Right-Wing Global Warming Denier Machine Screams: ‘Czar’ Browner Is A ‘Socialist’!
Right-Wing Global Warming Denier Machine Screams: ‘Czar’ Browner Is A ‘Socialist’!
The right wing has discovered that Carol Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s new White House energy and environment adviser, was briefly a member of the Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society. The commission first convened in November 2007 to “articulate from the world of progressive politics a way forward to address global environmental concerns, climate change and the issues of governance required to deal with these common challenges” at 10 Downing Street, hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Leader of the British Labour Party.
The Socialist International is “the worldwide organisation of social democratic, socialist and labour parties” from Albania to Zimbabwe. Its members include the center-left New Democratic Party of Canada, the center-left Israeli Labor Party, and the ruling Labour Party in Great Britain. The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, founded by the U.S. government to support democracy in developing nations, works with Socialist International and other political parties “to help foster open, accountable and responsive political systems.”
Also, it has the word “Socialist” in its name. Not only that, the press is calling Carol Browner the “climate czar.” In a leap worthy of Stephen Colbert or Monty Python, the radical right wing is claiming these are signs that Barack Obama is going to transform the United States into a leftist dictatorship. The spread of this tale is interesting mostly as an examination of the interlocking web of conservative politics and corporate polluters:
January 2: Steven Milloy discovered Browner’s work with SI, emailing the bloggers at GlobalWarming.org, run by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing anti-regulatory think tank. Steven Milloy is a one-man scientific denial industry, as publisher of JunkScience.com, an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute, and a columnist for FoxNews.com and the New York Sun.
January 7: The story of Browner’s “utterly radical socialist agenda” reached the editorial pages of the DC and Baltimore Examiner last Wednesday. The Examiner newspapers are owned by billionaire Philip Anschutz, a right-wing evangelical Christian who built his father’s oil business into a far-ranging media, telecommunications, railroad, energy, and entertainment empire. He has served on the board of the American Petroleum Institute and founded the Discovery Institute, an intelligent-design think tank.
January 8: Newsbusters‘ Noel Sheppard reports that Browner is no longer listed as a member of the commission. Newsbusters is one of the many faces of the anti-regulatory media machine founded by Brent Bozell III (Business & Media Institute, Media Research Center). Bozell has also served on the board of the American Conservative Union. The National Review’s resident global warming denier, Chris Horner, asks, “Hey, comrades, what’s to be ashamed of?!”
January 9: By Friday, right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones called her a socialist agent for world government, as Steven Milloy asks about her “mysterious and Stalinist-like disappearance” from the SI website.
January 12: The Washington Times made Browner’s “socialist ties” its headline story today. The Times was founded by the Unification Church’s Sung Myung Moon, a right-wing
evangelicalfundamentalist religious leader who blames Jews for the Holocaust. From the Times the headline leapt to the Drudge Report, where Matt Drudge juxtaposed the story with headlines about extreme cold weather. Tipped off by the John Locke Foundation’s Paul Chesser, the American Spectator calls the story “tremendously important” and “truly scary.” At the Heritage Foundation, Nick Loris (who previously equated the New Deal to Nazism) repeated Milloy’s bizarre mention of purges in Stalinist Russia. On his national radio show today, Glenn Beck used story to claim “almost everyone who does believe in global warming is a socialist.”
At Townhall.com, Republican lawyer Carol Platt Liebau reaches McCarthyite levels of rhetorical excess:
It’s just one more piece of proof that some elements in the environmentalist movement (and note: I said some, not all) are merely fronts for the some collectivist, totalitarian, statist impulses that have reared their ugly heads throughout the 20th century with such devastating results for so many.
That’s right, according to conservatives, Carol Browner’s meeting with the prime minister of Great Britain to discuss global warming is equivalent to the genocides of Stalin and Hitler. And it isn’t even January 20th yet.
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40 Responses to “Right-Wing Global Warming Denier Machine Screams: ‘Czar’ Browner Is A ‘Socialist’!”
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Hold it - all of what you report is good except this: “The Times was founded by the Unification Church’s Sung Myung Moon, a right-wing evangelical religious leader who blames Jews for the Holocaust.” While Moon is indeed a right-wing religious leader, and he may blame Jews for the Holocaust, he is NOT an “evangelical.” There are enough evangelicals to look at with a jaundiced eye, and as an evangelical I have been shamed by them - but Moon is a leader of his own religion, that is not even close to being “evangelical” in the sense of “evangelical Christian” (in fact, he claims to BE Christ). Let’s keep the facts straight.
