20 Mar 2007 Climate Progress Blog Suggests Gore Duck Questions

The Climate Progress blog claims the questions Matt Drudge has said are being considered for Al Gore’s testimonies before Congress Wednesday would be easy for for a fifth grader to answer.

The Climate Progress blog then provides Mr. Gore with suggested answers to the four questions.

Hilariously, three of the four answers the Climate Progress blog suggests duck firm answers to the question being asked.

For instance, consider this suggested exchange:

Hypothetical question to Gore: Joseph Romm, the executive director for the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, has said we must build 700 large nuclear plants to stave off climate change. Where do you stand on the need for nuclear energy?Climate Progress blog’s suggested answer: If you have read Dr. Romm’s book, “Hell and High Water,” then you know he writes:

The nation needs to put in place mandatory carbon dioxide controls. If a significant price for carbon makes nuclear attractive to utilities and financiers, and if the plants meet the necessary safety and environmental codes, and if the country can finally agree on a place to put the nuclear waste, then new nuclear plants may well make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in this country….

That view seems entirely reasonable to me.

If, if, if, and “may well.” Why does the suggested answer contain four qualifers? (Five, if you count the fact that Gore is told to say a sentence with HUGE qualifers is merely “reasonable,” which leaves room for Gore to claim later that he doesn’t agree with it.) Why not simply suggest that Gore say where he stands on nuclear energy? Wouldn’t 700 new nuclear plants reduce carbon dioxide emissions even if Congress refused (and wisely so!) to have Washington control the public’s carbon dioxide emissions? Why should Gore be reluctant to provide a clear answer?

The leftie Center for American Progress Action Fund declares in its daily newsletter, “Climate Progress’s Joseph Romm takes the Drudge challenge and makes quick work of the questions.”

Since it is unlikely the Center for American Progress meant “quick work” as in “fast but superficial,” the Center for American Progress staff probably didn’t even notice that the Climate Progress blog essentially ducked suggeting definitive answers to Gore for 75 percent of the questions.

All this helps explain how Al Gore became an icon of the left on global warming.

Addendum: Husband David attended the House Committee on Resources’ Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hearing on climate change today. He reports that Congressman Stevan Pearce asked every witness on the hearing’s second panel if they support the use of nuclear power, “yes or no.” No long-winded mealy-mouthed answers for him!