Gingrich kills chapter on climate change in upcoming book

UPDATED Dec. 31 at 10:07 a.m. ET

DES MOINES -- Newt Gingrich says he has killed a chapter on climate change in a post-election book of essays about the environment. But the intended author of the chapter, who supports the scientific consensus that humans contribute to climate change, says that's news to her.

Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech, confirmed in an email interview that she had been asked to write a chapter on climate change for the speaker's book. She said was approached by former Palm Beach Zoo CEO Terry Maple, Gingrich's co-editor, at an annual meeting of Republicans for Environmental Protection. Asked to confirm her chapter was dropped, she replied, "I had not heard that."

Hayhoe was less restrained in a couple of tweets she posted Friday night. "so much 'spare' time wasted I cd've spent w family, & 2. what an ungracious way to find out, eh?" she asked. She followed that with "Nice to hear that Gingrich is tossing my #climate chapter in the trash. 100+ unpaid hrs I cd've spent playing w my baby."

The climate-change issue arose Thursday night at a Gingrich campaign stop in Carroll, when a woman expressed concern to Gingrich about the chapter. She said she had heard about it on Rush Limbaugh's radio program. As she began to tell Gingrich who the author of the piece would be, Gingrich interrupted. "That's not going to be in the book," he told her. "We didn't know that they were doing that and we told them to kill it."

Hayhoe, whose husband is an evangelical pastor, recently wrote a book about climate change from an evangelical perspective. In an interview with Christian writer Jonathan Merritt, she left no doubt as to where she stands on the existence or the cause of the phenomenon.

"Among climate scientists--people who spend their lives researching our world--there is no debate regarding the reality of climate change, and the fact that humans are the primary cause," Hayhoe said in the interview. "It is primarily laypeople, such as talk-show hosts, or those with vested interests in maintaining the status quo, who are perpetuating the idea that there is no scientific consensus."

Limbaugh picked up on those quotes on Dec. 19, including Hayhoe's poke at talk-show hosts. He called her "one of Newt's experts" and said she believes in man-made global warming. That was apparently enough to create heartburn for Team Newt.

In a recent Pew Research Center poll, only 43 percent of Republicans - and only 31 percent of conservatives - said they believe there is solid evidence of global warming. That compares to 77 percent of Democrats. So the topic is tricky for GOP presidential candidates.

That's particularly true for Gingrich, who infamously sat down with Nancy Pelosi to film an ad calling for action on global warming (he has since called this "the dumbest single thing I've done in the last few years"). The former speaker has also shifted his position on cap-and-trade and has walked back previous comments that there is a "wealth of scientific data" that warming is taking place.

The Gingrich campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this article.

[kansas1946]

This is just typical behavior of a sociopathic liar. Anyone who would vote for this slime needs to rethink their values.

[naksuthin]

It wasn't that long ago that Conservatives didn't believe that cigarette smoking was harmful
During the Clinton vs Dole campaign Conservatives mocked the belief that cigarettes caused cancer and sided with tobacco executives who claimed that no research ever supported that theory.
Of course we now know that the cigarette lobby was lying through it's teeth and was later sued by the federal government for billions of dollars in damages after discovering that the cigarette company's own studies confirmed that cigarette smoking was harmful.
Today no conservatives would dare stand up and deny that cigarette smoking is harmful.
The same thing will happen with climate change.
Conservatives will side with the oil and coal companies until they've exhausted all their excuses...then quietly drop their opposition to global warming

[involved_indi]

since when is anyones editing of a non printed book news?

[irreverentasever]

The republican answer is to pray for climate stabilization.

[jdaryyl]

Those who believe in anthropomorphic global climate change have been duped. Read:

"The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert"

http://www.corbettreport.com/interview-434-donna-laframboise/

[jdaryyl]

Scientific consensus? Oh gosh, who do I write a check out to? I always thought it had more to do do with solor cycles and was not anthropomorphic... In fact I always thought that if you look back at cycles prior to the last 50 years it would be more accurate. guess I should be trusting known cons and paying for my... breathing... Consensus is that its a scam, a big money making scam... Read "The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World's Top Climate Expert"

[jdaryyl]

mendacious mass mania moves mountains mistakenly

[lugi12a]

Who is making money from this scam and how?

[Mortar1SG29]

A great video on global warming:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvObfrs3qoE&feature=related

[nearl451]

Newt used to have thinking "smarts"; now all it seems he has is political "smarts".

[stupidrules3]

Now that Newt is running for president he has to clean up all the non-Tea Party stances he has taken in the past. He must pander to them to win the nomination. Those stances were the main thing that made him look better in my eyes. When he had a debate with John Kerry on the environment, he said,"Even if Mr. Kerry is wrong about global warming, what would it hurt to clean up the environment?" Now that he is walking back all those previous positions, he has shown his true colors. He is a true politician whose stances are based on the fact that he needs votes and doing the right thing (standing by his principles) comes in a distant second.

[AttyFAM]

The Republican Party - party of the ignorant, the superstitious and the gullible. It is just so depressing that there are so many of them in the country.