NBC‘s Tom Brokaw from the Republican National Convention last night (8/30/12):
Tom Brokaw (photo by Eric Hodgson)
The best line, I think, in the speech was the one in which he said: “President Obama wants to slow the growth of the oceans, I want to help you and your family.”
Yeah, wasn’t that great when Romney pretended we weren’t facing an ongoing global catastrophe, and made fun of people who thought we should do something about it? How can you top that?
Climate ostriches all of’em, and boo on Brokaw for not calling it was it was: pure, typical rightwing DENIALISM of scientific fact.
We are DOOMED if these a$$hats make it into office.
Romneys statement is typical Koch Bros propaganda to protect their polution both on the airways and in the air, water and ground
Tom-Tom Brokaw will say anything to get in front of a camera. I’ve always thought he was a huge stinking pile of crap. “Look at me, look at me, I’m so great. I know everything and every one else is stupid,””
By the way, I’m anti-republican. I just never did like Brokaw. He just looks like and talks like an elitist.
We’re living in one of the worst droughts since the Great Depression, and this drought shows no sign of ending even through the winter. Suggest people start writing and/or emailing “news” networks that they will no longer watch them when such (and all) stupidity is allowed.
Brokaw left out one word as follows, ” President Obama wants to slow the growth of oceans, I want to help you and your family drown.”
Like Clint Eastwood, Tom Brokaw has seen his better days. It’s time to put both of them out to pasture.
They have seen their better days, and maybe so have we. Spooky.
Eight years of vulture capitalism won’t be pretty, but continents full of starving people isn’t so pretty either.
The future looks bright! When climate scientists are clearly vindicated shortly, we will have MOUNTAINS of solid evidence like this that moneybag Bimbo-brains like Brokaw are ALWAYS part of ANY problem rather than the solution. These kind have always been a pain in the neck of humanity. Titus 1:16 stated almost 2,000 years ago, “They profess to know God but deny him in action, being repulsively vulgar, rebellious, and having no sound judgment in any matter!” Be patient, everyone.
This means that Brokaw’s denialist, anti-science, ideological bias has been going on for years.
My outrage is trumped by the business-as-usual climate scenarios that follow physical laws of science, and do not care a bit about decades of brokawcasting misinformation.
The fundamental error here is that “slowing the growth of the ocean” actually does help every family on earth. The wedge the Rs use is to imply that taking steps to reduce global warming is going to impose hardships on individuals, who shouldn’t have to be subjected to such onerous expectations — the socialist state is threatening to make you change your light bulbs!!! As is typical, they pit the individual against the community, as if people shouldn’t have to bear any obligation or responsibility to help the community thrive. These sentiments should not be lauded.
Brokaw has been paid many million$ annually for endless decades to shill for Big Capital. The laughable thing is, he pretends to be moderate, or mainstream, or reasonable. So we should believe him, right? He’s a corporate whore to the core. What a contemptible gasbag and poseur he is. In many ways, he’s worse than crazed rightwing gasbags like Hannity and Beck and Rush because at least those hate-mongers make it pretty clear exactly what stripe of skunk they are. Brokaw is a more insidious, camouflaged, liar for his Big Money Masters. Perhaps he has managed to deceive more chumps over the years than have the more obvious flamers.
Obama made a big mistake by not closing guantanamo Bay, brings the troops home, and let the Banks and the crooks on wall street go bankcrupt. The republicans pray on wars, that is how they get rich and get all the support, there are a lot of blind patriot people here, they would send their kids to die for wall street and don’t know it, believing they are bringing democracy to some country far away. But in the mean time we are losing our democray here at home, losing our freedom of every thing, the patriot act allows them to spy on us, they know what we think, they have the tools to keep you away from voting for your party, changed the supreme court to pass laws against us, they control the media they control our lives, we don’t do any thing about it, kiss your freedom good bye, this is turning into the biggest dictatorship in the world, the world knows it but not us.
We are cursed with an elite that is unwilling to face the problems of its own creation…
Where’s Al Gore’s Environmental Supercape when you need it?
Many might remember it was Tom Brokaw who really pushed Keith Olbermann out of MSNBC – you can just imagine how well they got along!!!!