Ed. — Thanks, you’re right. “Fundamentalist” is more accurate.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:12 pmTalk about right wing Nazi propaganda!
January 12th, 2009 at 7:20 pmI believe these people are either paranoid, or they have a conspiricy to over throw this governmet.
I can hear the ranting an raving on Fox and a.m. Radio already! We are doomed….America is being taken over.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:33 pmWe have got to be ready to stop the influence of these right-wing boondogglers before they can even begin to brush the outside of the mainstream. Discredit them rudely; make sure that anyone who is tempted to believe their first word feels ashamed to be so stupid.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:34 pmWhat is a socialist?
What policies were adopted by the social-whatever it was of which she and other democratic leaders took any part?
And, I’m not sure that some collectivist ideas like cooperation and coexistence ought not be part of the discussion.
I don’t care to know anything about communism.
Economic democracy is a goal that I see for the American people and workers.
And, did you say Gordon Brown?
That’s disgusting in itself, and ought to be sufficient to throw Browner back to academia.
Looking beyond the rhetoric and name-calling, there is only one real question. Is she the best person to lead us to certainty of a healthy carbon balance in the atmosphere, whatever that may be, and a sustainable future for our economy.
She may be.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:58 pmI hope so.
Not that I agree with Socialism, but the question should be, “What difference does it make if he is a Socialist?”
You see, the last time I checked, it is perfectly legal in the U.S. to belong to whatever party you want to belong to.
I guess it’s that darn freedom of speech thing again. :P
January 12th, 2009 at 8:03 pmmerely fronts for the some collectivist, totalitarian, statist impulses that have reared their ugly heads throughout the 20th century with such devastating results for so many.
and up is down and black is white and cold is hot and so it goes. it’s almost unbearable, some days, to read this nonsense. i’m not sure i can bear the screeching from the right for four ~ hopefully eight ~ years.
i thought i’d have to move to mexico if another republican won. i may have to move because one didn’t.
January 12th, 2009 at 8:14 pmYou yanks are always good for a laugh, well mostly your right wing bobble heads. Keep up the good work, the best comedy writers couldn’t think this stuff up!! Palin/Beck 2012!!
January 12th, 2009 at 8:32 pmTo Susan Gillespie: Who said anything about Moon being a Christian evangelical?
January 12th, 2009 at 8:49 pmThe race to the bottom is well illustrated in right wing crackpots. their kids are the ones who will suffer the effects of Global warming..GO TO SCHOOL idiots
January 12th, 2009 at 8:52 pmWhat most Americans don’t seem to know is that Socialism was the backbone and heart of the Labor movement that got them the 5 day week, overtime pay, and the 8 hour day. Socialism is good for the People, bad for the owner class. Socialism and Liberalism go hand in hand because the goal is to achieve a sustainable and adequate life for everyone, not just the upper one percent. Afterall, why would the right spend a hundred years trying to paint Socialism as bad and brainwashing People into thinking that anyone they label as being a Socialist must be evil and anti-People? They are in fact the opposite.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:05 pm<The world need to swing to the political left ifwe are going to survive . Collective agreement will solve not all but most of the corncerns prevalent in todays world. We in Aotearoa NZ have been enjoying a very good standard of living . the arts have florished and we have looked after our unfortunates , However the Right Wing funde by millions and a completly dominated media managed to get their Right-Wing National Party back in and already the signs are that as usual when the National Party is in we have mass unemployment . the first thing they did when elected ws to make it easier to sack people. If the USA is going to encourage Social democracy all I can say is well done you will be surprised how good it is.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:15 pmThis is great. We need more socialists in Washington to carry on the good work of the gucci-wearing Wall Street socialists unmasked in recent months!
Patria libre or morir!
January 12th, 2009 at 9:18 pmSo and so is a “socialist!” And… this is bad, how?
