Byron: Most of the Democrats attacking her for her “extremism” on global warming–Senator Boxer included–are pointing to her Newsmax comment from August that she would not attribute climate change to human activity. I think that the man-made/not man-made issue is something of a distraction: Even if we didn’t cause it, it might be worth doing something to reverse it. But for the record, I think she’s wrong.

By the standards of public opinion, is she extreme? According to a CNN/Opinion Research poll from June posted here, 54 percent of the public believes that global warming is real and man-made, 22 percent that it’s real and caused by “natural changes,” and 23 percent that it’s an “unproven theory.” So a majority is, to use slightly clumsy terms, to Palin’s left, but a sizable 45 percent minority is either with her or to her right.