The shift in message was subtle, and some political experts said it wasn't a shift at all. There have always been Republicans who acknowledged that human activity has a hand in climate change, they said, and the two amendments to the Keystone XL oil pipeline bill merely gave them a forum to express it.
"We had a chance to vote, and people cast the votes they believed in," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who voted for the amendments offered by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.). "That's all it amounted to."
But others noted that Republican Senate leaders evidently saw an upside in giving GOP members the chance to go on the record now, after many have used the "I'm not a scientist" line to studiously avoid doing so for years. Now their votes declared that climate change is real and industrial greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to it.
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David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, said that the pivot appeared to be calculated.
"It seems like there is sort of this recognition that the Republican message on climate needs to change," he said.
Jenkins saw last week's votes as part of a continuing evolution in the Republican message on warming -- which started with denial that warming of any kind is occurring, moved through noncommittal statements about the role human emissions play, and has now arrived, for some, with an acknowledgement that man-made climate change is real.
"It doesn't get you to what you would do about it and supporting solutions, but it's definitely a shift," he said. "And it makes sense, because why would you continue on a stance like that when polling shows that most Americans think it is simply ignoring the facts?"
Read more at Just 15 votes -- but a Subtle and Important Shift for the GOP
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