Chris Mooney is a visiting associate in the 
Several readers have emailed me to comment on Michael Steele's ummmm...imaginative explanations of both global 'cooling' and Greenland:
"We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long."You want me to respond to that gibberish? Seriously? The man got the history of Greenland wrong... need I really wax poetic on the rest? It's not a question of 'what this planet is all about', but rather what planet is the RNC Chairman on?
My take is that I'm embarrassed for the Republicans. No, I may not always agree with their policies, but in terms of who is representing their image right now, surely they can do so much better...
Environment
Comments
This reads more like SNL than news. Embarrassing and sad.
Posted by: Derick | March 20, 2009 5:08 PM
Unfortunately, no. In fact, Mr. Steele is almost certainly too close to reality for the Party leadership. His remaining time as chairman is short.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | March 20, 2009 5:24 PM
How do these people walk around the halls of power and never run into anyone who's informed? Not all the GOP is completely clueless (climate change at least gets recognition as a problem on David Frum's blog). Don't any of these people with a clue talk to George Will? Or Mary Matlin?
Posted by: Jon Winsor | March 20, 2009 5:47 PM
Just when you thought the Republican War on Science was over....
Posted by: Chris C. Mooney | March 20, 2009 5:51 PM
That wasn't very wise. No telling how long he can get away with it.
Besides the whole persona non grata thing, there's the simple matter of prudence: these people have power in the Party, and the less power the Party has the less outlet they have outside of it.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | March 20, 2009 5:52 PM
I am extremely heartened by this development because Chris now has every reason to write a sequel.
Posted by: Ashutosh | March 20, 2009 6:34 PM
I don't think gibberish deserves the brain-power of a response.
Posted by: Lilian Nattel | March 20, 2009 6:45 PM
Sadly, the reality is that the Republicans CANNOT do so much better.
They are in a total disarray, at a huge deficit, and this is it..
Posted by: Linda | March 20, 2009 6:57 PM
There's some consolation in this. With each passing year, the evidence in favor of AGW just keeps piling up higher and higher, and it's starting to show in ways that people can relate to. The recent fires in Australia cannot be definitively attributed to AGW, but as we get more and more stories of forest fires (and the process has already begin in the American West), and stories of problems with the Alaska pipeline because of thawing permafrost, and so forth, I think that more and more people will conclude that the AGW deniers are totally out of touch with reality.
Posted by: Erasmussimo | March 20, 2009 7:16 PM
Frum likes David Cameron, Rush Limbaugh not so much (he had a Newsweek cover story on the subject recently). Looks like he's trying to do some sort of insurrection. Chris, if you're looking for Republican allies, a number of his blog posters seem science friendly.
Posted by: Jon Winsor | March 20, 2009 9:12 PM
Sorry, a bit melodramatic, but yes, science friendly Republicans. They do exist.
Posted by: Jon Winsor | March 20, 2009 9:23 PM
What you're saying is that Michael Steele has been suckered by an 1100 year old real estate scam? If so, does the RNC have a real estate division -- I've got some land for sale. It's a new housing development in Florida called "Aqua Terra."
Posted by: ArtK | March 22, 2009 10:17 AM
Sorry, a bit melodramatic, but yes, science friendly Republicans. They do exist.
Wow! That's fascinating! At what zoo can I go see them?
Sorry, cheap shot.
Posted by: Erasmussimo | March 22, 2009 11:39 AM