Truth be told, the title isn’t an exact quote, but it isn’t far off.
Yesterday on Fox News, anchor Shep Smith was recounting the story of a man in Pennsylvania who was stuck in a port-a-potty. According to the York Daily Record (PA), the man was “drunk, naked and wedged up to his waist in the hole of the toilet.” Toward the end of the segment, Smith compared people who get stuck in toilets to “people who deny the whole global warming thing.” “They’re just a little crazy, you know?” said Smith. “What do you do?”
Where do the Republicans come into this? The majority don’t believe that humanity is driving Global Warming.
Yes, thank you Think Progress (Amanda) for highlighting Smith’s comments and making the all-too-clear link to the Republican Party. As Amanda notes,
A new National Journal poll of 39 GOP lawmakers found that 74 percent of them don’t believe in manmade global warming and are, according to Smith, “a little crazy.”
Republican denialism isn’t news, of course. From a Rasmussen poll last fall:
45% of Americans consider Global Warming a Very Serious issue. But, there are partisan divisions visible throughout the data. Fifty-six percent (56%) of Democrats say human activity is the cause while 51% of Republicans identify long-term planetary trends as the culprit.
And, sadly, the situation might actually be getting worse. From last month,
A new survey by the Pew Research Center indicates that U.S. Republicans, never warm to the idea of human-induced climate change or rising global temperatures, are growing even cooler to the idea. …
“Republicans are increasingly skeptical that there is solid evidence that the earth has been warming over the past few decades: just 49 percent of Republicans say there is evidence that the earth’s average temperature has been rising, down 13 points since January 2007,” …
about half of Americans or 47 percent believe global warming is the result of human activity but views on the subject reflect a sharp partisan divide. It said 27 percent of Republicans hold this view versus 58 percent of Democrats.
To be honest, that 47 percent total figure is distressing and just 58 percent of Democrats don’t know what science is saying. Sigh …
And, what is amazing is that these views are far from hidden. Joe Romm, at Climate Progress, who did some transcription of Republican Senators’ speeches opposing any serious discussion of Global Warming. [Note to self: must get Congressional Record for painful task of reading through these in entirety.] See, for example,
Etc …
NOT A PARTISAN ISSUE
Al Gore says that Global Warming should not be a partisan issue, but it is a moral challenge, an imperative for us to tackle together. This is core to the
We campaign and the cutesy ads of people across the political spectrum sitting on couches (or elsewhere) together, agreeing that dealing with Global Warming matters.
Sadly, these ads don’t reflect the myopic, reality-denial core of the Republican Party, who are fighting against even discussion (any discussion) of meaningful action to turn the nation toward a saner energy future.