McCain Warms Up to the Environment

John McCain pranced through a Washington forest with reporters Tuesday, speaking of his historical support for the environment and his plan to slow global warming. The move is seen as an effort to differentiate McCain’s brand of Republicanism from Bush, who ritually regarded global warming as a “theory.”

The New York Times:

Senator John McCain intensified his criticism of President Bush and the administration’s environmental polices on Tuesday, taking a walk in the cold, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Mountains and asserting that in the effort to stem climate change, “America can lead and not obstruct.”

At an outdoor news conference in the Cedar River Watershed east of Seattle, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, declared that “the president and I have disagreed on this issue for many years — it isn’t a recent disagreement.” He added, “There is a longstanding, significant, deep, strong difference on this issue between myself and the administration.”

Mr. McCain was on his second day of a trip to the Pacific Northwest, a potential swing region in the November election, to promote his plan to slow global warming and appeal to the region’s many independent voters who view the environment as an election issue of critical concern. Mr. Bush, who questioned the scientific basis for global warming in his first term, is deeply unpopular, and Mr. McCain, whom the president endorsed at the White House in March, has been sprinting away from him this week.

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