Per the N&O’s blog:
John Edwards said Americans should give up their SUVs.
At a forum held Tuesday by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, the former North Carolina senator said that Americans should be asked to drive more fuel-efficient cars.
“I think Americans are actually willing to sacrifice,” he said.
He said as president he would focus on energy conservation and institute a cap on carbon dioxide emissions.
Tell you what, John. I drive an SUV that’s paid off. It doesn’t get the best gas mileage ? about 20 miles per gallon. I imagine the kind of savings I’d get with a car that could get 40 to 60 mpg. But then I compare those savings with the cost of a new car payment, and believe me, I save my family a lot more money per month by keeping the SUV. Plus, I’ve looked at the science, and I don’t think my driving an SUV has any impact whatsoever on climate change. In fact, I believe that I could fill my yard with SUVs, crank them and keep them running perpetually, and still have no effects on the global climate (although it would certainly make my neighborhood smellier).
Point is, John, if you think it’s so important for me to drive some little Euroweenie car, you’re going to have to make it economically feasible to me, and not in the Wull then ah’m gonna tax ’em SUVs like a campaign haircut! kind of way. If you want to “trade out” one paid-off SUV for a new, envirowacko-approved vehicle that is also paid off, I will consider it. But it has to be big enough to fit a family in comfortably (no clown cars, that is), and it can’t be so wussy that if my cat jumped up on the roof, the whole thing would collapse.
