RNC: We're no doom-sayers on climate The Republican Party approved its 2008 platform yesterday, which it hailed in a press release as containing "the most aggressive and innovative energy policy in Republican Party history." But the approved version differs significantly from earlier drafts in the climate and energy realm. This line, which appeared in an earlier draft, was dropped: "Increased atmospheric carbon has a warming effect on the earth." While the final acknowledges the role of humans in climate change, it calls for solutions that won't "force Americans to sacrifice their way of life or trim their hopes and dreams for their children." At points the platform appears dismissive of climate change. "Republicans caution against the doomsday climate change scenarios peddled by the aficionados of centralized command-and-control government," it says. "We can -- and should -- address the risk of climate change based on sound science without succumbing to the no-growth radicalism that treats climate questions as dogma rather than as situations to be managed responsibly." The platform suggests that there should be no carbon constraints on the U.S. unless China or India face similar limits: "It would be unrealistic and counterproductive to expect the U.S. to carry burdens which are more appropriately shared by all." It also calls for a repeal of the biofuels mandate that passed as part of the 2007 energy bill; that provision mandates a fivefold increase in biofuels in the U.S. fuel stream by 2022. "The U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the free market work," the platform reads....