As is their wont, scientists largely eschew the political world. They concern themselves with their jobs. They focus on data and analysis. This works well in most fields. There is no anti-particle physics movement. Conservatives have (yet) to mount an assault on mathematics.
The sciences involved with climatology are not so lucky. They have decided to strike out against those who are dedicated to destroying the credibility of this field.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
The 2010 election was the year of The Empire Strikes Back. Big Oil, the coal industry, and corporate polluters are desperate to stop the momentum toward clean energy that's been building for years. You can't stop the construction of 139 coal-fired power plants, implement the first-ever fuel-economy standards for medium and heavy trucks, or put the "protect" back into the Environmental Protection Agency without provoking a reaction.
In this case, the Dirty Energy Empire broke all campaign spending records and used their financial Death Star to target any politician who took a stand on clean energy and global warming. It may not have been a subtle strategy, but it was effective. What it doesn't change, though, is that most Americans still disagree with Big Oil and Big Coal about environmental and energy issues.
Sadly, the conventional wisdom seems to be that action on climate change is a political loser. According to the Washington Post, Rust Belt House Democrats who voted for the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy & Security (ACES) bill that passed in 2009 feel abandoned by the White House's inability (or unwillingness) to force Senate action. And, many Democratic Representatives see this vote as a noose around their neck heading into the mid-terms like the Btu tax disaster was in 1994.
While there were (as this author would be glad to tell you in a different post) serious problems with ACES and it could have been (MUCH) better, this seems to be a case where the conventional wisdom is fostering a new reality rather reflecting reality.