Before going off to the Council on Foreign Relations to give a speech on foreign policy, former Minnesota governor and 2012 GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty appeared on Fox & Friends Tuesday morning. Asked about his stance on cap and trade, he acknowledged that he had changed his mind. He added, “I denounced it for a variety of reasons, one of which is the science is bad and it’s in great dispute,” repeating once more that there is a “scientific dispute” about the issue of climate change.

But there isn’t.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reviewed the scientific analyses on the subject in 2007 and found that it is “very likely” — greater than 90 percent certainty — that most of the increase in global temperatures since the mid-20th century was due to increased greenhouse gas emissions. The American Association of the Advancement of Science wrote in 2007, “The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.” The National Academy of Sciences also agrees that global warming is real and largely man-made.

Pawlenty has shifted from saying that global warming is real and human-caused to voicing skepticism about the science. In a 2007 press release, he said, “[O]ur global climate is warming, at least in part due to the energy sources we use. We cannot solve it by ourselves, but we need to lead and do our part. We also need to push for an effective national and international effort.”

And at the National Governors Association Meeting he said, “We should have listened to President Carter… We should not spend time on voices that say [climate change] is not real.” But, in December 2009 when asked about the Copenhagen Climate Change summit, he said the science was “unsettled.”

Leaked e-mails from Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon asked its journalists to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.”

Gov. Mitt Romney has acknowledged this fact. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has reflected the GOP standard on cap and trade, while once supporting it like Mr. Pawlenty, now saying that it can’t be done in the recession. And that’s the position of most Republicans. Republicans like Sen. John McCain and Lindsey Graham supported a cap-and-trade plan, but fears of a bad economy and being attacked from the right led them to disavow the plan.

Watch it:

In an interview released in Christianity Today Thursday, Tim Pawlenty asserted that the United States was “founded under God” and that the founding fathers put that into the nation’s founding documents. In the wide-ranging interview, Pawlenty talked about his faith, his reversal on cap and trade, and the possibility of running against Rep. Michele Bachmann for the 2012 Republican nomination for president.

“If I make a faith-related comment, I usually quote from the Bible, often from the Old Testament,” Pawlenty told Christianity Today. “I remind people that our country is founded under God, and the founders thought that was an important perspective. I watch my tone so I don’t get judgmental or angry about issues. I try to express myself in ways that are measured and appropriate and hopefully civil and positive. Lastly, I try not to say that God is on my side, but I strive to be on God’s side.”

Christianity Today’s Sarah Pulliam Bailey asked him, “Your book encourages Christians to be involved in public issues. At what point might Christians rely too much on political solutions to current problems?”

Pawlenty responded, “I started with the perspective of someone who says that faith is separate from public law and public service; it really isn’t. We have, as a country, a founding perspective that we’re founded under God; our founding documents reference and acknowledge God, and acknowledge that our rights and privileges come from our Creator.”

Despite that claim, the United States Constitution makes no reference to a creator or God. The Declaration of Independence merely refers to a creator and to “Nature’s God.”

In the interview, the magazine also asked about Bachmann and Sarah Palin. “You seem to get comparisons to Palin and Rep. Michelle Bachmann,” the interviewer stated.

“[A comparison to] Sarah Palin, of course, is a compliment,” Pawlenty responded. “She’s a force of nature, she’s kind of in a league of her own when it comes to attention and the media’s focus on her so far. I don’t know if she’s going to run or not, but I think she’s a remarkable leader. I know Congresswoman Bachmann, I campaigned for her, I consider her a friend and I have a positive and good relationship with her as well. Voters will have to choose the style of who they want representing the party as a nominee.”

Pawlenty was also asked about cap and trade, a policy he once backed.

“During your term as governor, you supported reductions in greenhouse gases and a regional cap and trade plan,” Bailey asked. “What measures should the federal government support to care for the environment?”

“All of us should be in favor of reducing pollution, but we need to do that in a way that doesn’t wreck the economy. I came to the conclusion after looking at it very carefully that cap and trade is the wrong approach. I think it is a ham-fisted approach that is government-centered and top down, and the burdens it would have visited on the economy were unwise and really unbearable.”

