Last night, Stephen Colbert drilled down to what climate change denialists are really saying when they mock the existence of global warming, or trying to do anything about it.
Folks, last week, President Obama cynically used the inaugural address to push his radical pro-survival agenda.
BARACK OBAMA (1/21/2013): We will respond to the threat of climate change. ... The path toward sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult, but America cannot resist this transition.
Folks, I didn't think this part of his speech would get any traction, because there's no national consensus on climate change. It's like if JFK announced the Apollo program, but half the country denied the Moon exists. (Cow Jumped Over Soundstage)
But I was shocked when I recently saw a new poll that found "78% of respondents believe the planet had warmed over the past 100 years". The other 22% burst into flames.
Even Koch brothers-funded climate change skeptic and hairbrush denier Richard Muller has done a 180, now stating global warming is real, and "humans are almost entirely the cause".
Now the only thing receding faster than the glaciers is Dr. Muller's funding. (And Stephen's Hairline) And given this dangerous level of consensus, folks, I believe it takes courage to stand up and say, "What can you do about it?"
BJORN LOMBORG (12/12/2012): What you really have to remember is you're never going to get China or India on board.
DONALD TRUMP (12/16/2010): Places like China, do you think they scrub coal? Well, I doubt it. Japan, India. Do you really believe that India's out there scrubbing their coal to make it nice and clean?
CHARLIE GASPARINO (12/2/2012): I don't think you can do that much about it, unless you want to de-industrialize China, and India, and all these developing countries. ... What can you do about it? (chuckles)
(Stephen chuckles) Thanks for literally nothing, guys. (It's The Thoughtless That Counts) But as little as that attitude helps, perhaps no one offers more nothing than CNN conservative commentator and inertial lump Erick Erickson.
ERICK ERICKSON (1/23/2013): Really, the biggest problem is that what does it matter? ... We could shut down production of everything tomorrow that causes greenhouse gases. And China and India aren't. And even if everyone did, the effects wouldn't take effect until about 100 years from now.
Yeah. What's the point of going to all that trouble if me and Erick Erickson won't be around to enjoy it? Sure, our grandkids will, but I don't want to be one of those grandpas who spoils the grandkids with a habitable planet. (Could Live On "Moon", If There Was One)
It's the same reason I will not buy life insurance. I get hit by a bus, and my family gets rich? Sorry, I don't want anybody happy at my funeral. (Also, There's A Cash Bar)
But folks, that wasn't Erickson's only non-solution. He dug down deep, and helped even less.
ERICK ERICKSON (1/23/2013): Seems like it's a problem we probably have to get used to, as opposed to something we can cure.
Yes, we just need to get used to it. Erickson has finally hit the fifth stage of conservative climate change grief: denial, denial, denial, denial, and acceptance. ("Denial" Isn't Just A Dry Riverbed In Egypt)
....
So it's high time we stop trying to solve the problem, and resign ourselves to each day getting worse. (Crappy Diem!) Because ladies and gentlemen, when Erick Erickson says "get used to it", he means get used to city-swallowing storms, mass extinctions, deadly heat waves, crippling floods, and droughts that make a desert out of Oklahoma. (♫ Where The Wind Comes Flaming Down The Plain! ♫)
And, that's just how it is now. Our problems are just too big to cure. So join me and Erick. Give up. Crawl into bed with a cheesecake and wait for death. (Or Carson Daly) And now, sure, the only thing worse than global warming itself might be knowing you're destroying the planet, and doing nothing, but if guys like me and Erick have our way, you'd better get used to it.
Video and full transcript below the fold.
Now folks, my guest tonight is a man named Michael Shellenberger. He's an environmental strategist who believes we need new thinking when it comes to the battle against global warming. And I agree. My old thinking was, "What global warming?" Now, I began to believe in global warming after Al Gore's movie made money. 'Cause the market had spoken. It's the same reason I believe our children are fighting to the death in Capitol City.
And the evidence is growing. Look no further than Australia, which was just simultaneously battled by typhoons, wildfires, and record heat. And that's in January. Imagine what it's like there in the summertime! But ladies and gentlemen, Australia did not take this lying down. No, they struck back with new technologies.
CHRIS HAYES (1/12/2013): We now know that global warming has created such extreme weather in Australia, the country's Bureau of Meteorology has added two new colors to the country's weather maps, an incandescent purple and magenta, so the maps can faithfully represent temperatures like 125°F.