Does no one understand sarcasm anymore? Brokaw’s comment was SARCASTIC!
I don’t think he was being sarcastic. Brokow, like pretty much the entire mainstream media, is in deep denial about global warming. Here is the quote in context. It doesn’t look sarcastic at all.
‘I did think, from a staging point of view, that we had those powerful testimonials from the Mormon families earlier in the evening. And then they were followed by Clint Eastwood, in what can only be described as a rambling appearance, which is getting a lot of attention. And I think it took something away from the message that Mitt Romney wanted to make tonight: “I can take care of your family.” The best line, I think in the speech, was the one in which he said: “President Obama wants to slow the growth of the oceans, I want to help you and your family.” That pretty much summarized what he hoped to get across.’
Has it occurred to anyone here…..We are getting better everyday in this country on our emissions?Yes the only country who did not sign the protocol,and the only one who made the stated hoped for reductions. In fact we are doing one hell of a job.So if you believe that the world is warming over the next centuries, you can still accept that win or……. take over the US economy to force a faster response.Of course to force the world i.e CHINA ,India,Russia we may need to conquer them and put a lib in charge there.So don’t disband the military yet.
We are getting worse everyday in this country on our economy.In fact we are doing a shitty job.So if you believe we are tanking in the next TWELVE YEARS(and here both Obamas fiscal think tank, AND the best Republican minds agree)….. we can still take over the seat of power here to force a stoppage of printing,spending,and borrowing.To do that we are gonna have to put a conservative in charge.
Obama believes in man made global warming.Why did he back down on taking over our economy and dictating demands?Hmmmmmm?I really hope he resurrects that during the DNC.He really should not back down an inch from his beliefs :)
Tracy…Where the hell is AL GORE????Oh thats right.In his 8 million dollar house that he swore ten years ago would be under water by now.Since he got out of green business ownership and sales ,I have heard so little of his sky is falling routine :)
Did anyone see the article that proves the Farmers Almanac has had a higher percentage of prognosticating the long (and short) term weather over the last 25 years when compared to computer models?Funny .They project 3 more years of warming and drought, then 12 years of cold and heavy precipitation.Last year Eastern Europe had its coldest winter since 1945.This year the midwest has had a tough summer.Here in the east about average.As long as government stays the hell out of our lives and does not try to force what half the country believes is a hoax down our throats, lets all pat ourselves on the back for a job well done irregardless.Give a hoot don’t pollute was our motto in the sixties.We are doing ,and shall do better in that promise.Van Jones(speaking at the DNC)says he invented the green movement to gain power and build a marxist gov.That is what all the fuss is about
Michaele’s grammar, rambling train-of-thought incoherence, and repetition of threadbare (and disproved) narratives about Al Gore and Van Jones do not reflect well on the ability of many Americans to think for themselves. You are left shaking your head, not knowing where to start (or if the effort is worthwhile–since he is not open to being convinced by logic or information that contradicts his worldview). How about at the top? The US has, indeed, improved its emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. How? By entering a depression–the factories are all shut down–as if we didn’t know it. No factories running, no pollution. It has nothing to do with public policy.
… and Tom is what passes for “liberal media” in our corporate infested “culture”
michael e wrote: As long as government stays the hell out of our lives and does not try to force what half the country believes is a hoax down our throats, lets all pat ourselves on the back for a job well done irregardless.
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Half the country thinks it’s a hoax? Well, about 99% of climate scientists worldwide think human-induced climate change is anything but a hoax. If I had to bet on either half the country or the climate scientists, I’ll take the climate scientists– and give points– every time.
When you say half the country thinks it’s a hoax, I assume you’re referring to the US. Any idea what the level of skepticism is in any other developed country? Hint: it ain’t close to half. Go ask half the population of Kiribati; they’re planning on how to evacuate the enitre country because it’s being overcome by rising ocean levels.
But you feel free to follow the US population majority, though. I mean, it’s not like half the US population doesn’t know the quadratic formula or couldn’t name a country in Africa… wait… What? Google says how many people in the US know the quadratic formula?… And they really can’t name an African country? Not even South Africa? It’s got Africa in it’s name fer cryin’ out loud! Wow… You sure you feel comfortable following that majority?
