My colleague William informs me that Joe Romm has squealed like a stuck pig about my calling him out for his most recent tantrum — over a Politico reporter daring to write about climate science as if a debate exists. His immediate concern — before trailing off into a stream of reflexive ad hominem — is that I describe him as an “aspiring Obama administration thug” in the course of deriding his ritual name-calling. Apparently in Romm’s world, describing someone as wanting to work for the Obama administration is “libel.”
Oooh. Let’s leave that little spat for the comrades to sort out. I assure you, my intention was not to claim that Romm could make it through the vetting questionnaire about embarrassing statements or actions. I was suggesting that those who follow climate issues watch him in the next few months – as the alarmism that Team Obama forgot about during the campaign comes roaring down the pike as they try to get a global-warming regime in place – and decide for yourself whether it serves the interests of the Obama administration’s effort.
But consider Romm’s rant. Remember: His complaint about the Politico item consisted of sniveling dependence on the accusation “denier”; he resorted to calling the reporter a “pimp” for skeptics, guilty of professional “malpractice,” “amateurish,” and “a pseudo-serious new media journalist.” He likewise goes ad hom on meteorologist Joe D’Aleo, whom he also accuses of “mak[ing] stuff up,” and otherwise takes out personally after anyone who disagrees with him — including a center-left political publication that failed to toe his line . . . then he demands an apology from me as being “beyond the pale” — twice.
He disparages meteorologists as unqualified to speak to the issue of climate change (selectively, of course), though he has a long history of saying that about anyone who disagrees with his prophesying, including mere physicists like Freeman Dyson and particularly economists and engineers [“For instance, since when have economists, who are pervasive on this list, become scientists, and why should we care what they think about climate science?”]. Mere economists and engineers — like IPCC “chief climate scientist” Rajendra Pachauri. Sheesh. The guy’s not even a meteorologist.
Other than that, he’s thoroughly measured and adult about it all — and then whines that he’s been libeled and demands apologies. At least some people were rational, anyway.
All of this venom, by the way, is directed at those who dare to dismiss the notion of “consensus” — and comes from a man who has written, in a calmer moment, “I do think the scientific community, the progressive community, environmentalists and media are making a serious mistake by using the word ‘consensus’ ” to describe the state of climate science. Well, the holidays tend to bring a particular segment of the population down.
As Romm clearly is a Planet Gore reader, let me state here the nuance that escaped him: I of course did think about, and appreciated the humor of, calling him a thug for his name-calling and other full-throated unhingedness. My thinking is that he long ago sacrificed any immunity from being called what he demonstrably is: someone dedicated to shouting down, seeking to smear, demean, or otherwise intimidate dissenters. He merely proved that today – which, amusingly, seems to have eluded him in his froth. I note that thuggishness is his one move, as opposed to simply calling him corrupt or incompetent — as he reminds us again today is his preferred style. We’ll leave him to that, and good luck with it. Mr. Soros doesn’t seem to mind.
Remember, dear PG readers, Romm is the fellow who embarrassed himself publicly when claiming that the Minneapolis bridge collapse of 2007 was due to global warming. So he does have a habit of shooting from the lip. I’m told by the subject of one of his complaints that Romm has gone to the Department of Energy and voiced concern about a particular scientist there expressing climate skepticism. Search Roger Pielke Jr.’s site for a sober and otherwise serious discourse on some of Romm’s public stunts. His overreaches are a gift of some magnitude to our team, helping to discredit his own movement and — I would venture to guess — a key reason that people like Pielke Jr. have turned away from them. Keep up the good work, Romm. And stay classy.