The Green Newt

After Newt's disappointing performance at his great environmental debate with John Kerry... This may be nothing but damage control aimed at his conservative supporters.

Gingrich writes:

Vice President Al Gore suggests that global warming is so bad that we could have a 20-foot rise in the oceans in the near future. No responsible scientist anywhere believes that to be true. But if the debate becomes, "Al Gore cares about the earth, and we're against Al Gore," we end up in a defensive position where the average American could end up perceiving conservatives as always being negative about the environment.

So what is Green Conservatism? Here are its basic values:
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1) Green Conservatism favors clean air and clean water.
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2) Green Conservatism understands biodiversity as a positive good.
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3) Green Conservatism favors minimizing carbon loading in the atmosphere as a positive public value.
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4) Green Conservatism is pro-science, pro-technology and pro-innovation.
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5) Green Conservatism believes that green prosperity and green development are integral to the successful future of the human race.
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6) Green Conservatism believes that economic growth and environmental health are compatible in both the developed and developing world.
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7) Green Conservatism believes that we can realize more positive environmental outcomes faster by shifting tax code incentives and shifting market behavior than is possible from litigation and regulation.

For those of us who believe that "Man-Made" Global Warming is a hoax and a political tool of the Left, these words ring as just more political manipulation... Perhaps by just another candidate looking for a way to raise his positive numbers in the polls. There is a conservative flavor to these ideas, but it is still based upon the assumption that man can change global temps with changed behavior.

Newt is a shrewd politician. I'm willing to believe that smart politics is what this is really all about.