Grading a Climate Bill, Part 3

by William S. Becker

If there is any doubt that Washington D.C. is where hyperbole, distortions and silly arguments come home to roost, that doubt disappears as we listen to congressional debate on climate and energy policy. Even some of the statements coming from the Obama team lately inspire a loud “Huh?”

Jon Stewart would win a Nobel Prize for Truth if one were awarded for diligence in revealing how some members of Congress , not to mention the conservative chattering classes, regularly insult the American people’s intelligence. Unfortunately, he’s only on the air 30 minutes each day.

Also unfortunately – and here’s an inconvenient truth -- not all of the American people are intelligent enough about climate change to know their intelligence has been insulted. It’s a complicated topic made even more complicated by bogus arguments.

So, in the spirit of improving the quality of the debate and with unapologetic imitation of another political satirist on night-time TV, here are today’s Top 10 Bogus Statements in the climate debate (hereafter labeled “BS”), each followed by a reality check. Continued...

[1] [2] read more...