New Republic's Foer Praises McCain on Climate Change

Sen. John McCain may not have won the favor of Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter, but he has some upside in the eyes of The New Republic Editor Franklin Foer.

Foer appeared at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., on February 1 to promote his new book, "Election 2008: A Voter's Guide."

"[I] think that McCain has certain political virtues that other Republicans don't, which is that he actually has kind of a record of being, of being conciliatory - that there's actually - I mean, I don't what it means for the electoral future of the Democratic Party, but there are the possibilities for doing some interesting things with McCain as a leader, and I'm mostly thinking about global warming - where McCain has the best track record on energy and environment on the Republican side in the Senate," Foer concluded. "So, I think you have some really good possibility for a Nixon-to-China type solution to climate change if he decides that that's going to be the thing he is going to use to build a bridge."

Foer said McCain's biggest challenge as president would be taking on his own party.

"McCain will have his own problems if he is president, which is a lot of the base that basically doesn't like him," Foer said.

Foer referred to the Ann Coulter segment that appeared on Fox News "Hannity & Colmes" on January 31 as evidence of this, labeling her a "lunatic" who "despises" McCain..

"[S]o Ann Coulter goes on and she basically says if John McCain is the nominee, she is voting for Hillary Clinton because John McCain is more liberal than Hillary Clinton. And she goes through on issue after issue after issue on how she trusts Hillary Clinton more than John McCain on the issues. So, it's hard to imagine with a John McCain presidency he is going to have to deal with these lunatics who basically despise him. That'll be, that'll be a treat."

Foer also said an Al Gore endorsement would be instrumental for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, but wasn't sure if it would come in time to make a difference in the race for the Democratic nomination.

"He's the ‘Big Kahuna' of endorsements," Foer said. "Obama and Edwards were talking to - were basically on the phone every to Gore every couple of weeks begging him to support them. I'm kind of surprised that they haven't gone more overboard in trying to pander to Gore on global warming, because it's obviously the way to the guy's heart."