Romney wants to help those families with over $1M annual income boost their income up to the $10M level, and help his family achieve the $1T mark. Unfortunately, that will require that my family income dive from $80K down to $30K or less.
Most of you should give your heads a shake! Brokow was clearly sarcastic! He has been a dedicated supporter of raising awareness for global warming and climate change for years.
John you throw around terms like 99% of scientists believe…..Look you can believe that 97% of those studying the climate believe man has an effect on the weather and I would agree with you and them.During the warming trends 1910-1940,I would say probably then also.I personally would stretch it even further back.Of course we all know those numbers are padded.One scientist paid by endowments theorizes around his models.That is passed down to a hundred.And that to a thousand ,and so on.Peer group findings are the biggest old boy game in town.Irregardless most believe in the interplay of man and global weather.The problem comes when we take that, and bet the house on it by giving government the power to effect every aspect of our lives. Can we not agree that is premature?Most Global warming theorist wont say this but this theory has always has a lynch pin.The Himalayan glaciers.All the models point to that area being the center point.The proof positive.The ceiling of the world as it were.The place where all the models would prove the theory.Except for one small hitch.We are now finding that the glaciers there may not be melting at all,over all.What to do ,what to do?First don’t talk about it.Find some fucking glaciers that are melting(areas of Tibet)and hi- light that.Hi light the warming in the US midwest and don’t say a word about the crushing cold.Or just say it all is the result of manmade interference.No no not the beautiful weather I recently experienced in Tahiti .But all the bad stuff.
Van Jones Obamas green zsar and mind twin said it best.”Create a frightening scenario-then the people will ask Government to step in and save them” .Im just not ready yet john.Why are you.As far as the rest of the world…Europe.Yeah there is who we should follow.
Not that the incoherent meanderings of michael e deserve a response of any kind, but for the record, scientists “paid by endowments” have been denying man-made global warming for years.
For example, in 2007, the American Enterprise Institute, with generous funding from ExxonMobil, offered $10,000 plus travel and other expenses for scientific articles that would contradict the first of three reports by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which asserted that there was a more than 95% certainty that the dramatic rise in global temperatures over the preceding century was due to human emissions of greenhouse gases.
The American media, of course, failed somehow to note the AEI’s offer, but it was widely reported in the foreign press, notably on page one of the British national daily, the Guardian, on the day the IPCC report was released, February 2, 2007.
@michael e: And you throw around phrases like “half the poplation thinks it’s a hoax” like it oughta carry some weight. You can’t spell, you think irregardless is a word, and you can’t punctuate to save your life. And you have the nerve to pooh-pooh the European viewpoint on something? But I see your point: why should we listen to the European population– which is better-educated and more globally-aware on average– when half the US population says it’s a hoax? Heck, if them Eur’peans is so smart, then how’s come they ain’t Americans? And they got that Socialism Medicine there, too…
And peer-review is meaningless, too, huh? Yep, it’s just that simple. Never mind what hundreds of scientific studies say because all those scientists have an axe to grind and peer review is a rubber stamp. I hear that Harvard is gonna stop have Ph.D. candidates defend their theses and just post them on the Rants and Raves section of Craigslist and see what happens.
Seriously?
It’s pretty apparent that you have no idea what you’re talking about. At all.
P.S. Steve Crickmore is right. Brokaw merely identified what he considered the “best Line” in Romney’ speech. You could disagree (which is all FAIR has done here) and you could argue (as many have here) that Brokaw is just another water boy for the plutocracy, but his positions on issues, many of them readily available on line, do not suggest that he believes the oceans should continue to grow.
The irony of Romney mocking global warming and rising oceans even as the Midwest roasts and New Orleans is flooded belies the Republican habit of being smugly flippant about our common plight. ‘Pay no attention to the withered corn non-crop; don’t look at the tornadoes and floods; ignore the radical loss of ice in the Arctic and Greenland.’ They’re not irresponsible; they’re anti-responsible. But saying it with a smirk does please a lot of shallow people.
