Palin Was FOR Cap and Trade Before She Was AGAINST It???

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You probably know by now that one thing soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has done since announcing her resignation was to write an op-ed which appeared in the Washington Post, slamming Obama's "Cap and Trade" policy. I guess it could be said that it's admirable that she seems to want to become known as a bit of a "policy wonk" in her quest to be taken more seriously and make a difference. You can read her op-ed by clicking on the link below but what she basically said is that the cap and trade bill will mostly hurt the lower income people who are already struggling the most and that it will cost jobs and do long term harm to our economy. What she doesn't mention at all is "climate change", "global warming" or anything about the environment. This is an issue that has been and probably will continue to be debated forever but it should be noted that there are many who disagree with her main points and claim the opposite - for example the lower income people will enjoy a net savings and there will be over a million jobs created. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302852.html As you can see from the article below and the excerpt I included here Palin seems to have flip-flopped from her own position on cap and trade during the 2008 campaign. http://www.examiner.com/x-12720-DC-Environmental-Policy-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Out-of-Alaska-Sarah-Palins-next-move-to-attack-capandtrade-plan Palin's criticism of Obama's cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions seems to contradict how she answered questions during the vice presidential debate: Q: Let me clear something up: Sen. McCain has said he supports caps on carbon emissions. Sen. Obama has said he supports clean coal technology, which I don’t believe you’ve always supported. Do you support capping carbon emissions? PALIN: I do. I do. BIDEN: Absolutely. Absolutely we do. We call for setting hard targets. (Source: 2008 Vice Presidential debate against Sen. Joe Biden Oct 2, 2008) Here's a transcript from part of the interview with Katie Couric on climate change: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/palin-and-couric-on-climate/ Couric: I want to start with climate change, if I could. What’s your position on global warming? Do you believe it’s man-made or not? Palin: Well, we’re the only Arctic state, of course, Alaska. So we feel the impacts more than any other state up there, with the changes in the climates. And certainly it is apparent. We have erosion issues and we have melting sea ice, of course. So what I’ve done up there is form a subcabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real. Couric: Is it man-made in your opinion? Palin: You know … there are man’s activities that can be contributed to … the issues that we’re dealing with now with these impacts. I’m not going to solely blame all of man’s activities on changes in climate. Because the world’s weather patterns … are cyclical. And over history we have seen changes there. But kind of doesn’t matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is it’s real, we need to do something about it. And like … Tony Blair had said … when he was in leadership position, he said, “Let’s all consider the fact that it is real.” So instead of pointing fingers … at different sides of the argument as to who is to blame, and if nature just to blame, let’s do something about it. Let’s clean up our world. Let’s reduce emissions. And let’s go with reality. Couric: Because, if it’s not man-made, then one might wonder, well, how can human beings contribute to a solution? Palin: Well, human beings certainly are contributing to pollution today. And to some adverse effects on the environment. And it’s all of our jobs to do to clean things up. And that’s what we’re committed to doing. Couric: So you do believe … that man is contributing to global warming, because you just said they’re causing pollution. Of course, pollution causes global warming. Palin: I believe that there are a lot of causes. And there is one effect. And one is changes in the climate. And there are things that we can do to make sure we’re cleaning up the environment. I also formed an integrity office that solely is focused on petroleum, on pipelines, on those things that we do up there in Alaska to contribute to the U.S. domestic supply of energy. Where we can focus solely on environmental protections. There are a lot of things that I’ve done there in that arena of environmental protection that have kind of ticked off some in my own party thinking that I went too far. But I’ve always been of the mind that, you know, we gotta prove that we can do this right. Safely, ethically, environmentally friendly developments, or we’re not gonna be allowed to unlock our lands and tap these supplies. Couric: John McCain proposed legislation calling for mandatory caps on global warming gases or CO2 emissions. Do you agree with that? Palin: I support his position on that. Absolutely. Couric: But he somewhat backtracked on the campaign trail saying it wouldn’t, they wouldn’t, the caps wouldn’t be mandatory, they’d be voluntary. So what do you think? Do you think voluntary caps go far enough? Or they should be mandatory? Palin: He’s got a good cap and trade policy that he supports. And details are being hashed out even right now. But, in principle, absolutely, I support all that we can do to reduce emissions and to clean up this planet. And John McCain is right on board with that. Couric: Voluntary or mandatory in your view? Palin: We’re gonna keep working on how it can be implemented to actually make sense and make a difference. So, Sarah was for cap and trade before she was against it? She's clearly contradicted HERSELF in her Washington Post editorial. I know, people change their minds for various reasons but I haven't seen or heard of Palin acknowledging that she ever felt any differently than she does today. Any thoughts? Annie