Did you say Republicans for Environmental Protection? I couldn’t help but notice all the elephants in the room. Especially the green one. “So why are you not an oxymoron?” I asked David Jenkins at the Republicans for Environmental Protection booth during a reception for GOP faithful at the Minneapolis Convention Center this week. Jenkins had an answer — and a big metaphorical stick. “Theodore Roosevelt. He’s the father of conservation and environmental stewardship in this country,” he said. “What our organization is about is reclaiming that tradition.” Ticking off a list of environmental achievements of more modern Republican presidents, Jenkins credited Richard Nixon for creating the Environmental Protection Agency and signing the Clean Air and Endangered Species acts. Gerald Ford forged the country’s first fuel economy standards and Ronald Reagan signed agreements to curb the ozone hole, he said. “People listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity and they hear all that vitriol aimed at anything environmental and they think that’s what conservatism is. Our organization believes that conservatism is conserving and being good stewards. The top of our ticket this time, John McCain, is of the same belief we are.”....