George Will is a shameless liar. This could be said of many republicans and conservatives, as their only ideological hope in the face of reality is denial and lies, but it is especially egregious from a long-time member of the pundit elite. And, yes, the sun rises in the east is an appropriate response, but let's look at the latest example of blatant falsity offered in one of the nation's leading newspapers:
[Washington Post] [S]kepticism about the evidence that supposedly supports current alarmism about climate change is growing, as is evidence that, whatever the truth about the problem turns out to be, U.S. actions cannot be significantly ameliorative.
This lie is nearly the last paragraph of his highly flawed description of the outcome of recent talks on climate change. Therefore, Will does not present any of the evidence either of growing skepticism or of the ineffectiveness of action. George Will should be removed from the Washington Post immediately for his blatant incompetency and lack of journalistic standards.
Think Progress has followed the saga of Will's climate denial this year. It is a shameless and punkish record of lying blatantly, falsifying reports, misquoting context, and other unforgivable violations of basic journalism. Why is he allowed his post? Why is a credible newspaper paying for obvious and dangerous lies? Why do I care what his opinion is in the first place?
Here is a quick breakdown of Will's fallacious columns this year on the subject of climate change:
Green Jobs
Just a month ago, Will used a completely debunked Spanish professor's report on Spanish efforts to invest in green technology to claim that investment does not create jobs. In the column, Will debunks himself effectively.
It is true that [Professor Gabriel] Calzada has come to conclusions that he, as a libertarian, finds ideologically congenial. And his study was supported by a like-minded U.S. think tank (the Institute for Energy Research, for which this columnist has given a paid speech).
And everything he says about the report is, therefore, unalterably biased, his disclaimer notwithstanding.
Green Psychology
Going back in time, we have another completely non-sensical article from Will in early June. Quoting from a book published by the New Republic, The Green Bubble: Why Environmentalism Keeps Imploding, Will finds something unprecedented about informing the public of a impending disaster.
In the history of developed democracies with literate publics served by mass media, there is no precedent for today's media enlistment in the crusade to promote global warming "awareness." Concerning this, journalism, which fancies itself skeptical and nonconforming, is neither.
The lie here is that journalism is not somehow skeptical of scientific claims about climate change and that the media is somehow conforming to an incorrect propanganda. The problem is that the propaganda lies in the book he quotes. The authors are "environmentalists" and consultants clearly unqualified to write about what they claim to have researched. Remarkably, I think the cartoon Will talks about probably has more relevence and credibility.
Warmest Year
In April, Will famously misrepresented a scientific report on climate change statistics.
Reducing carbon emissions supposedly will reverse warming, which is allegedly occurring even though, according to statistics published by the World Meteorological Organization, there has not been a warmer year on record than 1998.
The problem here, of course, is that the WMO report said no such thing. In fact, the report, the PDF version of which is linked in Will's column, shows an entirely different conclusion that utterly refutes Will's claim.
The analyses made by leading climate centres rank the year 2007 amongst the ten warmest years on record.
The report then goes on to say
January 2007 was the warmest January since global surface records were instituted.
The claim of no warming since 1998 is a direct and unrepentent lie. He even links to the report that he has failed to read or intentionally misrepresents. This is unexcusably incompetent journalism.
Science Reporting
In February, Will published two craptacular pieces of lying trash, first, revisiting the 1970's and then defending his miserable reporting. Here is a choice quote from the first article:
As global levels of sea ice declined last year, many experts said this was evidence of man-made global warming. Since September, however, the increase in sea ice has been the fastest change, either up or down, since 1979, when satellite record-keeping began. According to the University of Illinois' Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.
In the follow-up, he links to the a letter from the University of Illinois Department of Atmospheric Sciences (there is no Arctic Climate Research Center), which, again, refutes Will's conclusions:
One important detail about the article in the Daily Tech is that the author is comparing the GLOBAL sea ice area from December 31, 2008 to same variable for December 31, 1979. In the context of climate change, GLOBAL sea ice area may not be the most relevant indicator. Almost all global climate models project a decrease in the Northern Hemisphere sea ice area over the next several decades under increasing greenhouse gas scenarios. But, the same model responses of the Southern Hemisphere sea ice are less certain.
In other words, Will lied, not once, but twice, about data he does not understand and has no qualification to be reporting on.
Summary
George Will is an incompetent and willfully misleading journalist. He should not have a column in a local newspaper, much less one of the greatest papers in the world. We may not be able to replace Will in an election, but we can certainly boycott his paper until he is removed.
Crossposted from Smokeymonkey.org.