Kerry Kicks Ass at Climate Change Hearing

[globalvillage]

"This is the most serious dereliction of public responsibility that I've ever seen."

The entire hearing is worth watching, but if you want to see a real grilling, watch Sen Kerry question Bill Brennan starting at 2:14:50 into the video. It starts out fairly tame, but it builds.

rtsp://video.webcastcenter.com/srs_g2/commerce020707d.rm

witness and recipient of major ass whoppin:

Mr. Bill Brennan
Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Acting Chairman, Climate Change Science Program


:applause:

edit if you have problems with the link, try it from here:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1812

[TayTay]

1. This was an accountability hearing, you know what we voted for last fall

And many of the Senators commented on how the Bush Administration tried to get NOAA employees to hide their conclusions in reports on climate change.

Sen. Kerry, in his questioning of the NOAA administrator at the end, tried to the get this guy to admit to commonly held ideas about the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere and about what the government needs to do about it. Kerry, in this hearing and in another recent hearing, has stressed that the US and the world, has about 10 years to get this policy right or we face certain global climate catastrophe. That urgency was in his questioning today as was the frustration of dealing with an Administration that does not want to take this subject seriously at all.

Good hearing. Nice to see the Dems kicking some butt. This is what we send money and worked so hard for last year, accountability hearings. Go enjoy a good one.

[karynnj]

2. This is really worth listening to - especially the last half an hour

Kerry makes it abundantly true that the administration does not really have any intention of doing what they need to on this. (Lots of nice history here.)

[MH1]

3. Wonderful, thanks for the video!

Off to watch now... I know how strongly Kerry feels about this topic so I know it's gonna be good.

[globalvillage]

4. MH

you won't be disappointed, my friend. It's classic pissed off Kerry.

[MH1]

8. You're right

That was very nice.

"I don't care if people get tired of me ranting on this, I'm going to rant on this every day I can..."

Right on. :patriot:

[ProSense]

5. I watched it:

informative with good Kerry grilling.

Top-notch stuff.

[_dynamicdems]

6. Good stuff!

This isn't anything better than watching JK kick ass.

I'd never want to be "interrogated" by him, that's for sure! He doesn't raise his voice or become abusive: he doesn't have to. The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice is enough to make anyone targeted by his laser-like intensity squirm.

It's really an amazing transformation to see Kerry go from diplomat to inquisitor in the blink of an eye.

[Island Blue]

7. That was fun to watch.

I'll bet it really sucked being Bill Brennan today. I do love it when my president gets pissed off.

[karynnj]

9. Kick & Recommended

[fedupinBushcountry]

10. Well it looks like

the Science community is listening and like what they hear, and are pointing to who didn't show up at the hearing.

Watch the Devastating John Kerry Cross-Ex
Category: Global Warming
Posted on: February 7, 2007 5:06 PM, by Chris C. Mooney

http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/2007/02/see_the_devastating_john_kerry.php

Also this account of a person who attended the hearing:

Kerry's cross examination towards the end of the hearing completely stole the show. I hope the Webcast gets working , and someone really ought to put it on YouTube, so that everyone can see it. In the meantime, let me discuss some other important developments to emerge from this hearing after the jump.

more>

http://scienceblogs.com/intersection/2007/02/senate_fireworks_on_climate_an.php

[karynnj]

11. I loved the first comment and agree

Why isn't he our President, again?

[Harper_is_Bush]

12. because he lost.

[karynnj]

18. Which is a pity and is obviously the reason, but

With an unbiased media, Kerry would have won easily. Kerry gave a major speech on the environment and alternative energy in 2004, that got virtually no coverage. It was great - I saw it on CSPAN. The MSM TV instead gave coverage to the SBVT, who had already been thoroughly discredited. There was some coverage in the print media, but even it was rather poor.

Here is ONE part of his record on this issue - keep in mind that cap and trade is the key idea in most global warming solutions.

"First, Senator Kerry. Now you can disagree over the significance of his record on the environment during his years of service as an elected official, but John Kerry has one. And the record begins during a period in his life that hasn't gotten much attention -- a period after Vietnam, after he was a prosecutor, but before he was elected to the U.S. Senate. The time was 1982, the place was Massachusetts. The environmental issue of the day was acid rain, and people were still coming to terms with it. Dianne Dumanoski was an environment writer for the Boston Globe at the time.

DUMANOSKI: Acid rain was a really dominant issue. We had lakes – actually we still have lakes -- that were acidified and had lost their fish, there's been widespread damage to the forests in New England

Snip...

DUMANOSKI: He sort of became the point person on acid rain and was the person that was doing all this organizing and collaborating with the other governors and the Eastern Canadian provincial heads of government. And there was actually a treaty that was signed in '83. It was actually the first agreement on acid rain. It really predated the agreements in Europe and this actually later became the blueprint for the provisions in the Clean Air Act that didn't get passed until 1990."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2631760&mesg_id=2631760

[Harper_is_Bush]

13. niether of your links work for me...snif. n't

[ProSense]

14. Try again, they just worked for me. n/t

[LittleClarkie]

15. Firefox didn't like the first one, but the second opened okay

What is the first one?

[ProSense]

16. It's the video of

Kerry grilling Brennan, the admin guy. Firefox box popped up, selected launch and it worked fine.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. Kerry, Clark, Gore and Edwards. (Major tangent follows)

Obama, and reluctantly I'll add Hillary. You know guys, we really do have some incredibly talented people to select from this time around. Because this time, what should matter is finding someone who is 100% convinced that the old rules of play have changed, and the next president needs to find a whole new set of rules to work from. No longer can you depend on the other party to do the right thing, no longer can you depend on the media to tell the public the truth, and no longer can a Senator sell his or her vote to benefit his/her State, without taking into consideration that they're letting us all down on a national level.

Here's the next evolution of Democratic president: As skeptical as a prosecutor, as desiring of vengeance for the deceit we've suffered under the GOP as a rape victim wronged; as frugal as a monk; as unselfish as a socialist; and as loyal to country as a boy scout.

[karynnj]

19. I don't see any candidate who satisfies that entire list

and I do not think that vengeance is a positive virtue. Instead, it can make us equally bad. I hope you mean the desire to uncover and eliminate from power the powers (government, media etc) that led to the wrongs.

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. I think the word you're looking for is, "justice."

Justice instead of vengeance. I'll hold out for the final verdict when all the evidence of Republican and corporate America's dirty tricks come in.

[karynnj]

21. absolutely right - justice is precisely the word I was looking for

I do get your point. (and preferring justice to venengeance might be what you respect for someone still looking for someone I can respect half as much as Senator Kerry. )