More on Climategate - Politics - The Atlantic

First, as it happens I do not suspect Mann or the others of outright scientific fraud -- by which I mean the destruction or falsification of data. According to what I read, for sensible critics of Mann and "The Team", that is not the issue. The argument is about the dangers of groupthink, a preference for data that point in the right direction, efforts to deflect or neutralize opposing points of view, and the selective packaging of findings for public consumption (which is where "the trick to hide the decline" comes in). It seems to me the Climategate emails give ample grounds for concern on all those points, and none of the inquiries into the matter have dealt with these issues adequately.

Second, the evident fondness of climate-change activists for delegitimizing dissent and spinning the facts to make them more "understandable" is simply not working. Cap and trade just died for lack of public support. I think climate-change activists are partly to blame...