In 2007, he thought cap and trade was great.

“If you unleash the requirements and incentives and attractive features of a market, people will respond to it,” he told Minnesota Public Radio. “Some will respond by reducing pollution directly. Others will respond by buying credits or offsets in the marketplace, with the ultimate same net effect.”

Randy Demmer Photo: Facebook

GOP candidate Randy Demmer has released three radio ads in the First Congressional District targeting second-term Democratic Rep. Tim Walz. In the first two ads, Demmer attacks Walz for voting for health care reform and for supporting cap-and-trade. The final ad is a piece that touts Demmer’s Republican credentials. The campaign follows a television ad released by Walz last week which features his work on veterans issues.

The Walz campaign criticized Demmer’s ads.

“Representative Demmer’s false, negative attacks ads are just one more example that he is a typical politician who is always interested in partisan politics, but never interested in solving problems,” said Walz’ campaign spokesperson Sara Severs. “Voters in southern Minnesota deserve to hear Representative Demmer’s ideas. Instead, after four terms in the state legislature, he is insulting their intelligence by parroting Republican party talking points and using cookie cutter ads.”

Why is this significant? Republicans have long argued that there is no sense in capping greenhouse gas emissions in the United States if major emitters like China refuse to impose caps of their own. The announcement appears to deflate that argument, although Republicans can still make the same argument about other major emitters that are not capping their emissions.

This development was not lost on environmentalists, who pointed out the irony that China has acted before the United States to reporters yesterday.

The state-run China Daily reported yesterday:

The country is set to begin domestic carbon trading programs during its 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015) to help it meet its 2020 carbon intensity target.

The decision was made at a closed-door meeting chaired by Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and attended by officials from related ministries, enterprises, environmental exchanges and think tanks, a participant told China Daily on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

“The consensus that a domestic carbon-trading scheme is essential was reached, but a debate is still ongoing among experts and industries regarding what approach should be adopted,” the source said.

Hot Dish Politics quotes T-Paw:

I think the Copenhagen summit is focused on an issue that has now become very controversial. And I think it’s a good idea to follow the science on this, in these matters, and the science is somewhat unsettled. … And the Copenhagen summit and the approaches that are being pursued there are in the nature of a cap and trade proposal a global cap and trade proposal and I think that’s the wrong direction.

These gas pumps on Lafayatte Street in St. Paul couldn’t agree more:

Photos: Chris Steller/MnIndy

Marathon is one of several gas-station chains that have been displaying point-of-purchase political ads at self-service pumps across the country for several months now. Customers are directed to OurEnergyVoice.com.

But if Pawlenty and the pumps see eye to eye, the same can’t be said for the governor and his own reflection in the rear view mirror. For more than a year now, he has been doing doughnuts around his past statements on the dangers of global warming.

In addition to Bachmann, the ads are targeting Republican Reps. John Boehner of Ohio, Denny Rehberg of Montana, Lee Terry of Nebraska, Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, as well as Democrat Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania.

“Stain,” as the ad is titled, “highlights the cash from Big Oil and other special interests taken by Members who voted against the American Clean Energy & Security Act, a comprehensive clean energy and climate plan that will put America back in control of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet,” according to a statement from the Sierra Club.

Here’s the full ad:

(WDCpix)

This week Minnesota’s members of Congress went back to work after the July 4 break, except for Sen. Al Franken who was showing up — finally — for the first time. Rep. Keith Ellison put forward a credit reform bill, Rep. Betty McCollum announced her plan to expand the Peace Corps, and Republicans criticized the Democrats’ energy and stimulus policies. Here’s how the week shook down:

Rep. Keith Ellison introduced legislation to reform credit rating agencies on Wednesday. “When these agencies put their mark of approval on complex products they confer a legitimacy that may not actually exist,” he said. “We’ve learned of instances where credit rating agencies have given top ratings to products backed by dubious mortgages and other loans. Under current law there was really no one looking over the agencies’ shoulders to make sure that they were making reasonable assumptions or had even a basic understanding of the risks they were assessing.”

