He's kind of crusty about climate change, but other than that he's just a guy with some strong opinions. I guess that scares some folks enough to require an apology.
Not saying I agree with either sentiment, but there's a delicious irony in this comment in that you're reading into votes as if they're pure expressions of support or not for an issue that's not black and white... Even though the expressions are just projections of a spectrum of thoughts through a binary voting system!