Amazingly, if you count how many times members of Congress have mentioned “Earth Day” over the years, you will discover that no Republican member of Congress has uttered the term since Lamar Alexander used it in April of 2010. It is now the day that dare not be mentioned. It seems to me that being that hostile to the Earth is harsher than being anti-puppy or anti-baby. Basic conservation and responsible environmental stewardship are dirty, discredited ideas on the right. This happened very rapidly, soon after McCain lost his bid for the presidency. Obviously, the oil and gas industries had a dominant influence on the right prior to the 2008 election, but McCain ran on Cap & Trade. Of course, his running mate was running around yelling “Drill, baby, drill,” which wasn’t entirely the instantiation of a single-entredre principle…but, nonetheless.
Something broke in the GOP after Palin was nominated. It just went over entirely to the dark side.
