David Roberts of Grist pins stall of CO2 terror movement in US on Tea Party racism. Apparently Roberts has never heard of Tea Party favorite Allen West. What would Roberts do without the race card? It’s all he has.

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10/22/12, “Climate silence: It’s the right, stupid,” David Roberts, Grist

“The only thing I’d add to all this climate-silence talk — because I haven’t seen it mentioned much — is that the retreat of climate from U.S. politics is not something that happened slowly and gradually. It was a fairly sharp break.

Throughout the decade from 1998 to 2008, Democrats swung around more solidly behind climate concern, but Republican sentiment stayed roughly steady. Right around 2008, however, there was a sharp uptick in skepticism about climate change, almost exclusively among far-right conservatives.

Now, what happened in 2008 that might have turned conservatives against climate? Hm … thinking … wait, wasn’t there an election that year? Why yes, I believe there was. Black Democrat took office, as I recall.

The sharp conservative turn against climate was part and parcel of the Tea Party phenomenon. When Obama and congressional Democrats championed legislation to address climate change — legislation not that different from what McCain championed in 2008 — the right immediately aligned against it, like a school of fish….

It’s not “the public” that’s behind the shift on climate. It’s the right-wing. It’s asymmetrical polarization. Until we discuss it in those terms, we won’t understand it or be able to address it.” via Tom Nelson

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