Brokaw Gives Bush an 'A' for Global Warming Which Republicans Ignored

Appearing on MSNBC's State of the Union coverage, former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw praised President Bush for talking about global warming in his speech, lamenting that it was a subject the "Republican-dominated Congress has given very little attention to." Brokaw obverved that Bush had used the term "global warming" for the "first time since he's been President." Brokaw: "I think that you can give him an A for identifying the priorities that had been before this country for some time, and that the Republican-dominated Congress has given very little attention to. Global warming, he used that phrase for the first time since he's been President." (Transcript follows)

Below is a transcript of relevant portions of Brokaw's comments from January 23:

Tom Brokaw, 10:09 p.m.: "It's a tricky piece for the Democrats as well, Keith, as you know, because they do have power now through 2008, and the country's going to be looking to them to see what their solutions are to the problems that the President correctly identified tonight. I think that you can give him an A for identifying the priorities that had been before this country for some time, and that the Republican-dominated Congress has given very little attention to. Global warming, he used that phrase for the first time since he's been President. I would like to have seen the reaction of James Inhofe, who is the Senator from Oklahoma, recently displaced as the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who believes it's the greatest hoax in the history of mankind. Vice President Cheney is not a believer in global warming as it has been described by now a consensus of scientists around the country."

Brokaw later added: "I think in the last 18 months there's been a sea change in this country about alternative energy, about the impact of global warming -- not just a scientific consensus, but more grassroots people are signing on to the idea, mayors across the country are developing their own programs, and just yesterday we saw 10 of the most prominent corporate leaders in America saying we believe in it and we think that we have to have a national policy. It's also worth noting that the White House has not reached out to those corporate leaders -- so far, at least -- to get their additional thinking on all of this."