Chamber Of Commerce President Questions Climate Change: ‘Is Science Not Right? I Don’t Know’
Chamber Of Commerce President Questions Climate Change: ‘Is Science Not Right? I Don’t Know’
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched a PR offensive after a series of high-profile member defections due to the Chamber’s denial of climate science and its aggressive lobbying against clean energy legislation. Earlier this year, Chamber officials pledged to put climate change science on trial in a “Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century.” Not only has the Chamber spent millions trying to derail the clean energy bill in Congress, but a leaked memo also revealed that the Chamber has been assisting the oil industry in orchestrating astroturf “EnergyCitizen” rallies.
The PR strategy has been focused on lashing back at critics, while assuring the public that the Chamber actually does view climate change as a serious problem that must be addressed somehow. Chamber officials and representatives have been on a media blitz, seeking to rebuke the Scopes monkey trial comment and trying to strike a very different tone on the science of climate change:
Chamber Chief Lobbyist Bruce Josten called the Scopes monkey trial comment “unfortunate, regrettable, stupid.” “We have not, are not and will not” challenge the science behind climate change, added Josten. [Politico, 10/20/09]
Chamber spokesman Eric Wohlschlegel: “We’ve never questioned the science behind global warming.” [NYT, 9/28/09]
David Chavern, Executive Vice President: “We want a climate change bill.” [NPR, 10/22/09]
However, in a 75-minute, profanity-laced interview with Politico today, Chamber president Tom Donohue continued to deny the science underpinning climate change:
Donohue refused to say if he believes the science behind global warming. “Is the science right? Is science not right? I don’t know,” he said.
Of course, Donohue is being consistent. Donohue, who also sits on the board of a company that ships coal, has forced the Chamber into a denier position on climate change for years. He has run ads mocking cap and trade, touted books questioning climate change, and promoted a myth of a global “cooling trend.”
Despite the spin by more disciplined officials, the Chamber continues to spend unprecedented amounts of money lobbying against clean energy legislation. With climate change deniers like Bill Kovacs and Tom Donohue at the helm, it seems unlikely that there will be much of a change in position — even with local Chambers of Commerce joining the slew of businesses repudiating the national organization’s backwards stance on climate.
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I thought the chamber of Commerce was there to Regulate industry and business, not facilitate destructive business practices?
October 26th, 2009 at 11:47 amTom Donohue is a classic Bushie. When it’s clear that he has made a huge mistake for his organization and that his dogma is just not working, instead of apologizing and going a better route, he “doubles down.”
Just like Cheney. This will just get worse until the Chamber fires him.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:53 amChamber of CONmerce. These people only care about getting their hands on more money and the power that comes with that money. We need to rid not just our government of all CONS, but all positions with access to funds such as Non-profits. They love to spend other peoples money spreading their lies.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:54 amOf course, it’s much easier to do nothing when you refuse to recognize the problem.
Also…the Chamber wants to compare their efforts to the Scopes trial? Seriously?
Scopes may have lost the trial, but the law was eventually overturned. i.e., Scopes was vindicated. Does the Chamber really want to portray themselves as the ultimate losers in this battle?
October 26th, 2009 at 11:55 amDonohue refused to say if he believes the science behind global warming. “Is the science right? Is science not right? I don’t know,” he said.
October 26th, 2009 at 11:56 amThat’s the great thing about science you retard. It lays it right out there for you in black and white.
And this guy is supposed to be representing U.S. business interests? He has down more harm to the United States with his lies than anyone can imagine…
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/
October 26th, 2009 at 11:57 amBoy, that Bill Donohue certainly is a good-looking man, isn’t he? He looks like somebody I could trust.
And there he is, shaking hands with George W. Bush, the compassionate conservative. Maybe we should try going back to that idea, that compassionate conservatism. I don’t think we ever gave it a real chance.
/snark
October 26th, 2009 at 11:59 amMy God, my God, just look at that smirk…it is the Smirk of Smirks.
“Some call you the Haves; I call you my base.”
October 26th, 2009 at 12:03 pmWith companies dropping out of the Chamber of Commerce because they feel it does not represent their best interests, what is their purpose other than a front for a radical Republican agenda? They may as well just merge with Fox.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:03 pmHey look what do you expect from whores.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:04 pmI just got a letter from my health insurance provider saying my premiums are going up by more than $1000 year.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:05 pmSure, workerbee, you “just” found it. And you “just” started posting. And you are “just” another progressive.
