Tonight 8PM: Chris Hayes MSNBC Climate Documentary "The Politics of Power”

[kristopher]

From Joe Romm at Climate Progress

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes On Why So Many Conservatives Deny The Climate Problem: They Hate The Solution

Hayes plays an excerpt from remarks by hard-core denier Rep. Dana “dinosaur flatulence” Rohrabacher (R-CA):

ROHRABACHER: Just so you’ll know, global warming is a total fraud. The federal government, they want to create global government to control all of our lives. That’s what their game plan is. It’s step by step by step more and bigger control over our lives by higher levels of government. And global warming is simply that strategy in spades.
HAYES: Now, the whole “global warming is a liberal conspiracy” line is understandably a big hit among the conservative base, but in delivering that line, Congressman Rohrabacher tips his hand to the reasoning behind his global warming denialism, which basically goes like this: If global warming is real, then the government would need to intervene to fix it, but we don’t like government intervention. Therefore, global warming cannot be real.
That’s it. That is the logic behind the pervasive view on climate change on the right: We don’t like the solutions to this problem, so we officially declare this not to be a problem.

<snip>

For you Millennials out there, Luntz’s infamous (and still must-read) 2002 “Straight Talk” memo on climate change messaging was designed for conservatives who want to sound like they care about global warming even as they twist the knife in deeper:

Technology and innovation are the key in arguments on both sides. Global warming alarmists use American superiority in technology and innovation quite effectively in responding to accusations that international agreements such as the Kyoto accord could cost the United States billions. Rather than condemning corporate America the way most environmentalists have done in the past, they attack us for lacking faith in our collective ability to meet any economic challenges presented by environmental changes we make. This should be our argument. We need to emphasize how voluntary innovation and experimentation are preferable to bureaucratic or international intervention and regulation.
More than a decade later, the playbook is exactly the same!

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/14/2467371/msnbc-chris-hayes-on-conservatives-deny-climate-problem-they-hate-solution/



Luntz Memo
http://www.politicalstrategy.org/archives/001330.php

[limpyhobbler]

1. Looks like the deniers talking points are getting kind of stale.

The Democrats need to start moving the debate beyond the question of "is it real".

They love debating Republicans over the issue of "is it real" because it make the Dems look quite sensible in contrast. The gop makes a great foil. It's an easy debate to have and doesn't cost politicians much money in terms of donations.

It distracts away from the accelerating fossil fuel extraction and export, policies that are roundly supported by both parties.

We ought to push past this "is it real" debate, and change the debate to questions of limiting fossil fuel extraction.

That's a harder debate for Democratic politicians to engage in because it means offending particular moneyed interests who will target you in the next election.

But yet if we are serious about reducing fossil fuel extraction, then that is where the debate needs to go, so we'll need to push the Democratic politicians in that direction. They won't tend to go that way naturally because they are stuck in that rather comfortable debate over "is it real".

[kristopher]

2. Unless you have new polling data, it's not time yet.

We've been losing ground because ideological polarization is making people deaf to reality. The way forward in the opinion of many is shaming. The facts are straightforward and easy to grasp if presented in a way they can't be ignored...

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