This is what political denial looks like in Florida, where Republican Gov. Rick Scott has allegedly banned state officials from uttering the term “climate change.”
Video from a Senate committee hearing finds Bryan Koon, head of Florida’s emergency division, dancing around the term as he responds to questions about the climate change disaster-mitigation plans the federal government has required Florida to prepare.
On one hand, it’s absurd and awkward and funny. On the other, it’s tragic and Orwellian. How long can Republican politicians keep this up?
Colorado U.S. Senator Cory Gardner last fall during his campaign for office was asked in a Denver Post debate to respond with a one-word answer on the matter of whether he believed that (a) climate change was happening and (b) was caused mostly by human activity. But Gardner didn’t want to say “yes” or “no.” Moderator Chuck Plunkett, politics editor at the paper, was forced to explain. “These questions are meant to be answered yes or no because they should come from a core belief that you hold.”
To no avail.
“These are important issues that should be addressed seriously,” Gardner said, before rapidly plunging on. The audience oohed and awed.
This dodging on climate change is the kind of thing that makes for great video — the kind of video that outlives the people it features. The one below from 1994 concerns a different matter and it features corporate CEOs, not the people they pay to run for office, but the effect is the same.