January 12th, 2009 at 9:18 pmIn a right-winger’s feeble mindset, “socialist” is akin
to “dope dealer” or “child molester” or fill in the blank…
I’d rather be called a socialist than a right-wing fascist, any day.
fascism |ˈfa sh ˌizəm| (also Fascism)
noun
an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
• (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.
socialism |ˈsō sh əˌlizəm|
January 12th, 2009 at 9:30 pmnoun
a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
Boo! Mommy attended a meeting in the office of the British Prime Minister near the Queen’s palace. Now, she is a scary socialist. Boo! Children, are you scared yet of things that go thump in the night? Boo! Nonsense and stupid right wingers. Obama is an Arab? Obama is a Muslim? No, he pals with terrorists? How stupid. I sure you of one thing… Carol, unlike neoconservatives, will never invent reasons nor propose ideas that will lead us to war or invade small defenseless countries and neither will she write treaties that endorse torture and murder.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:37 pmI thought the socialists killed the Czar and his family. Now I’m very confused.
January 12th, 2009 at 9:46 pmI remember meeting Carol Browner in ‘93. She was trying to launch a bill with Henry Waxman to reduce the amount of toxicity levels on pesticides from a 160-pound man to that of a 40-pound kid. I asked her, “When do you think Sen. Dole will die, since this will pass over his dead body.”
She looked completely nonplussed. I loved it. He shoots he scores!!!!
Browner’s a tool. Don’t worry about her.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:22 pm“Talk about right wing Nazi propaganda!”
Hold it. No one on the right in this country is advocating the genocide of entire races or religious groups… and if any are, you can be sure that the rest of them would not agree.
There are crazies on the right, for sure - but to call them Nazis is WORSE than them calling us socialists.
January 12th, 2009 at 10:55 pmFor a right-wing, fascist, Republican faggot to be questioning anyone else’s political bonafides is beyond ridiculous.
Matt Drudge is a reactionary homosexual who has no rightful right to question anyone else’s political views. He would’ve voted for Hitler, for chrissakes.
He’s a lying, hypocritical pussy who was afraid to fight in Iraq (and anywhere else in the world).
Drudge is a load of total shit, as his name suggests.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:52 pmThe next thing you know, Obama will have people clamoring for Socialist Security.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:09 amIt gets even more bizarre–apparently the author is also a 9/11 Truther.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:11 amDavid, what is wrong with you? That kind of language will only push people away from the left. To suggest someone would have voted for Hitler because you don’t agree with them is bizarrely ignorant.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:32 amRe: David’s language.
Yes, as R.M. says, David pushes people away by comparing Drudge to Hitler.
But he also uses the words “faggot” and “pussy,” and so his post manages to go out of its way to insult gay people and women as well. (I mean, really. We don’t tolerate the use of the “n” word these days, do we? So why should we tolerate these words either?) The attack on gay people is especially ironic, and awful, given the reference to Hitler — who singled gay people out along with Jews (and those “socialists” known as Communists, I might add, along with other groups) for extermination.
Please, let’s just stick to insulting Matt Drudge and other right-wing propagandists. Let’s not join those propagandists in spreading hatred of gay folks and women. Thanks.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:57 amI would rather be a socialist than a REPUBLICAN or an evangelical.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:10 amCongratulations to TP, first time they have actually used Sun Myung Moon’s name or the Unification Church in a post even though Moon has outspent anyone creating, molding, propping up and promoting this right wing reality free fiasco our nation and world has had to deal with over the last 25 years. Nice to see you finally at least mention the main player in creation of ALL of this. Now to your post:
Astonishing.
Sun Myung Moon’s Washington Times is warning us that someone may want to push a “global governance”.
This is the paper Moon literally brags about using to “influence” our political system and that has pulled off this fraud that it is independent of Moon.
This is the same Moon organization which a congressional investigation put in its findings that its primary goal was “establishment of a worldwide government in which the separation of church and state would be abolished and which would be governed by Moon and his followers.”
Other quotes from the investigation:
Quoting James Whelan, the first editor of Moon’s Washington Times, quit the paper saying it was a “moonie newspaper” and that he had “blood on his hands” for helping Moon gain credibility.
He also said this – too bad no one seems to care that it is true - and has ALREADY been done:
Moon has been conditioning the right for years so this article is nothing new. There is reason he spent billions in overseas cash on the paper and it wasn’t because he was “anti-communist” for he is anti-democracy also. There is a reason he funded theocrats like Lahaye and Falwell. There’s a reason he propped up Richard Viguerie all these years. There’s a reason he created front groups like the American Freedom Coalition – to gather the religious right for political power. If you can’t see this by now God help you.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:54 amHere’s the link for the Whelan quote above. I suggest anyone who “thinks” they understand the Moon organization and its media watch the video closely.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:56 amBTW, Moon does NOT believe he is Jesus Christ. He says Jesus was a failure who now serves Moon’s dead son in heaven. Moon married Jesus to a living Korean woman they claim to allow Jesus into heaven.
