McCain: Global warming is fact, must be addressed

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By Ed Tibbetts | Monday, May 7, 2007 1:22 PM CDT | () comments

(KEVIN E. SCHMIDT/ QUAD-CITY TIMES)

TODAY: (Updated 12:08 p.m.) Republican presidential candidate John McCain said today that global climate change is real and Americans must deal with its effects.

"Climate change is a fact," the Arizona senator told a crowd this morning gathered under a large tent outside the Iowa Machine Shed restaurant in Davenport.

McCain argued for a system that would cap emissions but allow individual companies to trade credits, within that cap, to put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A similar type of arrangement took place in the 1990s to battle acid rain. Several Democratic presidential candidates also approve of such an approach.

"We can have an ongoing debate, and should, about how serious is it, but it's happening," McCain said.

McCain, who has been most noted in this presidential campaign for his steadfast support of the Iraq War, made climate change a prominent part of his stump speech. He said the country should reduce its dependence on foreign oil and move toward renewable energy sources, as well as nuclear power.

His unequivocal embrace of the belief that global warming is occurring is striking given there is significant skepticism within his party that it is or that human activities are causing it. In an interview, McCain said, "if you want to ignore the findings of literally every reputable scientific organization in America and the world, that's your privilege."

As many as 250 people grouped under a tent outside the Machine Shed to hear McCain, who was making his second trip to the Quad-Cities this year.

The senator continued to take a forceful approach to Iraq, arguing that while the war was "very, very badly" mishandled there is a new general and a "good strategy" now in place.

He warned that if Americans withdraw from Iraq precipitously, terrorists "will follow us home."

McCain also dismissed the idea of a short-term funding proposal for the war. In the wake of President Bush's veto of Congress' war spending bill last month, Democrats are considering a new measure that would fund the war, but only through the summer, when they can get a report from the top general in Iraq, Gen. David Patraeus, about whether the surge in troops is having an impact.

"It's a gross distortion of the powers of the Congress of the United States," McCain said.

McCain also was making a trip to Muscatine today to campaign there.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted at (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.