February 23, 2010 5:46 PM

Bernie Sanders: Climate Change Skeptics Like Those Who Downplayed Nazism

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Domestic Issues
(AP)
Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said Tuesday that people who do not take the threat of climate change seriously remind him of those who downplayed the growing threat of fascism and Nazism in the 1930s.

The climate change debate "reminds me in some ways of the debate taking place in this country and around the world in the late 1930s," Sanders said during a Senate hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency's 2011 budget, which you can watch here. (The comments come at the 103rd minute.)

He continued: "And during that period with Nazism and fascism growing -- a real danger to the United States and Democratic countries all over the world -- there were people in this Congress, in the British parliament saying, 'don't worry! Hitler is not real! It'll disappear! We don't have to be prepared to take it on.'"

Asked about the comments, Sanders Communications Director Michael Briggs told Hotsheet that the senator, who believes climate change is real, "was comparing [climate change skeptics] to people in this country who were isolationists who didn't think we needed to confront the threat."

Sanders took heat from Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Senate's leading climate change skeptic, earlier in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing. Inhofe said "I know the senator from Vermont wants so badly to believe that the science on climate change is settled but it's not," according to Politico.

Inhofe is pressing for a reappraisal of the government's position on climate change following revelations of errors in reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (deemed "trivial" by Sanders) as well as the so-called "Climategate" controversy. He wants an investigation into what he calls "the greatest scientific scandal of our generation," complete with testimony from former Vice President Al Gore.

But as the New York Times notes, EPA administrator Lisa Jackson did not give an inch when it came to the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change.

"The science behind climate change is settled, and human activity is responsible for global warming," she said. "That conclusion is not a partisan one."

Republicans criticized the EPA at the hearing for its plan to introduce greenhouse gas regulations next month.

Add a Comment See all 26 Comments
by johndevinejr February 24, 2010 11:58 AM EST
Many reactionarys dont't believe in climate change. These people remind me of those who were and are in opposition to enviornmental regulations that have reduced overall pollution over the last 40 years.
They put far more stock in their beliefs because no evidence is required. Very foolish people. The evidence for climate change is overwhelming.
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by Mortar_29 February 24, 2010 12:08 PM EST
Nope. I am just waiting for the PROOF that there is climate changed caused by man.

So far, that hasnt been done. When it is, I will certainly respect that. Until then, stop acting like the science is decided...because even the guys who said it was decided...are now coming out saying "well, maybe it isnt yet."
by hateisafourletterword February 24, 2010 9:52 AM EST
The government is concerned about one thing whether it is USA, China, Cuba or Venezuela. CONTROL. They want to control and regulate your life. Your healthcare, your medicines, your cars, your food, your environment. Do you people remember what the military says when we go into another country? We need to destroy the communications and control the area.
It is all about control. Al Gore wants to control your life and make himself even wealthier doing so.
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by johndevinejr February 24, 2010 11:54 AM EST
I hope that you will continue to wear your tinfoil hat to prevent the govenment mind control rays from affecting you.
by stormerF2 February 24, 2010 8:25 AM EST
News from a bed wetting Socialist about Facism and Nazis. Sanders should know he champions both.
Reply to this comment
by Mortar_29 February 24, 2010 11:22 AM EST
He probably champions bed wetting also!
by endurorob_5 February 24, 2010 7:18 AM EST
Bernie you area an idiot. Lisa Jackson you are also an idiot. This plants climate changes. Of course man contributes some to the climate change but so does everything else on the planet. You canot stop climate change and to believe you can is stupid and futile. You morons will cause economic destruction of this nation in your efforts to support this moronic idealogy. The primary drivers in climate change: the sun, continental drift, variations in the tilt of the earths axis are far beyond your control. Wake up j@ck @sses.
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by ARTESIAN1 February 24, 2010 4:59 AM EST
Climategate Forecast...
?What is the current scientific consensus on the conclusions reached by Drs. Mann, Bradley and Hughes? [Referring to the hockey stick propagated in UN IPCC 2001 by Michael Mann and debunked by McIntyre and McKitrick in 2003.]

