One of the things that really scares me about the politics of advancing climate change solutions is the unbelievable ignorance of current and former elected officials like James Inhofe and Tom Delay.Yesterday, Delay was on Chris Matthews' MSNBC show, Hardball. When Matthews asked Delay for "the official conservative position on climate change", Delay stated that:
"there is no science to suggest that man is the cause of climate change", and "it is arrogant to suggest that man can affect climate change. There is no science that supports such a notion."
How about, perhaps, the joint statements of the G8+5 nations' National Academies of Sciences?
What was just as concerning to me as Delay's absurd statement is the lack of a pointed response from Chris Matthews. Hardball, you call your show, Mr. Matthews?! You completely abdicated your responsibility to educate your viewers in the best available knowledge on climate change by failing to challenge Delay's wrong, if not delusional statement.
For those of you who are working hard to advance climate change solutions, and are highly discouraged by Matthews' failure to properly play 'Hard Ball' with Delay on this most important matter, email Chris Matthews at hardball@msnbc.com and ask him to do a better job next time.
- Jon Gelbard
P.S. The level of ignorance displayed by Delay here suggests to me that people should really be required to pass some kind of basic exam before they are allowed to run for major public offices and make decisions that affect the well being of the entire world. Otherwise, you end up with people in power who absolutely lack the knowledge and competence to be formulating policies. We've certainly been learning this the hard way the past 8 years!
No comments:
Post a Comment