In her ABC interview, Sarah Palin has tried to morph herself from Global Warming denialist to simply being a Global Warming skeptic.
On her first day as John McCain’s running mate, this is an exchange that Sarah Palin had with a reporter:
Q: What is your take on global warming and how is it affecting our country?
A: A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.
Perhaps I don’t know how to read English, but that pretty well seals the case on having stating a Global Warming denialist position.
This, perhaps, led Charles Gibson to question Palin on Global Warming. Here is what ABC chose to put online about the interview:
“Do you still believe that global warming is not man made?” Gibson asked Palin.
“I believe that man’s activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. Here in Alaska, the only arctic state in our Union, of course, we see the effects of climate change more so than any other area with ice pack melting. Regardless though of the reason for climate change, whether it’s entirely, wholly caused by man’s activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet — the warming and the cooling trends — regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it and we have to make sure that we’re doing all we can to cut down on pollution.”
In the past, including in an interview with Newsmax.com in August just ahead of her nomination, Palin said: “I’m not one though who would attribute [global warming] to being man-made.”
In her interview with Gibson she was much more measured in her response.
First, let us be clear, this stated position is ‘climate skeptic’. And, it is done in a shallowly sophisticated manner. Note the words:
whether it’s entirely, wholly caused by man’s activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet
Let us be clear, no on serious about the science and the issues ever asserts that 100% of what is going on is caused by humanity, even if stating (with science behind them) that the majority of change and the pace of change is human driven. Palin is setting up a strawman here … a strawman (without lipstick?) to enable turning to nature, non-human driven elements.
In any event, there is an interesting element. The ABC write-up fails to capture is Palin’s efforts to deny that that she (ever) denied human causation of Global Warming. I do not have a full transcript in front of me but she challenged Gibson to provide proof that she ever totally denied human causation as even a contributing cause to Global Warming.
Again, perhaps I can’t read English but how should one read these words?
I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made.