royally f*** you over?
I guess…because they have to.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pmSo, let’s start calling it “America Warming” (for the time being, we’re still part of this planet), then, maybe Romney can get onboard with saving the earth. Sad, when our would-be leaders want to limit our involvement with the rest of the world, to destroying it.
Maybe if we called it “America’s WAR on Disasterous Climate Change”; they do like their wars…..
January 15th, 2008 at 4:46 pmFlorida’s primary is “open†in the sense that the polls are open as of yesterday. It is not “open†in the sense that only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary. That factor may hurt McCain in Florida as he relies largely on cross-over and Independent voters. Guiliani has put all of his eggs in the Florida basket which could prove to be a bad move.
Comment by good_golly
If you and keltoi want to discuss repub strategy……well this probably is a silly place for you to do that….what the hell is the matter with you?
January 15th, 2008 at 4:48 pmSo, let’s start calling it “America Warming†(for the time being, we’re still part of this planet), then, maybe Romney can get onboard with saving the earth. Sad, when our would-be leaders want to limit our involvement with the rest of the world, to destroying it.
Maybe if we called it “America’s WAR on Disasterous Climate Changeâ€; they do like their wars…..
Comment by judyinnm
they would just warp it into something bad like the “Clean Air Inititative”……..we all know that’s a misnomer.
January 15th, 2008 at 4:52 pmHuckabee is clearly a freak, Romney is a male/conservative Hillary clone who would say or do anything to win….McCain is indeed the best of a bad lot on the R side. And I didn’t know Floridas primary was open – if he took it it would be huge.
Comment by Keltoi — January 15, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Huckabee is a freak? Huckabee, Keltoi, is the very demographic the Republican Party has been catering to and relying on for the last 25 years. The Party always thought they could keep them under control by throwing them bits of raw meat (gay marriage) and now they’re dismayed that the Religious Right has proffered up a serious candidate who is sincere in his committment to their theocratic demands — unlike virtually every other Republican candidate for decades.
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
January 15th, 2008 at 4:54 pmComment by slappy magoo — January 15, 2008 @ 4:46 pm
Why are Christians so anti-environment in the first place? Its not like God made the Earth for us to shit all over.
Its like if I went to the Garden of Eden and starting dumping used motor oil in the lake as Adam was trying to take a drink from it.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:02 pmIf you and keltoi want to discuss repub strategy……well this probably is a silly place for you to do that….what the hell is the matter with you?
Comment by Fred — January 15, 2008 @ 4:48 pm
Pssst…..Fred! Didja read the topic thread? Notice how it is about Republican campaign stategy? Yes? Good!
January 15th, 2008 at 5:05 pmWhy are Christians so anti-environment in the first place?
Comment by dim wit — January 15, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
Christians are not anti-environmental. There’s a big rift in the evangelical community over a push to make enivronmental stewardship a bigger priority in their agenda.
The “Christians” who are anti-environmental are generally the same “Christians” who embrace the Old Testament God rather than the teachings of Jesus. In other words, they’re not Christians at all. Just fakes who manipulate the faithful to achieve their political ends.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:10 pmCaption contest:
Yes… This is the door handle I’m turning….
We’re at &*#$&#*$& how many feet?
January 15th, 2008 at 5:18 pmdim wit,
The most anti-environmental statement ever, or at least the statement that the freaks take to heart to cover their rape of the earth is found in the bible, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it”.
See, God made those redwoods for you dim wit, so you can have a shiny wood floor. And God hid the oil under the sand so you can drive a Hummer.
The second most cover for the rape is the Rapture. When Jebus comes trippingg back, he will be scattering Molotov cocktails in his wake and promises to destroy the earth. So what are you saving the forests and animals for? Jebus is going to smoke them all anyway. And he is coming soon, real soon according to the Rapture Index.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:19 pmre 28:
January 15th, 2008 at 5:22 pmRepublican campaign strategy is the ends justify the means. They don’t care about lying, or stealing, or causing harm to anyone. It’s all about the winning. And yes, keltiod, dems lie too. But they don’t steal elections (since daley died) and they don’t play the wedge game using people as pawns like your boys do. And they don’t lie like your boys do either. If you care to dispute that, then point to a dem case that mirrors what bush did to mcaint in so carolina. and if you care to claim relative equivalency on the group smear for political gain issue, please show what group dems demonize to motivate voters like your boys demonize hispanics, or gays, or middle-easterns.
and if you care to claim relative equivalency on the group smear for political gain issue, please show what group dems demonize to motivate voters like your boys demonize hispanics, or gays, or middle-easterns.
Comment by Bobwurst — January 15, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
How about Evangelical Christians? Did you see the thread on Huckabee today? I am not a Christian, but the glee with which the left attacks them is often ugly.
How about the US military? Did you catch ANY of what’s been going on in SF regarding recruiting depots, use of public streets, etc?
Both sides do it, we are splitting hairs to say one is worse than another, they are both fixated on victory.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:26 pmBREAKING:
January 15th, 2008 at 5:27 pmnevada supreme court says KUCINICH IS IN!
haha
That is hillarious coming from ANYONE in the conservative movement – given that their rise to power and their move theocratic was funded and molded by their “True” savior Sun Myung Moon.
I think, Think Progrees is afraid to use Moon’s name in a sentence so I will do it for them again.
Gary Jarmin is Sun Myung Moon’s top political operative in Washington DC. He is the one who conned Sen. John Warner into renting Moon a room in the Dirksen building so the moonies could crown Moon the messiah and so America could “surrender” to Moon.
Churches in America still use what Jarmin taught them over the years about organizing – just one more of Moon’s successful efforts to mold conservatism into his image and bring the religous right to power in America.
Jarmin makes his living sending fright to mail to senior citizens when he’s not doing Moon’s bidding.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:44 pmIn the last several years, the GOP has rapidly morphed into the Goofy Ostrich Party, with their heads-in the-sand attitudes about many important issues. I guess that seven years of stupidity, arrogance, greed, war-mongering, spying and lying by the Bush gangster regime have driven many Republicans totally insane..
January 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pmSo McCain is a commie, pinko, liberal ? And here it is that we were supposed to support our troops (including war heroes).
January 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pm#20,Fred – the word is “Pathalogical”(sic), they may even believe their own lies – see George Bush Jr., he is sincere….
January 16th, 2008 at 12:16 am1. ROTFL!! Yeah, pointing out the EXTREMISTS is BEING UGLY? What a MORON you are!
You guys are tough! It’s true, some evangelicals are extreme but why call someone who simply reported what was said a moron? When I read the posts with such words as moron, extremists, liar, etc I wondered if any of you have friends who might be Republicans who are intelligent, articulate and even great to have a beer with at happy hour.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:29 am