Rating agencies are currently subject only to limited oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but are critical elements of the financial system.

Rep. Michele Bachmann sent a video to people attending the Tea Parties over the weekend; she was appointed to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Advisory Board; and she says that President Obama is destroying the American dream — or, rather, the American dreams of Chrysler auto dealers.

Rep. Betty McCollum is gearing up for a Congressional softball game. Proceeds from the game be donated to the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), a group that works to educate and support young women living with breast cancer.

McCollum also spoke passionately on the House floor on Thursday about expanding the Peace Corps.

[T]oday the Peace Corps, one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives, is at a crossroads. Peace Corps is not capable of meeting the demand of Americans of all ages who want to serve… We have an opportunity here today in this moment to reinvigorate Peace Corps for the next new century, but it’s going to take leadership from Congress. The President’s request simply was not enough, even though the President does propose to double, increase and fully fund Peace Corps out into the years.

Rep. James Oberstar is still pushing a $450 billion funding bill and $50 billion for high-speed rail. Also, Oberstar was in New York on Friday with Obama’s transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, to mark the 50th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which is crucial to Duluth’s status as a seaport.

Rep. Erik Paulsen talked to the Eden Prairie News about the cap-and-trade energy bill working its way through Congress. “If we’re going to be serious about securing our energy future, we need to focus on having nuclear energy be a part of that,” he said.

Rep. John Kline penned an editorial for the website “America’s Right” slamming Obama’s stimulus policies. “Republicans are committed to pro-growth policies that will get our economy back on track without saddling future generations with unmanageable debt,” he wrote. “We offered a stimulus plan that would have created twice the jobs for half the price.”

But Media Matters says his statement doesn’t hold water: “[T]he GOP got its ‘twice the jobs’ claim by misusing a formula in an academic paper that they later admitted they weren’t able to understand in the first place.”

Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar split their votes on immigration policy, specifically on the border fence between the United States and Mexico. Franken voted against it. Klobuchar voted for it.

One of Franken’s first tasks as senator was to sign on to the Employee Free Choice Act, a pledge he’s made throughout his campaign. “I just became a cosponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act,” he said on Tuesday.

Peterson has shown before he’s unafraid to obstruct Democratic-backed legislation. The bill, which includes controversial “cap and trade” measures to control greenhouse gases, now moves to the U.S. Senate.

But not before receiving a parting shot from Texas Republican Lou Gohmert, who in a one-minute floor speech said he resented colleagues’ cheering passage of what he off-handedly called the “crap and trade” bill (video).

In a statement, Ken Bradley, state director at Clean Water Action, said “While the bill is not perfect, we’ve seen strong support from our members across the state for passing ACES and moving forward toward a clean energy economy. Ultimately, our members know that energy and global warming are directly tied to our water quality and quantity. In the land of 10,000 lakes, Minnesotans want bold action to protect our natural places.”

Clean Water Action noted that Rep. Erik Paulsen, a freshman Republican, voted against the bill despite hopes that he might swing the other way in deference to home-district voters who favored Obama last November. As if to demonstrate defensiveness, Paulsen released a video within minutes of the bill’s passage to explain his vote (he does not call it “crap and trade”):

I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, having a revolution every now and then is a good thing, and the people — we the people — are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.

Audio after the jump.

Smart Politics notes it’s not the first time since the election of President Obama and a new Democrat-led Congress that Bachmann dubbed her conservative compatriots “foreign correspondents reporting to you from enemy lines.” The metaphor, combined with her “armed-and-dangerous” rhetoric, drifts close to Sean Hannity’s excited speculation about a militant right-wing reaction.

But if she sounded like any kind of journalist, it was a 1950s writer for the show-biz rag Variety. Here’s what she said about climate-change doubter Christopher Horner, who she is bringing to the Sixth District for two appearances in April: “He gave a boffo speech out in D.C. … people’s socks will be knocked off.”

Think Progress has the full audio from Bachmann’s Saturday appearance on WWTC-AM.

Here’s the key minute (h/t DumpBachmann):

Related: Bachmann: Democrats are ‘ripping the guts out of freedom’