presidential debate

Despite weeks of cajoling and  demands to insert climate into the discussion during the presidential debates, the final debate ended on Monday with climate clearly absent for the 1st time in 24 years.“Climate change threatens us: the candidates silence threatens to seal our fate,” said Brad Johnson, campaign manager of Climate...[read more]

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Last night marked the third and final presidential debate of the 2012 election, and was the first time since 1984 that climate change went unmentioned by the presidential candidates in any of the debates. (“Obviously there are only so many [topics] you can get to,” debate moderator Bob Schieffer noted afterwards. “I had questions about...[read more]

Nuclear Power Plant via Shutterstock

A quick Turing test from the prior round of U.S. presidential debates - see if you can spot the speaker:We have increased oil production to the highest levels in 16 years. Natural gas production is the highest it's been in decades. We have seen increases in coal production and coal employment.Look, I want to make sure we use our oil, our...[read more]

In the second presidential debate of 2012 an attendee asked President Obama, “Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating ‘It’s not policy of this department to help lower gas prices.’ Do you agree with Secretary Chu, that this is not the job of the Energy Department?” The question went essentially...[read more]

Fuel Prices via Shutterstock

Surprisingly, gasoline prices were front and center in last night’s Presidential debate –surprisingly, because gasoline prices would seem to be one of those issues that are largely out of a President’s hand. The single largest variable that influences gasoline prices is the price of crude oil and it is hard for the United States to influence the global oil market, especially right now given the extensive instability in the Middle East.[read more]

Big Bird might have been one the most popular trends on Twitter during the first presidential debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. But as tonight’s wide ranging discussion on domestic issues unfolded, #climatesilence got some decent play as well. Sadly, not because the candidates broke their silence on the issue.Here are two...[read more]

Tonight's debate featured a great question on the candidates approach to energy independence. Tom Brokaw asked John McCain if the strategy for achieving energy independence should be the government launching an Apollo/Manhattan Project or having 100,000 entrepreneurs working on energy solutions in their garages. McCain didn't really...[read more]

I don’t get. The Grist Donkey Mill is endorsing the pea under the walnut shell that is cap-and-trade. David Roberts relays a bit of transcript from the “Dems” (Dat Have) on the question of climate policy: GIBSON: All right. Let me turn to something else. Reversing — you invoked the name of Al Gore a few moments ago — reversing or...[read more]

Here’s a test. Think back to the Sunday political talk shows and the major presidential debates of the past year. Now, think about the questions the candidates were asked by Tim Russert, Chris Wallace, Wolf Blitzer, George Stephanapoulos and Bob Schieffer. How many interviews did the Fab Five conduct with the presidential candidates...[read more]