Lindsey Graham has been called a “wussypants,” “girly-man,” and “half-a-sissy” by Tea Partiers for his support for climate action. Two different county Republican parties in his home state of South Carolina have voted to censure him on the issue, with one calling his views on climate change “out of step with the beliefs of Republican voters.”
But Graham has at least one big player on his side: God.
The Christian Coalition is running ads in his state in support of his climate efforts, we learn via Grist. The ads focus on America’s dependence on fossil fuels, conjuring up the memory of George Bush pointing out our addiction to foreign oil. But if that’s what it takes to mobilize their conservative Republican base on this issue, all power to them. With 2.5 million members across the country, this can’t hurt. Here’s the script:
President Bush was right: our addiction to foreign oil threatens our national security and economic prosperity. America spends almost a billion dollars a day on foreign oil and a lot of that goes to countries that do not like us and harbor terrorists. Washington’s failure to act puts our national security at risk, and drains our economy. I’ve heard from so many Christian Coalition supporters that energy is one of the most important issues we face today. America is a can-do country. We’ve got to take the lead to explore energy alternatives and protect our national security. We have to make our country safer by creating jobs with the made-in-America energy plan. I would like to ask you to call Sen. Lindsey Graham and encourage him to continue fighting for our families.
Climate action also got some more evangelical support on Wednesday morning, as the Evangelical Environmental Network and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference visited Washington to call for legislation to address global warming. The groups state that “fulfilling Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbors and care for ‘the least of these’ includes protecting the poor from climate change and helping them adapt to the consequences they did not cause.”
