It remains far from clear, however, whether the shift in rhetoric and policy will move the planet any closer to embracing the best response. Both McCain and Obama could leave future generations lumbered with the costs of major cuts in carbon emissions - without major cuts in temperatures.

James Hansen is director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). He's also considered the "intellectual" underpinning for just about every anti-global warming campaign of every eco-nut out there. Pittsburgh's Heinz Endowments is a big fan. So, too, is Ozone Al Gore.

The morality play on offer from greenies and their media buddies holds that "we can't drill our way" to cheaper oil prices, but "conservation" and "new technologies" for "alternative energy" are the answer.

Thus, I am thankful to Al Gore for proving that even in a high profile demonstration project these "solutions" won't work. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research reports that Gore's home in Nashville has increased its energy usage by 10% in the past year. This is in the face of proudly-announced (and expensive) energy-saving steps. Stop the ACLU cites the Soros-Funded Think Progress  site for information:

Gore's family has taken numerous steps to reduce the carbon footprint of their private residence, including signing up for 100 percent green power through Green Power Switch, installing solar panels, and using compact fluorescent bulbs and other energy saving technology.

The Democrats have been doing some seriously stupid things lately.  And yet, if the polls and pundits are to be believed, they are going to kick the Republicans’ butts in November.  If that happens, get ready for some big-time buyer’s remorse.

The Democratic Party has been shifting left for years and now has reached the Insanity Zone.  Some of the things they’re doing or will do if they control all branches of government give new meaning to the word “stupid.” 

Start with the Lieberman-Warner bill a.k.a. America’s Climate Security Act.  At a time when gasoline prices are spiraling past $4 a gallon, it’s hard to understand a party that supports a plan that will make things worse.  Much worse.

This is the “cap and trade” legislation that would award to the government the exclusive right to decide who could emit carbon dioxide and how much to charge (tax) them for it.  According to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Lieberman-Warner would result in higher prices at the pump in addition to raising taxes on Americans by more than $1 trillion over a decade.  The Federal Energy Information Administration estimates that we’d see a 9.5% drop in manufacturing output.  Low income Americans who spend more of their income on energy will pay through the nose.

The Illinois Democrat made those remarks when asked by CNBC's Erin Burnett what the Democratic energy agenda would be. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip, but it just happens to be the truth — something 57% of the American people agree with, according to a new Gallup poll.

While attacking GOP presidential nominee John McCain for "trying to drill our way out of the situation," Emanuel told CNBC: "I think you have to have both — obviously more production — but also to start to invest, which has not happened, in (energy) alternatives as well."

So do we. This is pretty much what congressional Republicans and President Bush have been saying all along.

We need to develop all of our domestic energy resources, none to the exclusion of any other source — nuclear, clean coal, oil, natural gas, wind, solar, heck, maybe even switch grass.