National newspaper alleges “blinkered Republican opposition” to climate action

Washington Post : An editorial calls climate change “perhaps the most neglected big issue of the 2012 campaign,” asks for “more aggressive policymaking” about it in President Obama’s second term, and charges that House speaker John Boehner now “appear[s] to mischaracterize the scientific debate on global warming.” Boehner reportedly said, “I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’ve had climate change over the last 100 years. What has initiated it, though, has sparked a debate that’s gone on now for the last 10 years.” The editorial reviews “the basic physical principles on which the scientific consensus is based"; cites a recent study showing that in Boehner’s “âlast 10 years’ alone, the models and the quality of the information that feeds into them have gotten progressively better"; and stipulates that, yes, uncertainties are involved. But it urges Boehner nevertheless “to stand up for the climate researchers and push Washington’s policy deliberations into accord with the science.”