Unlike the proverbial frog jumping out of hot water, we’ve no where to jump, ’cause we’re all in this same pond (Earth) together. Those concerned about it, including skeptics, should take their minds to places like http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462 to actually understand and begin to address our shared plight and responsibility.
No politicians or members of the media mention the science that is going to do us in: the world population. It’s now 7 billion. In less than 15 years it will be 8 billion, and in 30 will be 9 billion. I wish someone would ask one of the presidential campaigners in a debate: “At what point will our descendants have to say “stop”? And then what radical means will they use to reverse the growth? Energy we can handle — we have anough solar power and wind power to do that. But where’s the water going to come from? ” I live near Syracuse, New York, in the middle of the Finger Lakes and not too far from Lake Erie. We are surrounded by farm lands. But they are being sold at a frightening pace to development. Who will grow the food when Manhattan is under water and the population is moved to Syracuse-Buffalo area?
Americans think that China and India’s policies about having children are inhumane — but that’s because right now we have all this open space. What happens when the open spaces are no more, and we are fighting over pipelines from the Great Lakes to Arizona for water rather than oil? America needs to wake up. The media needs to talk a look at what the effects already are in countries with populations they cannot support.
Brokow has long been so full of himself that I wonder why he doesn’t just pop. (I especially love John Stewart’s Brokow imitation.) The expression on Romney’s face when he was delivering the lines about the oceans and the planet was sillier than anything George W ever did, and that’s really a stretch.
John I attended Harvard Med school.(Where did you go genius?)That aside ,along with your personal insults….The point of all this is a simple yes or no from you.Yes or no.Stop bloviating and speak with your heart as well as your mind.Do you think you have proven the point of onrushing global cataclysm to a level that would convince the rest of us that all controls should be handed over to a government body?Yes or no?Im of course happy that you believe whatever it is you want to believe.It is a free country.But carbon taxes?Go pound sand
As far as Europe i have spent a LOT of time there.Studied at some of its finest schools.Lived there, and traveled widely.You display Eurocentrism.I have found that to be a quaint feeling held by those with little experience there.Cute but dumb.In most things they are at best hanging even with the United States.Sadly the economy and their socialist ways have crippled them. But I still think we can save their hash as well as our own .Seems to be our second job for a long time now.And remember they have had the lifestyle they have enjoyed because of our sacrifice.We wrote the checks and they cashed them.To say we should follow their lead is nonsense .
Love Switzerland by the way.Low crime.One of the heaviest armed populations in the world strangely enough.Very ordered .Of course the racial mix is nil.You libs would see only that side Im sure.They let you lot run amok over there, Id bet you could wreck it in no time :)
Dear John and Michael,
As a Cornell graduate who went on to teach English, I could go through both your writings and critique them for the errors that cannot be disregarded as mere “typos.” Michael, you need to know the difference between “further” and “farther,” and John, you use “like” when you should use “as though.” But, as a Cornellian, I learned more than sentence structure, punctuation, and usage. Through the Ag School on campus, I learned what shit looks like and what it is good for (fertilizing the soil) and what it ain’t so good for (use incorrect usage when wishing to draw attention). And when you focus on nitpicking each other’s prose rather than honestly exploring the issues that will spell our doom if we don’t bring them to light and deal with them honestly and without partisanship, it’s what shit ain’t good for.
The “democracy” of this nation was not built on people all agreeing with one another; it was built on ideas that clashed so that people had to question their own comfortably-held opinions. And from those clashes, the ideas moved forward and solutions came about. What we are now held back by are “sides” from which people will not budge because they are frightened that if they do, they will enter a world of thought that seems to have no easy solutions. Scarey. How much more comfortable to hold tight to the old beliefs: there is still a heaven and a hell, and I will go to heaven if I only believe. Please don’t let me listen to Stephen Hawkins and even think for a moment that I will just stop living and my body will rot and the world will go on and I will be forgotten because I am not a Rembrandt or a Mozart. That’s too overwhelming. Let me go back to an orderly life: church, selected “teachings” from the Bible, slogans from those who proclaim that they know those “teachings,” and can, from them, put together the laws and the government that will protect me from uncertainty. Please, guys – move the discussion forward — don’t bog us down with your petty insults.
