Bruised Republicans threaten to block climate bill

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is the lynchpin vote for the U.S. to pass a law limiting greenhouse gas emissions next year. He and Joe Lieberman agreed to play along only after Democrats accepted concessions promoting nuclear energy, offshore oil drilling, and oxymoronic clean coal.

A U.S. law limiting carbon emissions, meanwhile, is crucial to an equally fragile international effort to keep the planet from overheating.

That makes Lindsey Graham far more important to life on earth than any one man ought to be. Which should make us all concerned when he starts stomping his feet on the playground.