m$nbc pundit Hugh Hewitt Wants To Put Rush Limbaugh On A Commission To Study Climate Change

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Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt has proposed the creation of a “national commission led by men and women of impeccable credentials” to determine whether and how the U.S. should address climate change, arguing that the country needs a group of “[d]iverse, smart non-scientists who are going to listen to the scientists -- all of them -- and report back on what ought to be done.” However, any credibility that Hewitt’s proposal may have had disappeared instantly when he suggested that the commission include Rush Limbaugh, a vocal climate science denier and conspiracy theorist who is among the least likely people imaginable to “listen to the scientists.”

Hewitt proposed the commission in a February 9 op-ed in The Washington Post, in which he asserted that “we don’t know enough” about the cost of addressing climate change or “the nature of the risk.” He also declared, “We are told so many things about climate change, in a conclusory and often condescending fashion. As a result, both the town criers of apocalypse and the town cynics who wear a never-ending sneer have lost the ability to be heard by, much less move, the center.”

Those claims themselves are dubious -- there is a wealth of research from both governmental and non-governmental organizations about the risks posed by climate change, and lumping proponents of climate action together with (often fossil fuel industry-funded) climate science deniers is false balance 101. But even if Hewitt is correct that a commission of non-scientists could help move the climate conversation forward, his proposal can’t be taken seriously when he suggests the commission include Limbaugh, simply because it ought to include “luminaries of left and right” and Limbaugh has created one of the “largest audiences of the past 30 years.”

Limbaugh has long been a promoter of some of the most over-the-top and fringiest climate science denial and climate-related conspiracy theories. Among other things, Limbaugh concocted a conspiracy theory that the federal government was overstating Hurricane Matthew’s severity in order to manufacture concern about climate change; claimed that NASA’s announcement that it found water on Mars was part of a climate change conspiracy; and distorted a study from Duke University, claiming it shows that "there isn't any [global] warming going on." For Hewitt to believe that Limbaugh belongs on a climate change commission requires a willful ignorance of Limbaugh’s long track record of climate science denial and overt disdain for science and scientists.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/02/10/hugh-hewitt-wants-put-rush-limbaugh-commission-study-climate-change/215304

[panader0]

1. Hugh Hewitt--just another insufferable prick.

[spanone]

6. 👍🏼

absolutely

[underpants]

12. Automated humanoid likeness

I'm telling you, he isn't real.

[TrekLuver]

2. Ok first sentence he says "impeccable credentials" ...so how does Limbaugh have that for this

position?

[dalton99a]

5. Well, he is a drug-addled liar.

[cloudbase]

17. He produces copious amounts of hot .air. n/t

ETA: Just saw JHB's posting down thread. Great minds, and all that.

[orleans]

18. i remember he was very concerned about the manatees in florida

so that should make him a fucking expert on EVERYTHING, right?

[grantcart]

22. He flunked out of college, that has to count for something.

[dalton99a]

3. The Onion can't beat this shit.

[JHan]

4. I had to reread it to make sure it wasn't from The Onion.

[PatSeg]

7. MSNBC needs to get rid of this guy

He is smug and obnoxious and clearly divorced from reality.

[jeanmarc]

15. This. NT.

[JHan]

8. They're out-parodying themselves..... it doesn't get more ridiculous than this.

[doc03]

9. Why not he is about as qualified as any other Trump pick has been? nt

[Glamrock]

10. Why not El Chappo to head the DEA?

[underpants]

13. How about Rush Limbaugh to head the DEA?

[JHB]

11. Of course, Limbaugh has no relevant expertise except producing hot air...

...though he has been exceptionally successful at that.

And at vandalizing the nation.

Is there a particular reason why I should give a rat's ass about what Hugh Hewitt says? I'm pretty miserly with my rat's asses.

[procon]

14. Put "non-scientists" in charge of the whole planet's climate... sounds fabulous!

Next up in Trump World:

non-surgeons will do your operation.
non-pilots will fly your planes.
non-electricians will repair your electrical wiring.

This is the Three Stooges or the Keystone cops version of government.

[neeksgeek]

16. Fabulous.

Let's also put Ted Nugent on a commission to study gun violence. That ought to end well.

[orleans]

19. hysterical n/t

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. Well he definitely spews a lot of hot air

But I don't think that makes him an expert.

[Jim__]

21. Rushs credibility on climate:

Rush's claim:

RUSH: So, ladies and gentlemen, we are having a record-breaking cold snap in many parts of the country. And right on schedule the media have to come up with a way to make it sound like it’s completely unprecedented. Because they’ve got to find a way to attach this to the global warming agenda, and they have. It’s called the “polar vortex.” The dreaded polar vortex.

Do you know what the polar vortex is? Have you ever heard of it? Well, they just created it for this week. Actually, there is a piece. I’ve got a piece in the Stack that actually makes the case that all of this frigid, chilling cold is due to global warming, strange as it may sound, it says. Other wackos are saying it’s a great example of climate change, but regardless, the agenda is that we’re responsible, we’re causing it, we have to pay the price. And so any weather extreme now is said to be man-made, and therefore it fulfills the leftist agenda on this.

more …

Al Roker’s rebuttal:

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