Five More Lindsey Grahams, and We Have an Energy Bill

There's more to the GOP energy policy than just "Drill, baby, drill"—or at least there will be if Lindsey Graham has anything to do with it. The South Carolina Republican is teaming with Joe Lieberman and John Kerry to push hefty carbon-cutting legislation, and he tells Thomas Friedman that it's what all the cool kids are doing: "If you are 30 or younger this climate issue is not a debate. It’s a value. These young people grew up with a sensitivity to the environment. (Republicans) should buy into it."

“Cap-and-trade as we know it is dead," says Graham, but "you will never have energy independence without pricing carbon." His insistence on nuclear power and continued offshore drilling rankles greenies, but his calculated openness to clean energy means that “Instead of being just one more short, white Republican over 50, I am now semicool.' "Five more GOP senators like him and we could have a real energy bill," Friedman concludes.
(More Lindsey Graham stories.)