Yes, new map colors! I believe the temperature color wheel goes: orange, red, purple, magenta, fever blister, and Satan's taint. But what's really disturbing about this continent on fire is that it's got people wanting to do something about global warming, and that brings us to tonight's Wørd: The New Abnormal.
Folks, last week, President Obama cynically used the inaugural address to push his radical pro-survival agenda.
BARACK OBAMA (1/21/2013): We will respond to the threat of climate change. ... The path toward sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult, but America cannot resist this transition.
Folks, I didn't think this part of his speech would get any traction, because there's no national consensus on climate change. It's like if JFK announced the Apollo program, but half the country denied the Moon exists. (Cow Jumped Over Soundstage)
But I was shocked when I recently saw a new poll that found "78% of respondents believe the planet had warmed over the past 100 years". The other 22% burst into flames.
Even Koch brothers-funded climate change skeptic and hairbrush denier Richard Muller has done a 180, now stating global warming is real, and "humans are almost entirely the cause".
Now the only thing receding faster than the glaciers is Dr. Muller's funding. (And Stephen's Hairline) And given this dangerous level of consensus, folks, I believe it takes courage to stand up and say, "What can you do about it?"
BJORN LOMBORG (12/12/2012): What you really have to remember is you're never going to get China or India on board.
DONALD TRUMP (12/16/2010): Places like China, do you think they scrub coal? Well, I doubt it. Japan, India. Do you really believe that India's out there scrubbing their coal to make it nice and clean?
CHARLIE GASPARINO (12/2/2012): I don't think you can do that much about it, unless you want to de-industrialize China, and India, and all these developing countries. ... What can you do about it? (chuckles)
(Stephen chuckles) Thanks for literally nothing, guys. (It's The Thoughtless That Counts) But as little as that attitude helps, perhaps no one offers more nothing than CNN conservative commentator and inertial lump Erick Erickson.
ERICK ERICKSON (1/23/2013): Really, the biggest problem is that what does it matter? ... We could shut down production of everything tomorrow that causes greenhouse gases. And China and India aren't. And even if everyone did, the effects wouldn't take effect until about 100 years from now.
Yeah. What's the point of going to all that trouble if me and Erick Erickson won't be around to enjoy it? Sure, our grandkids will, but I don't want to be one of those grandpas who spoils the grandkids with a habitable planet. (Could Live On "Moon", If There Was One)
It's the same reason I will not buy life insurance. I get hit by a bus, and my family gets rich? Sorry, I don't want anybody happy at my funeral. (Also, There's A Cash Bar)
But folks, that wasn't Erickson's only non-solution. He dug down deep, and helped even less.
ERICK ERICKSON (1/23/2013): Seems like it's a problem we probably have to get used to, as opposed to something we can cure.
Yes, we just need to get used to it. Erickson has finally hit the fifth stage of conservative climate change grief: denial, denial, denial, denial, and acceptance. ("Denial" Isn't Just A Dry Riverbed In Egypt)
Now sure, I know America beat Tojo, we crushed Hitler, we put a man on the Moon, but incrementally reducing CO2 emissions? That sounds like a lot of work!
And how can we fight an enemy we can't see? I mean, get out of here! Get out of here, carbon! (swings hands in air) Did I hit it? I don't know.
So it's high time we stop trying to solve the problem, and resign ourselves to each day getting worse. (Crappy Diem!) Because ladies and gentlemen, when Erick Erickson says "get used to it", he means get used to city-swallowing storms, mass extinctions, deadly heat waves, crippling floods, and droughts that make a desert out of Oklahoma. (♫ Where The Wind Comes Flaming Down The Plain! ♫)
And, that's just how it is now. Our problems are just too big to cure. So join me and Erick. Give up. Crawl into bed with a cheesecake and wait for death. (Or Carson Daly) And now, sure, the only thing worse than global warming itself might be knowing you're destroying the planet, and doing nothing, but if guys like me and Erick have our way, you'd better get used to it. (The New Abnormal) And that's the Wørd. We'll be right back.
Stephen also noted how the TSA has gotten rid of those
Rapiscan body scanners.
Meanwhile, Jon looked at the
military lifting its ban on women in combat, and
Sam Bee then talked to people on both sides of the issue.
Jon and
Stephen both looked at potential trouble spots around the world that could boil over to become World War III.
Stephen talked with environmental policy expert
Michael Shellenberger, and Jon talked with sportscaster
Bob Costas, which went long. They ended up only talking about guns for the on-air segment. Here's the whole unedited interview in three parts, where they also talk about the concussion problem in the NFL, and about baseball legend Stan Musial, who recently passed away.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3: