Bill Scher: Memo to Politico: "ClimateGate" Is a Flop

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



Memo to Politico: "ClimateGate" Is a Flop
By Bill Scher

December 10, 2009 - 2:04pm ET

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Today's Politico headline from Copenhagen is: "Climategate distracts at Copenhagen." This seems based on a very low bar for what constitutes a distraction.

Is the international summit torn now between resolutions saying global warming is a moral imperative or a dastardly hoax perpetrated by the sinister scientist conspiracy? Hardly.

Is there one country that previously was open to a climate agreement, and now is suddenly abandoning it? Nope.

is there one US Senator changing his or her position on a cap-and-trade bill after the ginned up right-wing hysteria? Not a one.

Politico's basis for the headline is: "'Climategate' has muddied the good green message that was supposed to come out of the United Nations climate change talks here, forcing leaders to spend time justifying the science behind global warming when they want to focus on ending it."

That's evidence for summit participants being distracted by bored reporters waiting for real news to materialize as negotiators do their work. Much like the "Swift Boat" attack against Sen. John Kerry, even after the Climategate allegations have been debunked, much of the media still keeps recycling the charges in unprofessional he-said-she-said style. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009125010/news-politico-climategate-flop

[tsuki]

1. The media is "swift boating"? It's time that someone pointed that out. nt

[niceypoo]

2. The rest of the world isnt the Jerry Springer show

Only the US works like that. Hacked emails, runaway brides, and Aruba teens don't sway the powers that be in the real world.

[Birthmark]

3. Irrelevant hacked emails. FTFY :) nt

[zbdent]

4. you know, Newt Gingrich got caught breaking House ethics ...

the only problem with the evidence was that it was not caught WITH A WARRANT ...

These e-mails were obtained illegally ... but apparently, the Repugniconvicts feel that they are legit, despite the fact that they were obtained in a method which they denounced when it was Gingrich ...

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Well they’re not being used as evidence in a legal proceeding…

If the climate scientists were facing criminal prosecution using evidence that was obtained by the police, without a warrant… well, then we might have a legal problem here.

This is not a court of law, it’s the “court of public opinion” where any and all evidence is admissible.

And, to be honest, if the e-mails had revealed some nefarious plot to deceive the entire world… would you say, “Since ‘these e-mails were obtained illegally,’ I’m going to ignore them.”

[bhikkhu]

6. Time spent talking about the science is still well spent

Nailing down an agreement is one thing, but the big part of the job (at least in this country) is educating people.