"Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity can barely control themselves when the subject of global warming comes up. The Republican Party fires off anti-global warming talking points. And everyday conservatives spit and sputter when they discuss the subject. I don't get it. Why does global warming throw conservatives into such a dither?

I understand that climate change -- and who's responsible for it -- seems to be one of those issues that defines liberals and conservatives in our nation today. That part I get. Liberals believe the planet is doomed and humans have caused it and conservatives say the global warmers have swallowed a big mouthful of junk science, and there's nothing to their climate-change claims.

But there are a lot of other issues that break down along firm liberal/conservative lines and don't seem to engender this kind of venom. Taxes, welfare, even the war in Iraq are bread-and-butter issues in the daily political debate, but they don't hit the hot button that global warming does. Mention Al Gore and it sends folks on the right over the cliff. Mention Al Gore getting the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on climate change and there's no controlling them.

Someone out there please explain to me how fighting global warming claims has become such a huge cause for the right."