It's been something of a foregone conclusion about where Senator John McCain stands on climate change. He unquestionably accepts that human activities are a major contributing factor to global warming and has co-authored legislation imposing mandatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions.
McCain's support for mandatory emissions caps put him at odds with most of his fellow Republicans. But he muddied the picture somewhat at a press conference in June when, in response to a question, he said that while he believed in an emissions cap-and-trade system, "I would not at this time make those...impose a mandatory cap at this time."
McCain's campaign said he was confused by the question, which had to do with the European Union setting mandatory targets for renewable energy.
In her interview this week with McCain's vice-presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, CBS News anchor Katie Couric sought to draw out Palin on the issue. Couric asked if Palin agrees with proposed legislation calling for mandatory caps.
"Absolutely," Palin responded, according to the unedited transcript of the interview.
Couric then said McCain, "somewhat backtracked on the campaign trail, saying the caps wouldn't be mandatory, they'd be voluntary. Do you think voluntary caps go far enough? Or should they be mandatory?"
"He's got a good cap-and-trade policy that he supports," Palin said. "And the details are being hashed out even right now. But, in principle, absolutely, I support all that we can do to reduce emissions and to clean up the planet. And John McCain is right on board with that."
"Voluntary or mandatory, in your view?" Couric asked.
"We're gonna keep working on how it can be implemented to actually make sense and make a difference," Palin replied.
That certainly clarified matters.
Palin was also asked if she believes that global warming is the result of human activities, something she has questioned in the past.
"You know, there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, these impacts," Palin said. "I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. [What Palin presumably meant to say is that she is not solely going to blame changes in climate on man's activities]. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen changes there."
However, human beings are "certainly contributing to pollution today," Palin said. "And to some adverse effects on the environment. And it's all of our jobs to clean things up."
Who can argue with that? Human beings pollute; it is having an adverse effect on the environment; and we do bear a shared responsibility to clean it up. But it's not at all clear from the interview what kind of pollution Palin is talking about or what a McCain-Palin climate policy would actually look like.
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