The cynical politics of global warming and its hobgoblins

WMICentral - From other pens - The cynical politics of global warming and its hobgoblins

Gore needed the scientific community to back up his assertions and the media to spread the word. Enlisting the help of the media was easy (apocalyptic fantasies are sure ratings winners), but getting enough scientists on board was trickier. When Gore started his global warming campaign in the early 1990s, a contemporary Gallup poll of scientists showed that only 18 percent thought there was any evidence to support Gore's theory. Even a survey conducted by Greenpeace found only 13 percent of climatologists willing to declare global warming "probable."
Nevertheless, Gore repeatedly claimed that (literally) 98 percent of scientists agreed with him, and he exhorted reporters to ignore skeptics. Right from the outset, the global warming cult (like other illiberal movements, such as communism and fascism) had to resort to the "big lie" technique to make it appear that the science of global warming was settled.
As senator, and then vice president, Gore used his power to channel money toward those who "played ball" and away from those who doubted global warming. The latter found that grant money dried up, promotions were denied and even jobs were terminated. Gore's colleague, Colorado Sen. Timothy Wirth, became undersecretary of state for global affairs in charge of promoting global warming theory and international agreements to address the alleged problem. Wirth was quoted as bragging that he could change a lot of minds with a billion dollars per year of State Department money. Indeed, recent estimates are that $50 billion has been spent promoting the global warming theory (mostly governments and international organizations using tax money) and less that $1 billion to question it. Advantage: global warming.