Over at RealClearScience,
Alex Berezow has a nice take-down of progressive hand-wringing over
the 2014 mid-term electoral ascent of Republican climate change
“deniers” in the Senate. Exhibit one is Bad Astronomer
Phil Plait. Berezow explains:
In Plait’s words, the Republicans will “put a cohort of
science-deniers [sic] into positions of authority,” which “quite
literally affects the future of humanity.” Why? Because, now, the
United States will no longer be able to address climate change,
“the single greatest threat we as a species face today.”
Well, maybe. But Berezow makes the salient point that when the
Senate was chock-a-block with supposedly Democratic
“science-affirmers” they did nothing about the “single greatest
threat” either:
In the 111th
Congress, the Democrats had a 60-seat, filibuster-proof
majority in the Senate, and a large majority in the House. If the
Democrats really wanted to do it, they could have passed climate
change legislation. But, they did not. Instead, they did
absolutely nothing. The House passed a cap-and-trade bill,
219-212, which then died in the Senate. Harry Reid, the Democratic
Majority Leader,
did not even call a vote on the bill.Why is Phil Plait blaming Republicans, but not Democrats? Well,
you can answer that question.
Yes we can.
The whole Berezow
column is worth your attention.
Disclosure: I am happy to say that RealClearScience
occasionally republishes some of my reporting.
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