From C-SPAN's Newsmakers, Rep. Joe Barton with more Climate-gate nonsense. Barton thinks it's a "fair question" to ask if climate scientists are "brainwashing themselves" into believing their peer reviewed studies on climate change. Of course he says he's not actually saying they're brainwashed...wink, wink. Just that it's fair to ask if they are.
Leave it to C-SPAN's resident winger Steve Scully to give him a chance to drum up the fear mongering a bit by jumping in there and asking him if they're trying to brainwash all Americans as well.
Gemen: I guess I’m still just a little bit puzzled by how so many scientists across such a spectrum in your view could have all gotten it so catastrophically wrong?
Barton: Well if they all believe in the theory and they’re funded and they’re part of a group that it’s in their academic, professional career to prove that theory right, they can kind of brainwash themselves. Now I’m not saying they’ve done that, but I’m saying that’s a fair question. And the more that comes out the more relevant that question becomes.
Scully: Are they brainwashing Americans?
Barton: I think some of them have tried to. I certainly, I mean when you read—again when you look at some of these emails and they say, you know, so and so is um…apparently gone over to the dark side and we may have to get him removed as, in his current position because he’s not with us any more—I think that’s troublesome. I mean the true scientific method, you put your theory out there and you put your data out there in an open transparent fashion and have people either try to prove it wrong, or have them replicate it and prove it right. That’s not happened in the climate issue.
The IPCC models, there are a number of them, but they’re all developed by the same people and they all have the same basic assumptions. And they’ve all been wrong. They keep predicting temperatures going up and up and somewhat up in an escalating fashion and that simply is not happening. So at some point in time you either have to change your theory and admit it’s wrong or just admit that it’s not a, it’s not a scientific theory. It’s some sort of an ideology.
He wrapped up the clip with this doozy:
Barton: I think I’ve got an open mind. Again, I want an environment that’s as benign and supportive of mankind that it’s possible to be, but I also want a modern lifestyle that—you know have hot water in the morning and air conditioning in the summer in Texas. I can hop in a private vehicle and take my family or my self where I want to in a convenient comfortable way. I don’t want to go back to the 1870’s where my great-grandparents lived on a dry land cotton farm in Texas with no running water and no electricity and their power source was their own muscles or animal power. I don’t want to do that. And an 83% reduction from the 2000 baseline of CO2 emissions in the United States—you couldn’t burn fossil fuels in the United States in the year 2050. Can’t be done.
Yep. We're going back to the days of horses and carriages and no running water if they try to cap CO2 by 83% in 41 years from now. I think the one with an agenda is Rep. Barton trying to keep those campaign donations flowing in.
You can watch the entire segment here.
