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Dem VP Nominee Kaine Compares Fighting Global Warming to a Twelve-Step Program

While speaking at Florida International University, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine compared fighting global warming to participating in a twelve-step program and accused Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence of “turning their back on science.”

Kaine began his remarks on climate change by saying climate change “affects your ability to sell your house, affects your ability to own a business, affects your neighborhoods”:

In Florida and Virginia, we’re worried about climate change. In south Florida, you see the affects of sea level rise. And we see the same thing in Virginia Beach and Norfolk and Portsmouth, Virginia. The sea levels rising affects your ability to sell your house, affects your ability to own a business, affects your neighborhoods, affects the main road into the largest naval base in the world, in Norfolk, Virginia. Just normal tidal action and when storms come, it’s even worse. And you see that here in south Miami.

In his remarks, Kaine compared defeating climate change to a twelve-step program. According to Kaine, unless you admit climate change is a problem, you are not going to break the cycle and defeat it:

Look, I don’t know how much you know about twelve-step programs. Twelve-step programs are when you’re trying to lick a problem. Step one: admit that you have a problem. If you can’t get to step one, you’re not going to get to step twelve. You aren’t even going to get to step two. You gotta admit you have a problem. And we’ve got a problem with climate change.

Kaine then applauded Obama’s climate change effort and asserted a Clinton administration would move in the same direction:

The good news is this. President Obama worked in a leadership way to get 197 nations in Paris to all agree, these are the steps we’re going to take in our own country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to try to slow down the pace of climate change. President Obama should get a lot of credit for that. It’s hard to get Congress to do a Mother’s Day resolution. To get 197 nations to do that?

And Hillary and I are going to carry that forward and invest in clean no and low carbon energy so that we can move down the path and help save our planet and create jobs at the same time. But Donald Trump and Mike Pence… Trump says climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese. That is a direct quote. Mike Pence says climate change is a myth. That is a direct quote. They won’t even admit there’s a problem, so you know they’re not going to solve the problem.

Before moving on to another subject, Kaine claimed he and Hillary “believe in science, for God’s sake.” Kaine also claimed Trump and Pence are “turning their back on science,” which Kaine suggests would lead them to be against air safety and water safety:

Hey look, maybe, maybe it’s controversial to say, but Hillary and I believe in science, for God’s sake. I mean, we’re at a university! I gotta believe that somebody out here believes in science! You should not elect the president and vice president as somebody who won’t accept science. Because if they won’t accept science on climate change, that may not be the end of the science that they won’t accept.

What about food safety? Water safety? Air safety? What about all kinds of other issues where science is important? If they’re turning their back on science, you gotta wonder what else will we find out that’s surprising down the road.

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