@michael e: We’ve been over this before: You don’t need to be sold on the idea of giving the government carte blanche to control the economy in order to find the evidence of climate change persuasive. There are many climate scientists who do not advocate any particular solution to the problem; they are just reporting what their study and observation tells them, and leaving any solutions to the politicians. There are other climate scientists who do propose and advocate solutions. But the bottom line is that 99% of climate scientists think climate change is anything but a hoax. And, like I said, between them and you, or between them and half the US population– I’ll bet on them.
You went to Harvard med? Kudos. Then stick to medicine, doc. I went to the University of Go Fuck Yourself where I majored in Spotting BS Arguments on the Internet. I learned things like what half the US population thinks about a complex scientific phenomenon is not a particularly good basis for understanding that phenomenon. The whole world once thought the sun revolved around the earth; the majority is not always right– particularly when it comes to matters of science and technology. I also learned not to take seriously people who are gonna assert, as if it’s an unquestionable given, the completely unsupported accusation that peer review is meaningless. Got any evidence of this plainly ridiculous claim, by the way?
So, again, I say that it’s quite apparent that you have no idea what you’re talking about. If you did, you’d probably see the inherent weakness in relying on what popular opinion says to refute the science behind climate change. If you did, you’d probably realize that you can’t just blindly ignore scientific peer review with the glib assertion that’s it’s an old-boys’ network. And so on.
Brokaw’s right, it is a good line–in one sense of the word, at least. From the perspective of psychological-political manipulation, it’s quite creative and likely very effective. It also happens to be extremely dangerous and irrational. It might have made for good journalism for Brokaw to mention this as well.
John as long as you don’t want government overstepping its boundaries, you and I have no problem.I of course want scientific studies to continue.I want to hear all sides as I am sure you do.Al Gore did an impressive job of collating the scientific information- and proving global climate change.Lord Monckton did a good job at using the same evidence to trash the idea before Congress as he was asked to testify 2x.We have a long way to go before anyone gets the keys to the car.
We must of course all do our part to clean up our world.Im a little like George Bush.My house is damn near carbon neutral now.I drive a clean car.I do all those things that on the green list would earn brownie points.On your list I(and George) would be tops.Al Gore sucks.His house,his car everything- is a huge carbon footprint.Hypocrites the whole lot of them.Some group is starting to track the top 100 scientists that believe in global warming.Should be in the New Yorker soon.Calibrating their carbon footprints.Word is the results are not good.Seems they are serial “carbonizers”.It would be funny if not so sad.
My feeling is that if it is a brutally cold winter that this will all die down as the scientist try to make heads or tails of another broken model forecast.If it is warm……they will pop the corks.
Enjoy the DNC tonight.It is being held at THE BANK OF AMERICA stadium.Though the Dem’s changed its name and will call it Panther stadium, or just” The Stadium” :)
Michelle speaks tonight and it will be carried on all the networks.Though strangely for the first time ever the challengers wife was not carried -as she spoke for her husband Mitt.Hmmmmm?No bias there :)
Liz warren on Wednesday…….CANT WAIT
“His house,his car everything- is a huge carbon footprint.Hypocrites the whole lot of them.”
Wrong. Ever notice how Al Gore has no wind or solar panels on any of his mansions? Gore is rich and can fly in private jets, live in multiple mansions , eat meat and burn as much fossil fuel as he wants. He can afford anything in the world but he does not invest in wind or solar for his mansions. And his carbon footprint is still lower than yours. He simply buys the carbon offsets he needs to achieve a zero carbon foot print. You can drive hybrids, put solar panels on your roof, erect windmills, eat tofu and Gore will still have a lower carbon footprint than you. He simply buys enough carbon offsets so that he becomes carbon neutral, might cost him a few hundred bucks a year, that’s all. Installing solar panels and wind turbines would cost him hundreds of thousands, and neither will ever pay for themselves within his lifetime. Which would you do, spend $100 a year for carbon offsets or $100,000 for solar panels? Exactly. Gore is no fool, he knows wind turbines and solar panels are for losers. Buy carbon offsets. Be like Al.
Klem I love your sarcasm.Funny as hell