McConnell dodges on climate change

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told an Ohio newspaper that he could not say if human-caused climate change is real because he is not an expert on the matter.

“I’m not a scientist,” McConnell told the editorial board of The Cincinnati Enquirer Thursday.

{mosads}“I am interested in protecting Kentucky’s economy, I’m interested in having low cost electricity.” 

He refused to tell the Enquirer whether he believes in climate change.

Enquirer staffers tried multiple times to find out what it would take to convince the five-term senator to agree with the scientific consensus that the Earth is warming, largely because of human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.

But he would not answer, instead turning the subject to jobs.

“I’m not interested in handicapping Kentucky’s economy in pursuit of a crusade no one else is following,” said McConnell, who is running for reelection against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. Both candidates have railed against Environmental Protection Agency policies they say would hurt the coal industry.

Similar statements on climate science have become common among Republicans in recent months — instead of saying that they firmly do not believe in climate change.

Shortly before the Obama administration unveiled its plan in June to cut carbon emissions from power plants, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he’s “not qualified to debate the science over climate change.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) recently said, “I’m not a scientist” when asked about Florida’s vulnerability to the effects of global warming.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) made similar declarations recently in response to questions about the Earth’s age and evolution.