Rick Santorum, Other Idiots: 'But What About Climate COLDING???'

It's your Sunday show rundown!

While everyone in America was enjoying a tryptophan-induced coma followed shortly after by elbowing old ladies for discounted griddles and The Iron Giant on Blu-Ray, scientists working for the Trump administration released the Fourth National Climate Assessment. The report comes from more than a dozen federal agencies and includes the work of more than 300 authors breaking down climate change's impacts in specific regions across the country, touching on everything from agricultural changes to sea-level rise to health effects to economic impact. This report is the second volume of a non-partisan work of science mandated by Congress about the reality of climate change. The report represents a sweeping scientific consensus agreed upon by the Bush, Obama and now Trump administrations showing the current and future impacts to the United States from climate change. Essentially, the debate on climate change is over.

Unless you were watching the Sunday shows!

The Sunday political shows were flush with a cavalcade of climate change deniers still ringin' that bell, like Paul Revere or the last remaining Salvation Army Santa on Christmas Eve. Let's begin with perhaps the dumbest thing uttered by Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute (and NBC News political analyst) on NBC's Meet The Press:

PLETKA: So from the standpoint of those who have doubts about this, and I don't think we can have any doubts that there is climate change, whether it's anthropogenic,I don't know, I'm not a scientist.I look at this as a citizen and I see it so I understand it. On the other hand, we need to also recognize that we just had two of the coldest years, the biggest drop in global temperatures that we've had since the 1980s, the biggest in the last 100 years. We don't talk about that because it's not part of the agenda... But we shouldn't be hysterical.

One, the conversation should stop once you say "I don't know, I'm not a scientist."

Two, weather is theday-to-day state of the atmospherein a region and itsshort-term (minutes to weeks)variations, whereas climate is defined as statistical weather information that describes the variation of weather at a given place for a specified interval. Meaning having record cold and record heat (along with other phonomena) ARE evidence of climate change, you twit!

And Three, why is Chuck Todd giving this uninformed idiot airtime? Do we really need MORE reasons to want Katy Tur to replace Todd at every show he hosts?!

cc:  @chucktodd . He's talking to you, babe. https: //t.co/DcA7tIjCNG 
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) November 26, 2018 

You disappointed Soledad O'Brien and Dan Rather, Chuck. Again, Chuck. Again.

Here is the video, so you can witness Chuck Todd's latest crime against responsible journalism:

Right-wing panelist on Meet the Press on climate change: "I'm not a scientist ... We need to also recognize we had two of the coldest years, biggest drop in global temperatures that we have had since the 1980s, the biggest in the last 100 years. We don't talk about that." pic.twitter.com/OLPUZOpoKR 
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) November 25, 2018 

Next up is Iowa Senator and overeager hog castrator Joni Ernst.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union withJake TapperDana Bash," Ernst was asked about climate change and we got the new Republican talking point that they've all agreed on since they can't refute the science anymore:

ERNST: Well, we know that our climate is changing. Our climate always changes. And we see those ebb and flows through time. American agriculture has faced very difficult situations in decades past as well.

When asked if the Senate should take any action, Ernst seemed a bit less sure:

ERNST: And I don't -- I think any -- any time that we are putting regulation out, we need to always consider impact to American industry and jobs.

Yes, we can't put any jobs at risk ... despite the Trump administration report stating that "With continued growth in emissions at historic rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are projected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century—more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many U.S. states." So if we don't take action it WILL hurt American industry and jobs, and you don't even have to care about the polar bears at all!

But Ernst was not the only conservative moron to make an argument like this on "State of the Union." In comes frothy former senator and CNN contributor Rick Marvolo Santorum. Dana Bash began the panel discussion after showing repeated clips of Trump denying climate change and also noting the timing of releasing this Report on Black Friday/Thanksgiving weekend:

BASH: President Trump appears to be at odds with his own administration over their new report warning about the effects of climate change. Did we mention that the administration released the report on Friday of a holiday weekend? Let's talk about that. Rick Santorum is nodding his head.

SANTORUM: Good for them.

BASH: Good for them?

SANTORUM: Yes.

BASH: All right. Well, at least you guys are transparent about it.

SANTORUM: Well, this is a report generated by people who are in the bureaucracy. These are not Trump appointees. I mean, this report has been generated for --

BASH: Meaning they're nonpolitical?

Let's just take a second and marvel at the pure political transparency of Santorum as he praises the Trump administration's attempt to bury this report on a holiday weekend. But that wasn't the only idiotic thing Santorum said (it never is). He then "exposed" the "real truth" about climate change:

SANTORUM: The reality is that a lot of these scientists are driven by the money that they receive. And, of course, they don't receive money from corporations and Exxon and the like. Why? Because they're not allowed to. Because it's tainted but they can receive it from people who have -- who support their agenda and that's what -- and that I believe is what's really going on here.

Yes, all those scientist just bathing in rivers of money. Because its easier for liars like Santorum to say that deficit- and cash-strapped governments have paid off 97% of the world's scientists instead of multi-billion dollar companies paying 3% of scientists to provide "skeptic" finding on climate change. Like Exxon Mobil suppressing their own finding for a profit. 

Santorum then tried this familiar gem:

No one doubts that the climate is changing. No one doubts that. The question is how much does man contribute, number one? And, number two, what can man do to actually change it? Those are the two big issues which we really don't talk about.

Maybe Santorum is that dumb. Or maybe he himself has been using projection to discount the sweet, sweet cash HE is getting to lie to the public about this as co-chair of an advocacy group for biofuels, which emit even more greenhouse gases than conventional petroleum fuels. 

Probably I missed the moment in the broadcast when this was disclosed. And perhaps he is working pro bono. Or perhaps Santorum is as bad as he's always been.

Wonkette ain't got no oil funding but YOU. Kindly keep us going as long as God willing and the sea don't rise.