Paul Ryan over Climategate

Mitt Romney heeft Paul Ryan gekozen als zijn running mate. Ryan is voorzitter van het budgetcomité van het Huis van Afgevaardigden. Hij heeft een positie die als traditioneel Republikeins kan worden gekenmerkt: vóór het terugdringen van het begrotingstekort en vóór beperkingen van de belastingen, in het bijzonder voor bedrijven.

Op zijn blog rapporteerde Pierre Gosselin onlangs het volgende over de komst van Ryan:

We all know that Romney is wishy-washy when it comes climate change science, and that us so-called skeptics were not at ease with that. Well, now you can cast your worries aside.

Over the last hours there’s been a lot of buzz out in the media that Paul Ryan has been chosen as Romney’s running mate. Confirmation of that is still pending. If true, that means we have a VP candidate who is a pretty solid skeptic when it comes to catastrophic manmade global warming. Romney is obviously comfortable with that and is using Ryan to reposition himself on the issue of global warming and energy.
 
What is Ryan’s position on climate science? Here’s what Paul Ryan wrote less than 3 years ago:

To the detriment of the American people, environmental issues have fallen victim to the hyper-politicization of science. The Journal Times editorial board sensibly cautioned both sides of the political divide against this unfortunate trend (“Science must trump spin,” The Journal Times, 12/3/09). At issue in the Journal Times’ recent editorial and on the minds of many Copenhagen observers are published e-mail exchanges from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU). These e-mails from leading climatologists make clear efforts to use statistical tricks to distort their findings and intentionally mislead the public on the issue of climate change. The CRU e-mail scandal reveals a perversion of the scientific method, where data were manipulated to support a predetermined conclusion. The e-mail scandal has not only forced the resignation of a number of discredited scientists [Noot HL: Het was er maar één, Phil Jones, en die is al lang weer aan het werk.] but it also marks a major step back on the need to preserve the integrity of the scientific community. While interests on both sides of the issue will debate the relevance of the manipulated or otherwise omitted data, these revelations undermine confidence in the scientific data driving the climate change debates.”

Pierre Gosselin vervolgt met een gedetailleerd overzicht van Ryans stemgedrag ten aanzien van een aantal groene thema's.

Lees verder hier.

Ryan is geïnspireerd door het libertarische gedachtegoed. Wikipedia meldt daarover:

At an Atlas Society meeting celebrating Ayn Rand's life in 2005, Ryan said that "The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand", and "I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It's inspired me so much that it's required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff.

Ryan heeft scherpomlijnde denkbeelden over de oplossing van het Amerikaanse begrotingstekort. In deze video is te zien hoe hij op briljante wijze aantoont dat 'Obamacare' daarvoor geen oplossing biedt.

Voor mijn eerdere DDS-bijdragen, zie: