"Fifteen years after Sarah Palin popularized "drill, baby, drill," the three-word slogan maintains its appeal despite catastrophic climate change."

"Almost exactly four years ago, one of California’s increasingly destructive wildfires caused roughly $500,000 in damage to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

But GOP candidates gathered there for the second 2024 presidential primary debate almost uniformly rejected the idea that the planet’s steadily rising temperature was a problem at all.

“It’s not climate change we need to worry about,” said North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. “It’s the Biden climate policies.”

After dodging surprisingly pointed questions about climate change at the first debate Fox News hosted last month, the contenders hoping to take on President Joe Biden next November battled each other over who would do most to ramp up production of the fossil fuels destabilizing the planet’s weather systems.

“Drill, baby, drill,” businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said, repeating a campaign slogan cribbed from former reality TV star and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s failed 2008 vice presidential campaign (but coined by former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele)."

Alexander C. Kaufman reports for HuffPost September 28, 2023. [2]