A Few Things Ill Considered

Ian Plimer debate George Monbiot

Posted by coby on February 16, 2010
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I know this is old news, but I just found the youtubes of this debate. You will recall how Plimer declined to answer some very straightforward requests for evidence of a handful of his most egregious fabrications that George Monbiot put to him as a precondition of a debate. Well, not because Plimer decided to be forthcoming, the debate went ahead in December with no preconditions.

It can be viewed in three parts below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

If you don’t have time for it all (~24 minutes) I would recommend starting at part 2.

Is anyone impressed with Plimer’s evasivness. He might as well have just plead the 5th, and refused to answer on the grounds he might incriminate himself! Monbiot struck just the right tone, IMO.

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Comments

  1. #1 Scott A. Mandia
    February 17, 2010

    Plimer is the Sarah Palin of climate science.

  2. #2 Brant D
    February 17, 2010

    This debate is even better with hindsight. That “tax the rabble” Copenhagen conference sure is draining our coffers right now. It’s amazing what they pulled off.

  3. #3 jyyh
    February 17, 2010

    Sorry, but I think this was a waste of otherwise perfectly good blog space. The recommendation is a possibly a good one, had to stop watching the 1st one, but haven’t had the stomach to start again.

  4. #4 ginckgo
    February 23, 2010

    I still can’t believe Monbiot fell for the whole “climategate” email saga. So he actually believes all the unsupported interpretations made by denialists?

  5. #5 Snozzle
    January 16, 2011

    The Monbiot Plimer debate on ABC was notable for more than Monbiot’s ad hominem attacks and Plimer’s poor memory. Tony Jones the Australian ABC TV host gets an honorable mention for another character assasination of non-compliant scientists. He previously smeared Prof. Frederick Singer and gave him no right of reply, in the “Swindle Debate” featuring four skeptics and eight warmists, which was stage-managed behind the scenes by Robyn Williams, the ABC’s climate science gatekeeper.

    In the Monbiot Plimer debate, both were given roughly equal time of reply. HOWEVER: Monbiot interrupted Plimer an astonishing eighteen (18) times. To which Jones intervened only twice after the event. Jones himself interrupted Plimer three (3) times. Plimer interrupted Monbiot once. Monbiot delighted in ad hominem attacks, calling Plimer a liar and a fraud. Both Jones and Monbiot had the look of cats who had drunken their fill of milk after the mauling. Plimer did not stand a chance.

    So to sum it up, it was Tony Jones of the ABC whose abyssmal performance stands out, followed by Monbiot for lack of social grace. Plimer would have won by default, but for the STAR performer whom only the alert audience would have observed: the live footage of icy weather on the white snow-covered streets of Copenhagen behind Monbiot’s satellite screen.