Climate Therapy
It’s easy to imagine George Will smirking as he wrote this, and Joe Romm snarling as he posted this, the bile in his gut gurgling upwards into familiar screeches,
“SHAME…NO SHAME…SHOULD BE ASHAMED…ARRGGHH…DENIERS…BREAKTHROUGHWILLHIATT…YEAHHHAA…
I really hate it when Joe Romm says “shame on somebody”, it’s really aversive and makes him look silly.
Substantively, though, is there any doubt that he is right on this one? What exactly is your point?
To poke fun at Romm’s histrionics.
Like Will, Romm is a serial distorter of climate data and episodes. (Ex: If there’s a nasty flood in the midwest or a drought in Texas, then it must be climate change.) It’s tiresome to keep pointing this out. Much easier to mock.
Can’t be serious about this stuff all the time. People will tune out.
If Kloor stubs his toe he blames Joe Romm.
I’m not fond of Romm’s tone, but it is simply dishonest to equate him to George Will.
Keith’s teeth are still on edge from Paul Krugman’s <a href=”http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/is-the-threat-of-speculation-a-reason-to-shun-cap-and-trade/#more-3445″>citation</a> of Joe as an authoritative source on the economics of cap-and-trade. First Friedman, now this. It must be hard to take after having described Joe in terms that are exposed as nonsense by such accolades.
Link from my prior.
Romm may be an “authoritative source” on energy issues (not cap-and trade economics) but he’s still a demagogue and, to borrow one of his pet terms, shameless.
I suspect that Krugman likes Romm’s partisan style and that’s why he references him. If you recall during the Presidential election, Krugman preferred Clinton over Obama because he thought she would be more pugilistic and hence more effective in countering Republicans.
Friedman temporarily lost his senses or had other motives for calling Romm’s blog “indispensable” ( I suspect the latter).
Finally, given Romm’s penchant for hyperbole and ad hominem attacks, I have no problem equating his dishonest tactics with those employed by Will.
Yeah, it figures that you don’t care much for Krugman either. Anyway, Keith, try to make up your mind about whether you want to attack Joe for distortions or demagoguery. Your scattershot attacks make it too obvious that there’s something else going on.
Are you kidding me? How do you infer from my last comment that I don’t like Krugman? Anyway, you’re a good soldier, Steve.
What, you’re willing to forgive Krugman for liking Joe’s style? Yowzah, a miracle, although still a limited one since you can’t bring yourself to admit that the approving reference was to substance.
Re the Friedman business, can we say that you’re just rationalizing? I think we can.
Crikey, first James Fallows plugs Romm, “whom I have known for years,” and then Brad Delong references Romm and the “intelligent and reliable Center for American Progress http://climateprogress.org/ website.”
That Joe’s just getting harder and harder to smear. WHAT’S A JOURNALIST TO DO!?