Bali hypocrisy bonus!

Al Gore is joined in Bali by John Kerry, whose official position in 2004 was that "the Kyoto Protocol is not the answer."  According to one article, while Kerry was in Bali "he thanked the nations that persevered to push the Kyoto Protocol without the participation and leadership of the United States."  He then added, "and by the United States I mean people like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and me."

Comments

[Save the Oocytes]

What was the answer he proposed? Corporate goodwill?

[John Caruso]

The short answer is "endless negotiations".

The longer answer: the policy paper I'm quoting is gone from Kerry's site, but archive.org still has it here. You'll see that it's mentioned in the context of Kerry's plan for "clean coal" (and to my knowledge, this was the only official statement of his policy on global warming). Here's the full quote:

John Kerry and John Edwards believe that the Kyoto Protocol is not the answer. The near-term emission reductions it would require of the United States are infeasible, while the long-term obligations imposed on all nations are too little to solve the problem. Unlike the current Administration, John Kerry and John Edwards will offer an alternative to the Kyoto process that leads the world toward a more equitable and effective answer, while preserving coal miners’ jobs.

The real answer is that nobody knows what Kerry would have done, because he pursued a policy of strategic ambiguity on Kyoto and global warming. Given the amount of smoke he blew, I think we can safely assume he would have (effectively) done nothing at all.

Every time I revisit the empty shell (and closet Republican) that is John Kerry, I'm amazed yet again to think of how many progressives gave him their full support in 2004.