Talking Points Memo links back to an awful Politico piece from November that may help explain why Fred Barnes is so confused about global warming. It's bad enough that the piece had the headline "Scientists urge caution on global warming" and the opening sentence "Climate change skeptics on Capitol Hill are quietly watching a growing accumulation of global cooling science and other findings that could signal that the science behind global warming may still be too shaky to warrant cap-and-trade legislation." It's worse that the article quoted, at length, global warming denialist (and Weather Channel co-founder) Joseph D'Aleo--whose group, the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project, works closely with such noted scientific organizations as the National Consumer Coalition, Americans for Tax Reform, and Citizens for a Sound Economy--and then sought further comment from an aide to (climate change skeptic) Senator Tom Coburn, a Senate GOP communications director, and a Cato Institute fellow, briefly quoting only a single non-denialist (an aide to Al Gore) in the very last graph of the piece.
Worst of all, though, the author missed the massive conflict of interest at the heart of the piece. I mean, who's going to benefit when global warming results in catastrophic tidal waves and superstorms that threaten the existence of human civilization? The Weather Channel, of course. I mean, it's staring you right in the face.