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Republican Pres. Candidate Tancredo ignores climate science at political peril

By the looks of things Republican Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo doesn't have a hope in heck of winning the 2008 nomination, and he's not helping himself much by making incorrect claims about the state of global warming science.

At June 23rd townhall meeting in Littleton, New Hampshire, Tancredo states that:

Most evidence does not substantiate the claim that it [global warming] is caused by human activity, or at least to the extent that it would change things one way or the other."

Watch it here:

Tancredo also states that, "there's a pile of studies this high that says 'yes it's caused by man'… and there's a pile of studies [equally] high that says 'no it's not,' that it's a natural phenomenon."

"…and it's almost audacious to think that humans can actually change this pattern."

These statement fly in the face of the most recent reports by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that has concluded with over 90% certainty that the increased concentrations of man-made heat-trapping gases caused most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since 1950.

And to his own political peril Tancredo is also ignoring a recent CNN opinion poll finding that the majority of Americans (54%) believe that global warming is a proven fact and is mostly caused by emissions from cars and industrial facilities such as power plants and factories. When you couple these findings with another poll finding that one-third of Americans cited global warming as the world's single largest environmental problem, it is clear that Tancredo is on the wrong side of the issue.

Americans are waking up to the issue of global warming and want to see something done about it, that is clear. What remains unclear is what Tancredo is thinking. By ignoring the science and making misleading statements about the realities of global warming Tancredo is ensuring that his presidential candidacy numbers stay in the single digits.

 



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Why even mention this bozo? Who cares what he thinks? His comments are irrelevant. This is a non-story.
Doing town halls, telling people that there is mounds of evidence against human-induced global warming. It's definitely not a "non-story."
It’s a non-story. I am sure that Joe Blow, the Republican rep from Dallas occasionally has town halls. And no one listens. The point is that you’re raising the profile of a total non-entity. Tancredo is an utter non-starter (thank heavens) for any sort of leadership. He is a wretched example of a rabid, ultra right-winger. If Giuliano or McCain started spouting this sort of nonsense, it would matter. Tancredo just wants airtime by playing loudly (which you helped here) to his like-minded (or like-mindless, really) constituency. Sorry, I am at a loss to see why anyone should care what this bozo is up to. -JTK
While I agree that we shouldn’t make the platform for whacko arguments too big, I disagree that there is no good reason for this post. Here’s one (pretty good, anyway) and there are probably more:
Here is, JTK says, “a rabid, ultra right-winger” who says it is possible to quickly shift away from fossil fuels for national security reasons. Because dooming the US economy and related effects on national security is often used by anti-reduction scaremongers when they argue against Kyoto & cetera, we can gain some satisfaction when someone like Tancredo says it can be done and should be supported (even if not for the reasons we think important).
… that this is really not the type of publicity Tancredo is looking for. I also used it to illustrate the larger point that politicians who remain on the wrong side of this issue are finding themselves more and more out of touch with the American people.
It is interesting that even this wack-job sounds less loony than the extremists of a couple years ago. But Kevin is wrong on this one: there is no such thing as bad publicity for a candidate with nothing to lose and nowhere to go in the polls but up. Tancredo would like nothing better than to irritate some “liberals” and get the extreme right-wingers out there talking about his accomplishments. Let’s face it: no one is talking about him. Unless well-meaning folks like the DeSmogBloggers stir things up, people will continue to NOT talk about him. Best thing for everyone. -JTK

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Help us clear the PR pollution that clouds climate science.

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About the climate cover-up

Democracy is utterly dependent upon an electorate that is accurately informed. In promoting climate change denial (and often denying their responsibility for doing so) industry has done more than endanger the environment. It has undermined democracy.

There is a vast difference between putting forth a point of view, honestly held, and intentionally sowing the seeds of confusion. Free speech does not include the right to deceive. Deception is not a point of view. And the right to disagree does not include a right to intentionally subvert the public awareness.


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