Tweet
For reference, here is the Drudge headline Daou was referring to:
And here is the data on 2010 being the hottest year on record.
To answer Daou’s question: it is extremely absurd, but at the same time, utterly predictable. But the underlying question is why Drudge (and other Republicans) would continue highlighting such stories when all available evidence supports the fact that climate change is real and already having an impact.
For the modern Republican party, particularly when it comes to environmental issues, facts are pesky annoyances that have no bearing on public policy. To explore another example of this, let’s take a peek under the hood of some polling on offshore drilling and the oil spill.
On 3/31-4/1, Rasmussen asked (premium account required) 1,000 likely voters if they were concerned that offshore drilling would cause environmental problems.
As you can see, while 70% of Democrats were at least somewhat concerned, just 31% of Republicans felt the same way. Now, this was before 100+ million gallons of oil (and counting) gushed into the Gulf of Mexico as a direct result of offshore drilling. We now have a current and extremely vivid example of offshore drilling actually causing major environmental problems. Indeed, by nearly all accounts the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the worst environmental disaster in American history. So, how have likely voters, Republican and Democrat alike, adjusted their beliefs in the wake of this disaster?
On 6/27-6/28 Rasmussen asked the same question (premium account required).
An overwhelming majority of Democrats, 84%, were concerned that offshore drilling would cause environmental problems. 54% indicated that they were very concerned:
How about Republicans? While they did move a bit from the previous poll, just 50% of Republicans were concerned that offshore drilling would cause environmental problems. Incredibly, 14% remained ‘not at all concerned.’ If I didn’t know a thing or two about the modern Republican party I would doubt the veracity of these numbers:
How could this be? The fact that offshore drilling causes environmental problems could not possibly be more apparent right now. To make matters worse, 93% of Republicans in this survey said they were following the ‘offshore drilling incident’ closely. While 60% said they were following it very closely, zero percent were not following it all. This means that a decent number of Republicans who are following the news of the ongoing spill are ‘not at all’ or ‘not very’ concerned that offshore drilling will cause environmental problems. If this is not the definition of absolute oblivion, I don’t know what is.
Only one conclusion can be drawn from all of this: when it comes to environmental issues, the Republican party is completely oblivious to reality. Now, to be fair, they aren’t just oblivious to reality on environmental issues. But I’ll leave it to the someone else, perhaps the Democratic party, to make that case.
Update — Via @milesgrant, a piece in The Guardian cites some social science research that may partially explain this phenomenon:
What do people do when confronted with scientific evidence that challenges their pre-existing view? Often they will try to ignore it, intimidate it, buy it off, sue it for libel or reason it away.
The classic paper on the last of those strategies is from Lord, Ross and Lepper in 1979: they took two groups of people, one in favour of the death penalty, the other against it, and then presented each with a piece of scientific evidence that supported their pre-existing view, and a piece that challenged it; murder rates went up or down, for example, after the abolition of capital punishment in a state.
The results were as you might imagine. Each group found extensive methodological holes in the evidence they disagreed with, but ignored the very same holes in the evidence that reinforced their views.
6 Comments
The GOP is oblivious to reality on every issue.
The pure fact that a good part of the American people still think they have the right Ideology, is this Countries Problem.
If it could be blamed that people were blind, uninformed, misinformed, or even plain stupid, that would be great.
Instead they really believe these people want to govern the Country the right way, and their past mistakes, proposed mistakes, and outright blatent views on the WARS, the Economy, Big Business and Corporations, and distain for the American people, compounded by obstruction, doesn’t seem to sink in to these people.
A country is only as good as the People in it, and when so many don’t care about other people, the fiscal responsibity, and the viability of the Country. They are killing the very Country they say they love, by their beliefs.
Josh, nice read and thanks for sharing that, as distasteful as Dou and the GOP are (yes, dem’s are distasteful too).
Here in Sacto, CA, we’ve just run thru the coolest 6 month cycle out of winter thru spring and into summer since we’ve lived here (’88).
It’s been SUCH a blessing to have temps in the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s when it’s often in the 90′s/hi 90′s by May or earlier. And 100′s by May. With days of 100′s reappearing thruout June, July, till October.,
If the delta breezes blow (local phenom from foggy winds thru SF area into the Sac area) we are in the 90′s summertime. If they don’t blow, it’s 100′s. Hi 90′s and 100′s are COMMON this time of year!
But we’re cooler, still!
That’s NOT because global warming doesn’t exist.
I’ts LIKELY a result of disrupted weather patterns (a light El Nino, maybe La Nina) and perhaps a cooling of oceans for now as polar ice melts, as glaciers melt worldwide (and they are, horrorifically).
But soon, ocean temps will rise, and that will change the weather yet some more . . . and there won’t BE any cooling coming our ways . . .
So thanks for your work above, your comments and thoughts and linky’s.
Rcc’d, of course.
I guess, to reply about your critique of the GOP, and their denials of science, and the planets problems, I’d have to say, the dem’s are proving no better.
And of course, my standard position is that corporations don’t care one fuckin whit for the planet, it’s species, nor us humans as long as the 1% elite get and have theirs.
And for SOME reason, they want it all, and don’t mind destroying the planet and the rest of us, to get it all.
THAT one, I still haven’t figured out, but there’s plenty evidence down thru the ages that shows the elites are willing to destroy to control and own.
That it’s ultimately their OWN death that’s also inevitable, seems to escape them all.
So, it’s not the parties, it’s the 1%. Always has been, always will be.
They are the biggest threat to our survival as a species, the biggest threat to our planet, and all other species.
And lately, the proof of that sure seems insurmountable . . . IMHO.
I live east of you, in Pleasant Hill (near Walnut Creek).
What I have noticed most is more wind, which would make it cooler where you live and fit with an increase in over all atmospheric energy.
Are you finding it dryer than normal? Our wind is really dry sometimes, or it seems more drying to me.
Also we had rain later than I’d ever seen it in the spring before so the annual spring grasses really went to town. I’m still suffering from the allergies, but it seems hot and still this weekend, they should be all dried up soon.
To your other post, I agree with you. Now, what can we do about it? We need to come up with some really good ideas to solve these problems.
Speaking of stuff that will kill us all, have you ever looked at our military use of uranium? I’m having a hard time figuring out the chain of command on that. Who do you think is actually making that decision?
I meant west, you live east of me.