The McCain Veepstakes: What Might Have Been

With energy, climate change and rising fuel prices the key issues of concern to voters, you wonder what possessed John McCain to put climate-skeptic Sarah Palin one heartbeat away from the presidency -- instead of far more qualified candidates on his short list of potential nominees.

Palin wasted no time in exhibiting her skeptic credentials in a Newsmax interview the day of her appointment.

A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and Florida Governor Charlie Crist were almost tapped for the #2 spot instead. Let's have a look at their energy and climate policy record to see what might have been.

Read it and weep.

Pawlenty:

• Established a RPS that requires the state’s utilities to provide at least 25% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025.
• Signed The Next Generation Energy Act that sets greenhouse gas reduction goals of 15% by 2015, 30% by 2025, and 80% by 2050.
• Supports legislation to establish a feed-in tariff for renewable energy.

Crist:

• Opposed and halted the planned development of 3 new coal power plants in Florida.
• Agreed to cut Florida's greenhouse gas emissions by 10% in 7 years and by 80% by 2050.
• Announced plans to build the world's largest solar-thermal power plant in his state.

In contrast, Palin's record after 20 months on the job in Alaska includes pushing to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and suing the Interior Department over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species.

So what on Earth happened to McCain, who once said climate change would be one of three key issues in his campaign?

In a word, cynicism. Choosing Palin over the others was a nakedly political maneuver designed to game the system by using nasty and irresponsible identity politics to lure in the female vote. Period.

And it says much more about McCain than Palin.

He chose an anti-science candidate whose positions on climate and energy oppose critical planks in his own policies. Truth is, McCain's own renewable energy record is endlessly bad and getting worse. But now there's no hiding it: On energy issues, McCain has officially cemented his fate as an opportunistic and reckless tactician rather than a great leader.

As Carl Pope of the Sierra Club says:

With the pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for his running mate, John McCain's race towards the Bush administration's failed energy policy is now complete.

Worse yet: Before selecting Palin to be his #2, McCain met her one time. That's right, once. The New York Times details the odd vetting process here.

He hardly knew her, and she had virtually no foreign policy experience, but Ms. Palin was a "kindred spirit," a McCain adviser said.

David Frum at the conservative National Review nails the pick here:

The McCain campaign's slogan is "country first." It's a good slogan, and it aptly describes John McCain...

But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?

Hurricane Gustav is expected to slam the US Gulf Coast right before the curtain goes up on the RNC tonight, and the message pouring out of the convention is likely to be "country first."

But don’t be fooled. Standing by McCain's side is all the proof you need that he has put his country last. He has chosen to sacrifice US climate leadership for a drill, drill, drill veep who lacks basic awareness of the energy and climate challenges facing our nation and would be an instant away from the top job.

Frightening.

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