And Santa Claus is “just” another fairy tale.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:06 pmI think its more in line with 20% workerbee
October 26th, 2009 at 12:08 pmAnd those Executive bonuses are legitimate expenses. Single payer, government managed health care or quite literally BUST.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:09 pmworkerbee flagged for being off-topic
Do you have a comment pertaining to the Chamber of Commerce?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:11 pmWorkerbee,
Aetna: 2008 Revenue – $30.9b, Net Income – $1.4b
United Healthcare: 2008 Revenue – $81.1b, Net Income – $2.9b
Cigna: 2007 Revenue – $17.6b, Net Income – $1.1b
Billions in profits while millions are uninsured (and, keep in mind that the healthcare industry collectively spent $263m this year alone in lobbying costs) IS immoral profiteering.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:12 pmworkerbee:
Please try to stay on topic, this thread is about the Chamber of Commerce and their denial of climate change.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:13 pmDonahue and Workerbee seem quite happy to “catapult the propaganda.”
October 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pmWhat is that inane droning sound that I hear?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pmDonoWho? is an idiot. The science is considerably closer to fact and truth than he is. The only question is the extent to which the warming is attributable to manmade effects.
There is no simple answer to that question. Apart from the obvious effects of industrial aerosols and particulate pollution doing things to both the reflectance and the heat absorbtion qualities of the atmosphere, there are the effects of deforestation, desertification and other land surface changes, plus there are sure to be effects in oceanic heat absorbtion, etc, associated with chemicals in the major outflows, such as the Mississippi, Amazon, Yellow, Yangtze, etc.
If Donowho? wants to believe that we’re having no effect on the environment, that’s ok, but he ought to resign and take up a PR position with the Flat Earth Society, or retire to the funny farm. If he can’t do that, he should be fired; he’s a shitbird obstructionist.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 pmThe Chamber spends it’s members money spreading Right Wing propaganda, the health Insurance Companies spend their customers money to lobby against their own best interests.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:17 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Sorry, quite O/T but irritating, nonetheless:
A new poll has Doug Hoffman leading in the NY-23rd. While that would be the death knell for the GOP in the northeast, it would also be very bad news for the Dems…
October 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pmIf the Chamber of Commerce had a legitimate leader, it would be doing everything it could to combat Global Climate Change. That would certainly be good for business. They would also be advocating for health care reform as that would also certainly benefit American businesses.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pmDonohue:
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT BUNCH OF SCIENTISTS BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!! I AM THE GREAT AND POWERFUL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – AND I SAY THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GLOBAL WARMING!! FEAR ME AND HAND OVER YOUR MONEY!!!!
October 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pmCaption contest: Let’s politicize science and add a dose of moon bat religion, just for good measure.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:26 pmDenial of Global Climate Change only benefits a few industries that are destined to be obsolete. US companies are rendered less competitive by the onerous Health Care costs here in the US. If the Chamber of Commerce were truly representing the interests of the business community they would be pushing for Health Care Reform and Climate Change legislation. But no, they instead, under Donahue, choose to spread discredited propaganda.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:28 pmCaption Contest:
What the FCUK! where did you get that Chamber of Commerce bone crushing handshake ??
October 26th, 2009 at 12:30 pmHowever, in a 75-minute, profanity-laced interview with Politico today, Chamber president Tom Donohue continued to deny the science underpinning climate change:
Donohue refused to say if he believes the science behind global warming. “Is the science right? Is science not right? I don’t know,” he said.
As always, playing it dumb while your membership sprints away from you at the speed of light is the right(y) thing to do…
October 26th, 2009 at 12:31 pmDonahue’s group has spent something like $37M just this year, saying stupid shit and lying in general.
I even hear their ads up here on the frozen tundra, claiming they support health care reform, but are ‘worried’ about costs.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:32 pm(Reminds me of a certain concern troll that visits this site.)
The USCOC needs to remove Donahue & re-examine their agenda.
” I don’t know ” ???????????
So is he saying that they have intentionally taken a very strong stand without knowing
-or-
That he doesn’t believe what his own organization says ?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:33 pmSTORM says:
“Global warming has never been about science, only about arresting development, etc…”
It’s hard to understand exactly what you’re trying to say, storm.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pmOne thing is clear however, your development was arrested somewhere short of being able to express yourself in coherent sentences.
Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones.
Yeah, after those executive bonuses, you only make about six percent profit, including the excessive waste, fraud, duplication and customer disservice…
October 26th, 2009 at 12:36 pmSTFU, moron.
If there was no such thing as global climate change, could somebody please explain why we have so many STORM posts on TP?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:36 pmThose clowns at the Chamber of Commerce know about as much about science as the neo-con George Will does – that is, absolutely nothing.
It’s just a cabal of well-connected trust fund types and wannabe moguls who drink their lunch, play far too much golf and spew repiggie nonsense uncritically.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:37 pmSTORMfront
You are a liar and a punk. Climate change is all ABOUT the science except for the deniers for them its all about lies and a PR campaign. You are an ignorant punkass troll the only things you know is what RUSH told you to think. Just STFU and let the adults talk
October 26th, 2009 at 12:39 pmHow much money do the Insurance Companies pi$$ away on lobbying against the interests of their customers. Is that a legitimate business expense? Maybe, by the tax code, but certainly not by almost any MORAL code.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pmcaption contest…
(“Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century.”)
“Tom Donohue and his Monkey approach the bench.”
October 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pmHere’s an article from the wire of MSNBC that shows a typical CofC member hard at work
October 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pmNew hotel owner hounded by racism charges
Hispanic employees protest after being told to change their first names
The Chamber of Commerce needs to herded into one of those “free speech zone” pens, far away from where anyone can hear.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:43 pmworkerbee says:
You appear as more of a drone…
Just sayin’…
October 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pmScientists, persons who are credentialed experts, are virtually unanimous in their belief that the Earth’s temperature is slowly warming, and that many species are currently endangered by this phenomenon.
The nutty beliefs of repiggie stupidheads, holy roller preachers and hysterical neo-cons should be thoroughly debunked and discredited by anyone with a brain, and these morons should be held up to a well-deserved rebuke and public shaming.
Can the repiggies ever again offer anything of value to intelligent discourse on any subject?
Must we be forever subjected to their inanity and crap?
October 26th, 2009 at 12:44 pmSTORM says
October 26th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
The Global Warming movement is in a bind; while science has to be the justification, they want to advance pseudoscience. And the key to advancing this politicized form of science is to paint anyone who questions their science as amoral.
_____________________________________________________________
I guess reams of peer-reviewed studies equals “pseudoscience” to you.
No, people who question the evidence put forth by climatologists aren’t “amoral” — just wrong. And, as long as they can’t put forth peer-reviewed studies of their own, not worth taking seriously.
What makes them “amoral” is not their disagreement, it’s when their disagreement is motivated by a selfish political agenda. And any political agenda that involves screwing others for monetary gain, and/or raping and gutting our planet with no thought to the future merely to get rich, is always amoral.
Your sheet of talking points today is rather weak.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:45 pmSTORM: “Global warming has never been about science…”
I was watching Steve McQueen in the original version of “The Blob” circa 1958. Funny thing – at the end, they freeze the Blob and airlift it to the arctic “where it can never thaw out.”
That was 51 years ago. Nowadays, the arctic ice melts in the summer and there is no ice continent up there like there was in 1958. Storm, you need to understand that nature doesn’t act this quickly without man’s help.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:47 pmWorkerbee, you need to understand the difference between profits and overhead. When the largest health insurance provider gives their CEO a 1.6 Billion dollar payout in one year, that’s overhead. Profit is after all the crooks get their pound of flesh.
With a single-payer plan, the overhead is less than 3%. In private insurance based plans, the overhead is 14 to 30%. Corporations play with their profit numbers all the time.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:49 pmCaption Contest:
October 26th, 2009 at 12:50 pmI can cheat at golf better than you.
I suspect the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is on its way to becoming the U.S. Chamber of Desperate Oil and Coal Bloodsucking Lobbyists.
Even local chambers will disassociate themselves from this entity, except in municipalities where the largest commercial enterprise has something to do with fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, the rest of the nation’s companies will form some kind of alternate group on a national level, and this one will be taken more seriously than the remains of the USCoC.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:50 pmThese are the fruits of the Republican Revolution. Denial of science by the business class may cost us the planet.
I believe the story of the Republican Revolution was the elevation of the Merchant class to the level of gods.
