The Republican party has long obstructed efforts to pass climate change legislation in the United States. But the party may soon be forced to reckon with its "willful denial of science and facts," reports Coral Davenport.
"Throughout the Republican presidential primaries, every candidate but one—former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was knocked out of the race at the start—questioned, denied, or outright mocked the science of climate change" - an indication of the party's long-held stance on the politically charged issue.
However, according to Davenport, "deep fissures are emerging between, on one side, a base of ideological voters and lawmakers with strong ties to powerful tea-party groups and super PACs funded by the fossil-fuel industry who see climate change as a false threat concocted by liberals to justify greater government control; and on the other side, a quiet group of moderates, younger voters, and leading conservative intellectuals who fear that if Republicans continue to dismiss or deny climate change, the party will become irrelevant."
"A concerted push has begun within the party—in conservative think tanks and grassroots groups, and even in backroom, off-the-record conversations on Capitol Hill—to persuade Republicans to acknowledge and address climate change in their own terms," she says. "The effort will surely add heat to the deep internal conflict in the years ahead."
FULL STORY: The Coming GOP Civil War Over Climate Change
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