You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows

When I wrote the earlier piece today about California suing the EPA over granting a waiver on tailpipe emissions, I noticed a lot of comments in the linked article from denialists, touting that "The head of the Weather Channel thinks global warming is a scam... how could it be true if the founder of the Weather Channel doesn't believe in it?" This appears to be a new denialist talking point. John Coleman, the founder in question, wrote a piece for a global warming skeptic site calling it a scam. It got the full Drudge treatment, and wingnuts are engaging in a link-fest.

John Coleman may be the "founder of the Weather Channel," but he's actually just a hack weatherman in San Diego:

John Coleman has been a TV weatherman since he was a freshman in college in 1953 and TV was brand new. He still loves predicting the weather and relating to the television viewers. "I also love working at KUSI NEWS", he adds. "It is a rare thing; a locally owned and managed TV station. And, there are dozens of wonderful people who work here."

John has predicted and shoveled his share of snow. He has been a TV weatherman in Champaign, Peoria and Chicago, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and New York City. For seven years he was the weatherman on "Good Morning, America" on the ABC Network.

It's basically like turning on scientific thought on climate patterns over to Willard Scott, or someone else who's been reading a TelePrompTer all their life.

In fact, Coleman likes to call being a TV weatherman in San Diego "outrageous scam," meaning that, in his mind, he has something in common with global warming.

Coleman ran the Weather Channel for a year. He's no longer involved in any way. And they've embraced science at this point, making the fight against global warming part of their mandate.

What's hilarious is that the right-wing, constantly trumpeting the death of the MSM and questioning every word out of the mouths of the "librul media," is now embracing a LOCAL TV NEWS WEATHERMAN as the last word on global warming. As long as he is saying what fits, I guess...