Watch Obama’s Top Science Advisor Repeatedly Shut Down Climate Deniers At House Climate Hearing

[kpete]

Read about it here:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/18/3568720/john-holdren-science-house-climate-hearing/

[Capt.Rocky300]

1. The man is a complete..............

[groundloop]

2. The trouble is they're so fucking stupid they don't realize they've been shut down

It's always the same, climate change deniers sound like they know what they're talking about so they're plastered all over RW media and gullible people believe them.

[Plucketeer]

15. I think he DOES realize he's arguing on wobbly reasoning

But he's got ALL those folks who've put him in the position of power that he commands. And there's no way he can show them ANYthing short of concrete resolve about the phony argument he's flaunting - that they've put him up to. He probably gleams with pride over his title and is basically executing a CYA maneuver to continue his fat paycheck and bennies.

[DavidG_WI]

25. As clueless as these guys

[Thinkingabout]

3. The man can't breath and listen at the same time, he couldn't get past the point

He thought he wanted to make to listen to the scientists statement.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

4. Barking Dog Crazy!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Keep in mind that these people believe they are in a battle against commies.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. Someone should take the statements from that dope and replay them over and over...

… with the math to explain timescales he was trying to explain to this dunderhead.

[3catwoman3]

7. Mr. Stockman is a tad overfond of his own voice.

What a rude jerk.

[lobodons]

8. Rep. Stockman, Texas, Science

Rep. Stockman, Texas, Science,....need we go further..??

[ReRe]

10. Yes.

This is the dude who invited Ted Nugent to the SOTU speech.

[KJG52]

9. Teh Stupid...

runs deep as Teachers weep, deep in the heart of Texas... The matching bookends of the Texas Congressional delegation, Stockman and Gohmert, they lower the collective IQ of every room they walk into..

[bulloney]

11. Simpletons like Rep. Stockman learn a new word or phrase and they act like they've uncovered

the origins of the universe. "Global wobbling! Global wobbling!"

He thinks he sounds so smart when he uses that phrase now.

[Old Crow]

12. Holy heck.

Hadn't seen this clip before. You could probably make a two-hour movie at this point by combining similar clips of politicians, mostly Republicans, trying to trip up scientists on global warming and, instead, demonstrating their own ignorance.

It is a double-whammy, and so help me, I don't know if our side is going to be able to win.

1. You've got outright liars out there, funded by the fossil fuel industry and right-wing think tanks. These people know better, but they have no compunction about lying.

2. You've got legions of idiots, who would need remedial science education in order to understand the topic.

Frankly, it's a minority of the population who are smart enough to be able to understand the concepts and who haven't already been indoctrinated by the propagandists. If public policy is directed by either the vested interests or by majority rule, what hope have we got?

I suppose at some point, the ramifications of global warming will become so severe that they can't be ignored. But even there, don't be so sure. Portions of Miami are now regularly under water at high tide, when they weren't 50 years ago, but the Republicans in Florida have no trouble ignoring that fact.

Someone help me out here this morning, because at the moment, the situation is looking pretty damn bleak.

[freedom fighter jh]

13. Also note the canard about how melting ice in a drink

does not cause the drink to overflow the glass.

Yo, man, the planet is not a glass of ginger ale. Lots of that melting ice is on land. When it melts it flows into the ocean. That does raise the water level. And the ocean water expands as the water gets warmer. That also raises sea level.

[bulloney]

14. Stockman was just putting his ignorance out there for people to see.

Sad thing is, the knuckledraggers who voted him to Congress don't know any better and live in a bubble where they only listen to the RW talk shows, Faux Snooze and interact only with people who do the same. They've created an echo chamber that reinforces their ignorance. We've reached the point where these people are so emboldened, they're not afraid to put it out there in public. The sad part is, there aren't enough people to call them out on their ignorance, compounded by the fact the media are complicit in propagating this ignorance.

[El Shaman]

16. Where's

his pal Louie!!?

[world wide wally]

17. How does a maroon like that keep his job?

Oh, I know!… Teachers are the only ones held accountable these days.

[RVN VET]

18. This willfully ignorant a-hole did learn a lesson here:

Don't argue in public with people who really know stuff.

On the other hand, he will go back to his ignorant constituents and tell them with confidence that "this NASA guy in Maryland told me about "global wobbling" which is something you never hear talked about in the liberal media because ice cubes melting in a glass are exactly the same as ice shelfs in Antarctica and the the Arctic melting into the oceans."

I'm really sorry the "discussion" was so abruptly ended. Would have been fun to see this fan of Poopy Pants Nugent placed even more firmly in his benighted place -- and informative to hear more actual facts from Dr. Holdren.

[Old Crow]

21. Unfortunately, I don't think Congressman Stockman learned a lesson.

I'm quite certain he left that hearing as ignorant as he was at its start and had no sense whatsoever that he looked like a fool. Even more, I'll bet he's still telling anyone who will listen that climate models are inaccurate because they don't include global wobbling (i.e., precession, the term that's used when you don't have to explain the concept to the scientifically illiterate).

My experience in debating AGW deniers has shown me that most of them are virtually immune to learning and know so little about the topic that they don't know how much they don't know. This phenonmenon is known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect (link below). If you haven't heard of it, I encourage you to give the link a read. It's sobering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

[tclambert]

19. He never did get to address the ice melting/sea level rising part.

Stockman said when ice melts in your glass the drink doesn't overflow, so he's puzzled how melting ice can raise sea levels.

For this, we need to discuss the difference between ice shelves and ice sheets. An ice shelf is ice floating in water. When an ice shelf melts, it does not raise sea level directly. Ice sheets sit on the ground. When they melt, it will raise sea level. To add to the confusion, some ice sheets sit on ground that is below sea level. Much of the doomed West Antarctic ice sheet rests on ground below sea level. When it melts, it will leave islands, bays, and seas where it used to be.

And the melting of ice shelves indirectly affects sea level. The effect comes from the fact that ice shelves often block the outflow of glaciers flowing from ice sheets. When the shelf melts, the glacier speeds up and the sheet empties more quickly into the sea.

However, I don't think Stockman would get any of that, since he just wants to protect the oil companies' interests.

[Fred Sanders]

20. But how do you explain leaving out global wobbling is what puzzles Stockman most, get him to

understand that first...the thing is the religious and the stupid can just not grasp the concept of time...the millions and millions of years of time that scientists do and must grasp.

[Uncle Joe]

22. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Thespian2]

23. Good Post

Check out YouTube: Redneck Yacht Club...Mudbogging. The featured participants will provide a portrait of why average people do not understand anything about climate. They do understand...beer.

[mucifer]

24. He didn't shut him down because the denier thinks he's smarter than all the scientists. You can

reason with someone who pulls talking points out of his ass and doesn't listen.

[madamesilverspurs]

26. Stupid with a side of OMG

[Manifestor_of_Light]

28. This total waste of skin is my congresscritter!

[matt819]

27. Wow.

You almost have to admire stockman. It must take great courage to display this level of stupidity on a national stage.