Merchant types are not very bright, but they have egos the size of the Queen Mary. They believe in greed, and they will attack anything that eats into the profits, or that is perceived to do so.
Anything or anyone. Since government often gets in the way of making bucks, the government is considered to be evil. What was the Reagan Revolution but a sustained attack on the government, based on the belief that businessmen are the super-race?
Now science has dared to threaten the bottom line with all this global warming stuff. Science threatens profit; therefore science is a fraud.
(Keep in mind, these are merchants with big egos, not logicians.)
Turn about is fair play, so I propose we spend the next three decades badmouthing the business class–questioning their motives, questioning their patriotism, smearing them and their families, etc.
If they can do it, we can do it. We can declare anyone who goes into business to be a second-class citizen. We can call them “businesscritters.” What a happy, harmonious society it will be. :)
October 26th, 2009 at 12:51 pmThe chamber is never been good for american working people they always push anything to hurt us. There nothing but greedy business men.
October 26th, 2009 at 12:53 pmDonohue: “Is science not right? I don’t know,”
Is Science right? I know.
Is not double negative sentence construction not right?
“Do or do not… there is no try.” Yoda
I can’t not believe that this guy is not untwisted in his illogic, hummm?
October 26th, 2009 at 1:17 pmI see Donohue is a full-fledged member of the “Nutty-Evangelical Hair Club”.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pmWorkerbee you ignorant false flag troll either get on topic or STFU
October 26th, 2009 at 1:25 pmWhy are right-wingers always commenting on things they don’t understand?
October 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pmSee, here is where you run into a big problem.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:29 pmshoeless if they didnt comment on things they didnt understand they would never comment at ALL
October 26th, 2009 at 1:38 pmEXACTLY ninerfan. Though I think you are wasting a good point. I started to post the same thing then thought whats the point?
October 26th, 2009 at 1:40 pmYou would think they learned a lesson after the health care astroturfers, especially since the fake letters in regard to the energy bill. I guess not.
October 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pmI can dream, can’t I?
October 26th, 2009 at 1:56 pmNinerFan says:
I was watching Steve McQueen in the original version of “The Blob” circa 1958. Funny thing – at the end, they freeze the Blob and airlift it to the arctic “where it can never thaw out.”
That was 51 years ago. Nowadays, the arctic ice melts in the summer and there is no ice continent up there like there was in 1958. Storm, you need to understand that nature doesn’t act this quickly without man’s help.
That’s it! Blob farts are causing global warming!
October 26th, 2009 at 2:15 pmSTORM says:
Global warming has never been about science
For “you”, and that’s the problem! For the GOP it’s all about lying about the science to defend big oil/coal/gas to help out Tejas, Utah and the rest of the red states dependent on destroying the planet.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:42 pmThe scientific method is objective, but it’s employed and interpreted by subjective humans.
Bill Maher is not an idiot, but he questions the public administration of inoculations because he sees the conflicts of interests in what could be characterized as objective scientific consensus.
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/101836/Video_Bill_Maher_questions_swine_flu_vaccine
He’s not questioning the scientific method, he’s questioning how we interpret and respond to that information.
October 26th, 2009 at 2:59 pmChamber Of Commerce President Questions Climate Change: ‘Is Science Not Right? I Don’t Know’
Exactly! You don’t know because you’re no scientis, so STFU.
October 26th, 2009 at 3:13 pm*scientist
October 26th, 2009 at 3:13 pmOh c’mon backup.
What do swine flu inoculations have to do with global warming?
Let me guess..
More runny noses = more Kleenex = less trees = more CO2.
Got it.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:17 pmnoseeum.
inoculations = scientific consensus
global warming = scientific consensus
Bill Maher is not an idiot, but he questions the scientific consensus of inoculations. People that question the scientific consensus of global warming aren’t necessarily idiots.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:26 pmReally? You don’t know if science itself is wrong? And you’re supposed to be smart enough to run the USCoC?
Here comes another rash of corporations fleeing that sinking ship…
October 26th, 2009 at 4:40 pmBill Mahar also said while innoculations were NOT settled science Global Climate change WAS settled science. So your own source here disagrees with you
October 26th, 2009 at 4:53 pmAnd they wonder why businesses are leaving the Chamber? Here’s the main reason: jerks like Donahue.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:41 pmSorry- Donohue.
October 26th, 2009 at 6:41 pm