Palin flip-flops on global warming

In her interview with Charlie Gibson, Sarah Palin contradicted her previous statements on the issue.

Published September 12, 2008 8:49PM (EDT)

Flip-flops aren't just for sunbathers and John Kerry anymore. Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has gotten into the act.

During her widely publicized interview with ABC News' Charlie Gibson Thursday, Gibson asked Palin whether she still believed that global warming was not the result of human behavior. Palin responded, "I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change." When Gibson then asked her whether this marked a change on her stance on the issue, Palin replied, "Show me where I have ever said that there's absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect or no effect on climate change. I have not said that."

Well, Gov. Palin, since you asked for it so nicely...

As Jake Tapper pointed out on his blog, on August 28, Palin told Newsmax that "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." And she also told a Fairbanks, Alaska newspaper that "I'm not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity."

Granted, Palin's claim on Thursday was technically right, but that's because she set an impossibly high standard. Maybe it's just that Palin is consistently inconsistent. After all, she changed her mind on the "Bridge to Nowhere" too.


By Vincent Rossmeier

Vincent Rossmeier is an editorial assistant at Salon.

MORE FROM Vincent Rossmeier


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2008 Elections Global Warming John Mccain R-ariz. Sarah Palin