John Kasich: Climate Change Is Real, And We Must Ignore It Immediately

Remember how, during the Republican primary debate Thursday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich ( R-Who? ) seemed almost sane compared to the other goofballs on the stage? Heck, unlike almost all the other not-a-scientists in the Republican field, he's even said that climate change is real, although he doesn't think we should do anything about it. On NBC's Meet The Press Sunday, Chuck Todd congratulated him for being among the "big winners of Thursday's debate" -- largely on the merits of not coming off like a seething ragebag, we suppose -- and mentioned a Time magazine piece comparing Kasich to Pope Francis, because "inclusive." Kasich immediately backed away from the comparison, since the pope is way too much of an environmental extremist.

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Kasich was at first flattered by the comparison, but when Todd reminded Kasich that Pope Francis has stated that climate change is man-made, happening now, and needs to be slowed by the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere, Kasich made it clear he wouldn't ride on Pope Francis's Green Papal Crazy Train:  

Well, I think that man absolutely affects the environment, but as to whether, what the impact is… the overall impact -- I think that’s a legitimate debate. But what I do think is, you know in my state of Ohio, we preciously take care of Lake Erie, we've reduced emissions by over 30 percent over the last ten years. We believe in alternative energy. So of course we have to be sensitive to it, but we don’t want to destroy people’s jobs, based on some theory that is not proven.

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That's some first-class dodging and weaving there! Thirty percent of what emissions? Nice that you want to "take care of Lake Erie" -- currently experiencing a huge algae bloom due mostly to agricultural runoff -- but that's not about climate change, which is rather more than an unproven theory. But hey, as long as your measure of success is that the Cuyahoga River is no longer catching fire, you're doing great, carbon-wise. Let's pretend everything's fine, shall we, and go out on a song:

Burn on, Gov. Kasich. Burn on!

[ Think Progress / Time / Mother Jones ]