I wanted to like you, John

I recently read a full transcript of John McCain’s speech concerning global warming, the environment and energy policy. The speech sounded very progressive and in line with what the envirocrats have been saying for years. For a fleeting moment, I was actually impressed and had a bit of hope for the Republicans. And then I did what all of us do when we read something that doesn’t quite fit what we think is going on: I researched the matter more fully.

It turns out that the senator is either a born-again environmentalist or simply the biggest deceiver we could have imagined. You see, the League of Conservation Voters rates senators on their environmental voting record, and guess what: The senator didn’t receive a 75, no—not even a 50, not even a 25, but a flat 0! He literally did not even show up once to vote for his new-found enviro principles.

Only four senators were given worse ratings for their environmental voting records. Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said this: “Republicans and Democrats alike in both chambers received perfect scores of 100 this year, proof that being green isn’t a question of red or blue. John McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric: a lifetime pattern of voting with polluters and special interests instead of consumers and the planet when it comes time to stand up and be counted. Or perhaps worse yet: a consistent refusal to stand up and be counted at all.”

I’m sorry, John—I really did want to like you, but it’s becoming clearer that you are a huge liar and deceiver. You cannot hide from your record, and I don’t trust you to clean anything up. You’re no hero, just a big zero.

Young Americans will not be force-fed information like our grandparents. The Republican Party represents a dying paradigm of personal security at any cost, and is out of step with the desires of open-minded, thoughtful, worldly individuals (which most people are).

— Austin Hill
Asheville