Russert Claims Candidates ‘Don’t Take The Initiative’ To Discuss Climate Change

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Joe Scarborough discussed the role of global warming and the environment in the presidential race with Rick Stengel, the editor-in-chief of Time Magazine, and Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press and moderator of four presidential debates. Stengel challenged Russert to weigh in why “the percentage of questions from the very beginning with the environment has been absolutely tiny,” only “a handful among the thousands of questions that the candidates have been asked.”

Russert claimed:

In some of the debates, I remember a couple of them I raised it, they all talk about energy independence and then you see them go off in different directions.

He then talks about energy independence and goes off in different directions — including incorrectly claiming the United States gets oil from Iran — before finally concluding:

I’m with Rick. I’m more surprised that the candidates don’t take the initiative to try to talk more about it and certainly when asked, but I think they have to be pressed for specifics on this and all of these issues.

Watch it:

The truth of the matter is that Tim is not “with Rick” — he has only raised the topic once in a single Republican debate. Of the three Democratic debates Russert moderated, he has never asked about global warming or climate change.

Contrary to Russert’s claim “that the candidates don’t take the initiative to try to talk more about it,” the candidates have brought up climate change, global warming, and green-collar jobs at every debate he moderated. In fact, in an October debate moderated by Brian Williams and Russert, candidates Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Kucinich, Obama, and Richardson all “took the initiative” to discuss climate change, clean energy, and the environment.

UPDATE: Time’s landmark issue on “How to Win the War on Global Warming” is now out. (H/T Climate Progress.)

TRANSCRIPT:

SCARBOROUGH: Why don’t we hear more, Tim, in presidential campaigns about the environment when it seems like it would be win/win for everybody?

RUSSERT: In some of the debates, I remember a couple of them I raised it, they all talk about energy independence and then you see them go off in different directions. Quite interesting. In order to deal with this, I think Obama mentioned last night, the equivalent of an Apollo Project or a Manhattan Project. When you look around the world — this is an interesting piece of journalism by Time magazine because it is advocacy journalism and quite striking for Time to think this through and put it on a cover is — Brazil fuels its entire automobile fleet on sugar cane. Brazil. The United States of America is sitting here getting oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and from Iraq and Iran. Think about it.

SCARBOROUGH: Which dominates our foreign policy.

RUSSERT: Not only an economic argument but a national security argument. I’m with Rick. I’m more surprised that the candidates don’t take the initiative to try to talk more about it and certainly when asked, but I think they have to be pressed for specifics on this and all of these issues.