Jackass of the Century

Frank Luntz is the conservative wordsmith who brought us such "This says one thing and means something completely different" phrases as The Clear Skies Initiative, The Healthy Forests Initiative, and The Death Tax. When faced with the problem of global warming, he told his Republican colleagues this:

“The scientific debate remains open. Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate, and defer to scientists and other experts in the field.”

As Al Gore explains in his movie, this is pretty much the same strategy the tobacco companies used to dilute the controversy over whether or not smoking causes lung cancer. "Our Product is Doubt," they claimed in internal memos. Now we know that even secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard.

And we also know that the consensus opinion of the scientific community is that man is responsible for the current warming trend of the planet. The President doesn't know it because people like Luntz haven't bothered to correct him. Because not only has Luntz probably known the truth all along, now he admits it:

NARRATOR: Today, Frank Luntz says the advice he offered the administration on global warming was fair when he gave it. But, he’s distanced himself from their policies since.

LUNTZ: It’s now 2006. Now I think most people would conclude that there is global warming taking place, and that the behavior of humans are affecting the climate.

QUESTION: But the administration has continued to follow your advice. They’re still questioning the science.

LUNTZ: That’s up to the administration. I’m not the administration. What they want to do is their business. And it’s nothing to do with what I write. And it’s nothing to do with what I believe.

Let me get this straight. More than any other man not employed by a petroleum company, Luntz is responsible for the rhetorical pushback against global warming, a pushback that could lead to utter catastrophe if the debate continues, in contravention of all known science. And he can just say "not my problem" and walk away from it? He may not think he has a responsibility as a citizen of the planet to help short-circuit this fake debate. But what a callow, heartless statement that is. Like the rest of the GOP, Luntz believes that actions do not have consequences, that starting a war based on spurious statements doesn't matter, that following judicial review doesn't matter, that due process doesn't matter, that international treaties to which we're signatories don't matter, that Congressional legislation doesn't matter, that checks and balances don't matter. It's disgraceful that Luntz can sit there and live with himself by saying "It's nothing to do with what I believe." You created what they believe. You created the strategy that led them to keep any meaningful action on global warming at bay. You're responsible. You can't walk away.