In summarizing what has become the conventional wisdom, McCain said “I would assess this administration’s record on global warming as terrible. And I have held hearings when I was chairman of the Commerce Committee for years and got no cooperation from the administration on this issue whatsoever.”

McCain quickly came under attack. The former director of the Republican Party in California, where the senator made his comments, accused him of “embracing environmental extremism. A blog site said he had taken sides with “the loony left.”

Global warming, however, is not a partisan issue. A recent poll taken among conservatives in South Carolina indicates 56 percent believe global warming is happening. Consensus on the issue is building, leaving only the fringe right in its wake.