Moon claims to be God incarnate and says he is greater than God in ways. He says his words are God’s words. He claims God sees Himself as sinner before him(Moon).
Moon continues to subvert societies around world but so few care. As you will see at that link, Bush the elder and son Neil both promote Moon’s messianic mission.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:05 amFunny watching the Heritage Foudation chime in also.
Moon is the bedrock behind today’s conservatism. He brought them to power and molded their minds.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:24 amA FEW THOUGTHS ON GLOBAL WARMING:
January 13th, 2009 at 4:10 amhttp://www.hootervillegazette.com
One last thing. You know how people ask what happened to conservatives? What happened to the Republican Party? How did they become anti-science? How and where did they learn to hate environmentalists? Who conditioned them to all yap about “tree huggers”?
Their “Savior” trained them.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:14 amIt figures that http://www.newsbusters.org has something to do with the socialist bashing…
January 13th, 2009 at 7:03 amcheck out the site to see how brainwashed this right wing is!
Well, the just of the article IS a bit much….but I can say this about Browner - - ask any male management level person who served UNDER her at EPA while she was Adminstrator - - and they will tell you that she was a complete 100% man-hater. Most of those near her office ended up hiding in their offices during her tenure. Should be interesting just how long she is tolerated at WH meetings if that is still her style.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:47 amI am middle of the road and I think that we all see each other in extremes. We see the left as socialist/Marxist/communist. We see right as Neo-Cons, homephobes, etc. But the majority of Americans want the same things. We don’t want poverty, we want peace, we want balance. Someone wrote the defination of socialism and said they would rather be that. The problem with socialism is that it takes away from the individual. There is no incentive to work hard and be rewarded. That is not what this country was founded on. Like I said, we want the same things, but we have different ways of how we think we should get there. I believe that government is not the answer to everything. I believe we the people can help each other. It starts at home. Help your neighbor who might have lost their job. Volunteer with local charities. The problem with thinking socialism is the way to go leads us to believe that it would be even better to have global socialism. Europe would love us to join their world economic reform they are planning with the UN. But if we go in that direction, we lose our sovereignty. We then have no represenation. We have UN leaders deciding what is best for us. I am not looking for conspiracy theories. I am just trying to understand what direction we are going.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:12 amOh, my god, the Nazi party had socialist in their name as well! Someone inform Jonah Goldberg!
January 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pmSince we’re bashing the good Rev. Moon, I recently heard a story (on NPR maybe?) that said that Moonie organizations control the majority of the sushi grade fish consumed in this country, so if you’re eating sushi, you’re likely putting money in Moon’s pocket.
January 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pmSusan Gillespie - um, evangelical only means the person chooses to proselytize their chosen religion upon the unwashed masses.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:26 amMoon is a proselytizer and therefore a Moonie evangelical - or the King Moonie evangelical if we want to honor his title.
Mostly, he’s an Effing Nuthouse.
Being a Socialist is not a bad thing in and of itself. However it carries the baggage of the consequences of Socialist policies enacted in many places around the world. Perhaps in the same way modern day Christians have to live with the fact that their religion was responsible for atrocities during the Crusades and elsewhere.
Progressives are a funny bunch. You have nothing to worry about with the right wing. They’re simply trying to persuade the public with debate and reason to see the world through their perspective. They are the last people on earth that would throw anybody into a gulag for their opposing ideas.
To this day, I don’t think the same thing can be said of the good-hearted left.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:59 amThe greatness of the United States is in a large part the result of CAPITALISM. Socialism has never succeeded and its creeping introduction into America will be responsible for our fall. Read “The 5000 Year Leap” and get back with me.
January 14th, 2009 at 8:14 amGrow up you whining liberals.
Fact: She was listed as one of 14 LEADERS of this socialist group.
Fact: The socialist group’s website ’suddenly’ removed her name from the web site a few days ago.
Fact: She hasn’t denied being a socialist.
Fact: Socialism IS the opposite of every American tradition that made this country great.
If you don’t understand the problems with socialism, then you need to take a step back, drop your liberal bias for a moment and learn about it. The fact is, the more socialist a country becomes, the less prosperous the nation and the people.
As a former liberal who used to sound like the whiners on this web site, I only wish you could hear how ignorant and biased you sound…
January 14th, 2009 at 7:55 pm