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

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

By Brad Johnson on Apr 17th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

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.

Comments
5

5 Responses to “Russert Claims Candidates ‘Don’t Take The Initiative’ To Discuss Climate Change”

fletc3her Says:

I haven’t been able to watch very many of the debates because the few that I have have just made me angry at the moderators. I think the last straw was when they literally asked Kucinich a story about alien’s visiting the Earth! I almost wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it on TV with my own eyes.

The moderators of these debates have let the American people down. Rather than asking substantive questions and giving the candidates a chance to let their views known, they have gone after “gotcha” questions time and again. They ask loaded questions so the candidates have to backtrack just to answer. They ask one candidate about another repeatedly. They ask candidates to respond to innuendo. They ask about insane hypotheticals.

And all this at a time when our country is at war, we are dealing with the repercussions of terrorism, we are dealing with a recession, we are having national dialogues about social security, immigration, human rights, civil rights, and so much more.

With all these issues in the air how do Gibson, Stephanopoulos, Russert, or the other “journalists” DARE to ask questions about aliens, haircuts, things your pastor said, things your childhood acquaintances said, things other candidates said, things that were said on Fox News, or, God help us, “bitterness”? How do these people look in the mirror the next morning?
April 17th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Doc Rock Says:

Note to Tim: That’s your job, man!
April 17th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
christopher wiwi Says:

Last nites debate was a joke. If a candidate doesn`t talk about the poor,health care, taxes or impeachment the candidates are dodging the issue, I think not.Last nites debate covered flag pins , guns and rev. wright.They did not cover free trade, jobs, guns and unemployment these issues were not even thought about how disappointing.The more irrelavant the issue the more it gets talked about and then the guys who ask the questions are dodging the issues because they are trying to destroy Obama so the re-pukes get a shot at Hillary.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
MSS Says:

Al Gore’s new show on Global Warming is an inspirational (and alarming) talk on climate change and what our generation can (and must) do about it, together.

In order to be optimistic about this, we have to become incredibly active as citizens in our democracy. In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to solve the democracy crisis.

68% of Americans believe the earth’s atmosphere is impacted by Global Warming. What’s missing is a sense of urgency.

We have the technologies; we have to have a unifited view about how to go about this. What’s the solution? Put a tax on carbon — to replace a tax on employment which was invented by Bismark!!

We have to mobilize resources and political will, but the political will has to be mobilized to mobilize the resources.

What we need is another hero generation. How many generations in history have had the opportunity to rise to a challenge that is worthy of our best efforts? We have to approach this challenge with a sense of great joy and gratitude. We have to somehow understand that history has presented us with a choice. We now have a culture of distraction. We have a planetary emergency. We have to find a way to convey a sense of generational mission. We can rise to the challenge that history is presenting to us!

Here’s how TED.com introduces Gore’s new Global Warming presentation:

How Dare We Be Optimistic?

In Al Gore’s brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of “generational mission” — the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement — to set it right.

Gore’s stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates’ climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future.

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April 17th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
john saarikko Says:

I took up this shoddy reporting by Gibson and Steph. on my web site. Not only do they ask silly questions – they don’t ask the right ones. On my web site I accuse them of hiding the facts due to loss of adverising revenue but there might be another reason: they may be out of touch or simply trying to appease the uneducated. Who knows!
Take a look at my argument.
http://www.universalhealthcareinfousa.com
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April 18th, 2008 at 8:42 pm