Obama: GOP Candidates ‘Would Have Been Founding Members Of The Flat Earth Society’

http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/03/15/445268/obama-clean-energy-critics-probably-would-have-been-founding-members-of-the-flat-earth-society/

By Rebecca Leber on Mar 15, 2012 at 1:20 pm

President Barack Obama called out the critics of a clean energy future in his fourth energy speech in as many weeks. He laid out plans for reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuels, while knocking politicians (aka Newt Gingrich) who “start acting like they can wave a magic wand and you’ll have cheap gas forever.”

Obama challenged the clean energy dismissals and jokes coming from Republican challengers, saying the approach keeps “us stuck in the past”:

If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail — They must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society. They would not have believed that the world was round. We’ve heard these folks in the past. They probably would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who apparently said, “Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” … One of my predecessors, Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone: “It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?” That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore, because he’s looking backwards, he’s not looking forwards.

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