Ans: Based on the literature we have reviewed, there is no overarching consensus on MBH98/99. As analyzed in our social network, there is a tightly knit group of individuals who passionately believe in their thesis. However, our perception is that this group has a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism and, moreover, the work has been sufficiently politicized that they can hardly reassess their public positions without losing credibility.?

AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE ?HOCKEY STICK? GLOBAL CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, also known as The Wegman report was authored by Edward J. Wegman, George Mason University, David W. Scott, Rice University, and Yasmin H. Said, The Johns Hopkins University with the contributions of John T. Rigsby, III, Naval Surface Warfare Center, and Denise M. Reeves, MITRE Corporation.
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by ARTESIAN1 February 24, 2010 4:58 AM EST
Originally used to describe Nazis; this book also describes 'Warmies'...

?When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors , shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the actions that follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
?People who see their lives as irremediably spoiled cannot find a worth-while purpose in self-advancement...Their innermost craving is for a new life ? a rebirth ? or failing this, a chance to acquire new elements of pride, confidence, hope, a sense of purpose and worth by an identification with a holy cause. An active mass movement offers them opportunities for both...?
? It is true that in the early adherents of a mass movement there are also adventurers who join in the hope that that the movement will give a spin to their wheel of fortune and whirl them to fame and power.?
Eric Hoffer, 1951 ? ?The True Believer ? Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements?
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by ARTESIAN1 February 24, 2010 4:56 AM EST
Used to describe Nazis, but equally applies to warmies...

?When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors , shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the actions that follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and garlanded youths were to herald the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
?People who see their lives as irremediably spoiled cannot find a worth-while purpose in self-advancement...Their innermost craving is for a new life ? a rebirth ? or failing this, a chance to acquire new elements of pride, confidence, hope, a sense of purpose and worth by an identification with a holy cause. An active mass movement offers them opportunities for both...?
? It is true that in the early adherents of a mass movement there are also adventurers who join in the hope that that the movement will give a spin to their wheel of fortune and whirl them to fame and power.?
Eric Hoffer, 1951 ? ?The True Believer ? Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements?
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by JulianChicago February 23, 2010 11:56 PM EST
Bernard Sanders has a reputation of making news by shooting off his mouth once every year about topics and history he knows nothing about. Bernie was not even born when the Nazi?s started to run amok; he was five or six after WWII ended. So it?s interesting to hear him talk about how things were back then? as if he lived it. Being Jewish does not give him the right to compare Nazism to those that want the science of reviewing 4 billion years of earth history against 150 years of ?data?.

The current ?climate warming? issues are not about whether this is a good cause; it?s about the integrity of the scientific process. Many of the purported scientists are climate change advocates, like Gore and not science advisors. Many of the advocates have a financial conflict of interest. The alarmists are asking for BILIION$ of dollars for more studies or to give our tax money to other countries against - - the backdrop of questionable science.

So yes, the Earth may be changing (or going through natural cycles), but we should not pollute, and it is in our best interests to look elsewhere for energy sources (unless we want to continue to give our money to Venezuela and the Middle East for their pollution / war causing oil exports). Also, we may want to create the Eco Jobs here in the USA; the wind turbines for a major Texas wind farm are being built in China - with our tax dollars!
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by cjauregui10 February 23, 2010 10:30 PM EST
You are absolutely right on target. Who in their right mind could or would argue that an infinitesimal trace (.04%) gas essential to life on this planet, with an astronomical Global Warming Potential (GWP) index of 1 (one), is not responsible for runaway Global Warming? Keep the faith, baby, and beat these ignorant, Luddite, denier dogs to death.
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by Mortar_29 February 24, 2010 11:23 AM EST
Silly.
by hateisafourletterword February 23, 2010 9:55 PM EST
94% of our climate is out of control of humans. And sun spots were the major cause of the warming in the past 20 years. Sun spot activity is nearly non-existent right now and the earth will now cool again. It is a cycle no matter what $ander$ and Gore $ay. TO Gore it i$ all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for him.
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