Newt Gingrich Claims to be an Environmentalist, Then Backpedals When It’s Inconvenient

It’s way, way too late for Newt Gingrich to get on the good side of liberals. So, when the former Republican congressman did an interview last fall with Salon and tried to paint himself as an environmentalist, it’s unlikely that anyone took him too seriously – aside from the handful of conservatives who may have read the piece and wondered where the hell his ‘green’ streak came from.

From the interview:

“Somebody who believes that the environment is part of our heritage, and we have an absolute obligation to try to maintain it, and develop it, and sustain it. And somebody who has reverence for the extraordinary complexity that God has created in the natural world.”

When speaking to his loyal followers, however, Gingrich goes in another direction entirely. Subscribers to his weekly newsletter received this tired spiel in their inboxes just last week:

For decades left-leaning politicians have advocated higher prices and less energy. They were going to save the environment by punishing Americans into driving less and driving smaller cars. Now their policies have succeeded with a vengeance.

The very left wing politicians who favored a policy of no oil and gas exploration, no use of coal, no development of nuclear power, and no aggressive development of new technologies are now panic-stricken that their policies of higher prices have led to higher prices.

Let’s ignore, temporarily, the many stupid things Mr. Gingrich said in the above two paragraphs (particularly the ‘punishing Americans’ bit, ugh, are Americans really so entitled?). Rather, the point of this piece is, in what universe is Newt Gingrich an environmentalist, and why can conservatives not see that while they point their fingers at liberal politicians and call them panderers, that their own politicians and figureheads are doing the same, if not worse?

The only place this irreverent political hack is an environmentalist is in Rush Limbaugh’s dreams and maybe in Bizarro World.

Link [Salon] + [Human Events]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

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