GMA’s Champion Joins Leftist Laurie David to Promote Global Warming Tour

On Monday’s "Good Morning America," weatherman and left-wing environmental activist Sam Champion took his global warming lobbying to the next step. Champion appeared at Southern Methodist University in Texas with liberal celebrity activist Laurie David and noted anti-Bush singer Sheryl Crow for the start of the "Stop Global Warming College Tour."

It’s rather amazing that ABC is allowing on-air talent to kick off a political campaign with specific policy agendas. Would Champion appear at the commencement of a nationwide "Stop Abortion" tour? ABC even let David, wife of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, and Crow introduce the 8:30am hour. Co-host Robin Roberts, ignoring David’s liberal activism, referred to the celebrity wife simply as a "global warming activist":

Laurie David: "Hi, I'm Laurie David."

Sheryl Crow: "And I'm Sheryl Crow. And we're here in Dallas, Texas at SMU!"

David: "To kick off the Stop Global Warming College Tour. Good morning, America!"

[College students surrounding David and Crow’s bus cheer wildly.]

Robin Roberts: "Grammy winning Sheryl Crow and global warming activist Laurie David at SMU in Dallas, kicking off their Stop Global Warming College Tour. Then, on to ten more universities aboard their bio diesel fuel bus, as you would imagine. Sam is there with them and he's going to have a good time with them in our last half hour."

A few minutes later, at 8:34am, Champion appeared to talk with David and Crow about their plans to encourage college students to adopt the environmental agenda:

Roberts: "Time for the weather. We have got Diane in Afghanistan. We have Sam Champion down there in Dallas. Some very, very special guests, Sam."

[Sam is standing outside the Stop Global Warming Bus He’s waiting for Laurie David and Sheryl Crow to come out.]

Sam Champion: "Morning Robin. Morning Chris. Come on out! The big reveal! [Cheering fro college students] Laurie David, good morning, how are you?"

David: "Good Morning."

Crow: "How are you?"

Champion: "Sheryl Crow, good morning. Now, why take the tour to college campuses? Why, why do that?"

David: "Well, look, the movement to stop global warming has to become the biggest movement this country has ever seen. And how do you do that without your college campuses?"

Sheryl Crow: "That’s right."

 Champion: "All right, so you start here, and get everybody excited about it. And we do have to point out, this is the first time that a global diesel bus has been on the quad -- Did I say global diesel? I did, didn’t I? Bio-diesel. No! Why bio-diesel?"

Crow: "Isn’t it cool? We're just trying to cut down on carbon emissions. And we’re running on vegetable oil, basically. And most tours are trying to do that. Yeah, we’re just trying to go totally green, spread the message."

Champion: "All right. We cannot have you here without sharing a little music. And yesterday, I got a preview of the tour. Now you can see it."

[Cut to clip of Crow playing "Soak Up the Sun."]

The April 9 segment ended with Champion noting the lack of bathroom amenities on the bus and adding, "I have to point out, that we're going to get very close on this tour because there's really only one bathroom inside the bus, right?" It’s unclear at this point whether the weatherman will be actively participating in the tour, but it’s still rather amazing that ABC is allowing him to so blatantly promote a political agenda.

Mr. Champion, for the second time in less than a week, displayed no sense of irony weather-related irony. Earlier in the morning, prior to explaining the need to fight global warming, he offered this report on the artic cold afflicting the East Coast:

7:04am

Robin Roberts: "Time now for the weather. Sam Champion is down is down in big D, Dallas, Texas this morning, where like much of the country, this holiday weekend, it was a chilly one. Sam, you warned us on Friday. You said Easter was going to be colder than Christmas."

Sam Champion: "Yeah, and we told you there would be some snow in Dallas as well. And when we landed on Saturday, there was. So when is Easter warmer than Christmas? It's not some kind of freaky riddle. It’s the reality of the weekend. Take a look at area temperatures, like Charleston, South Carolina which got into the twenties. 28, 29 degrees for Easter morning. Your Christmas morning temperature, 58 degrees. Atlanta, Georgia was 28 at Easter and 57 on Christmas. Okay, it’s more than just weird and uncomfortable. This cold spell is likely to be costing us an awful lot of money pretty soon. For most of the nation, it was a chilly, okay, call it, frigid Easter holiday. All across the south, new record lows. Atlanta, Georgia, 30 degrees. Charlotte, North Carolina. 21. Jacksonville, Florida, 31 degrees. Nashville, Tennessee 23. And all this cold could add to our produce bills. The price of the crops from the Midwest in strawberries, blueberries and peaches from all across the south may all rise due to sub-freezing temperatures. In Alabama alone, the peach crop is worth an estimated three to five million dollars."

In 2007, Champion has demonstrated an unrelenting push for liberal environmental issues. On April 2, he promoted "green weddings." And in late January, he hosted a segment that hyperbolically wondered if "billions will die from global warming."