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NOAA.govAs bad as George W. Bush’s environmental record was, W. at least got around to acknowledging that climate change is real and human-caused before leaving office. Yet his little brother, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, remains a global warming skeptic.

That’s what he told Esquire recently in a piece that centers on Bush’s presidential prospects. Now that three of the top contenders for the Republican nomination – Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford, and John Ensign – are self-destructing, Jeb Bush is looking like he might be the party’s last best hope in 2012.

Here’s the bit of interest to Grist readers, in which he repeats some familiar skeptic talking points:

Do you believe global warming is primarily man-made? I’m a skeptic. I’m not a scientist. I think the science has been politicized. I would be very wary of hollowing out our industrial base even further… It may be only partially man-made. It may not be warming by the way. The last six years we’ve actually had mean temperatures that are cooler. I think we need to be very cautious before we dramatically alter who we are as a nation because of it.