Terry McAuliffe: Green New Deal ‘Unrealistic’

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Monday, former Virginia Gov. and potential 2020 candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) concurred with a Washington Post opinion-editorial referring to the Green New Deal as “unrealistic.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=38&v=Gt_ALsYZcvI

A partial transcript is as follows:

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Do you support the Green New Deal?

TERRY MCAULIFFE: There are parts of it I certainly do. It’s a non-binding resolution. I think there are things we need to do —

SCARBOROUGH: Would you have signed on to the non-binding resolution like Kamala Harris?

MCAULIFFE: I’m not saying I would. I don’t vote in the Senate, so it’s not up to me. It’s climate change, it is a real issue. This is important to the Millennials, as it should be. This is a very serious issue. As governor, I presided over the second most vulnerable state in America, down in Hampton Roads outside of Louisiana. That’s why I leaned in, that was through executive order. I put Virginia in the regional greenhouse gas initiative.

SCARBOROUGH: I get that, but since this seems to be a litmus test… the Washington Post said today “yes, we believe in climate change.” The editorial board said, “yes, we agree we need to do some things, but we don’t think the Green New Deal is actually possible, is feasible in the timeframe they put forward.”

MCAULIFFE: Right.

SCARBOROUGH: Dianne Feinstein, famously believes the same way. Is that the camp you find yourself in, Dianne Feinstein and the Washington Post, or AOC and Ed Markey?

MCAULIFFE: I come from a place — there are some great aspirational goals. Climate change is real, we need to be very concerned. I took action as governor, record amounts in renewable energy. I’d like to talk about things we can actually get done and things that we have actually done. That’s the difference. All these litmus tests, of this and that. Listen, voters want someone who actually has big, bold ideas, who is going to come in with a gigantic infrastructure plan.

…

SCARBOROUGH: So, do you agree with the Washington Post editorial this morning?

MCAULIFFE: Sure, I would. There are things in that are great goals but are unrealistic. I had to deal with Hampton Roads flooding on a regular basis. Norfolk, Virginia, if it rained for two hours, I had to deal with flooding. That’s what I deal with today. It’s real, and I came up with solutions.