“I’m very proud of him. I’m 100 percent behind him,” he told Tom Brokaw in an interview done Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
Last week, Schwarzenegger had reiterated his opposition to lifting the federal moratorium on offshore drilling after McCain called for dropping the 30-year-old ban.
Schwarzenegger acknowledged that he doesn’t support everything McCain has proposed, just as he isn’t always in accord with his wife, Maria Shriver, a Democrat who has endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
“That (McCain and I) don’t agree on everything, it’s clear. Nor do I agree with my wife,” he said. But “he’s terrific with the environment,” and with a President McCain, “we would have for the first time a really strong energy agenda and a way of fighting global warming.”
He said McCain has stood by him and “supported me on every step of the way” on issues like solar energy, greenhouse gases and many other environmental issues. “He’s the real deal on the environment.”
Schwarzenegger’s warm words and defense of McCain on environmental issues appeared at odds with his comments Friday at a climate change meeting in Florida, where he jabbed at McCain’s environmental plans. Citing a list of proposals, including ending the ban on offshore oil drilling, nuclear power and biofuels – McCain supports them all – he told the audience, “Anyone who tells you that this will bring down our gas prices immediately or anytime soon is blowing smoke.”
Read more here: Schwarzenegger now backs McCain on environment