"Six-term Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), who was defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary, attacked the GOP's hardened stance on climate change as part of a wider broadside against 'unrelenting' partisanship he delivered after last night’s loss."
"'I don’t remember a time when so many topics have become politically unmentionable in one party or the other,' Lugar said in a lengthy statement issued after he lost to Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
'Republicans cannot admit to any nuance in policy on climate change. Republican members are now expected to take pledges against any tax increases. For two consecutive presidential nomination cycles, GOP candidates competed with one another to express the most strident anti-immigration view, even at the risk of alienating a huge voting bloc,' Lugar added.
The statement also took aim at what Lugar called Democratic inflexibility on several issues.
Lugar is among a dwindling number of GOP lawmakers who has spoken about the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Mourdock, in contrast, has slammed what he calls 'junk science associated with global climate change alarmism.'"
Ben Geman reports for The Hill's E2 Wire blog May 9, 2012.
