NBC’s Meet the Press and moderator Chuck Todd have taken a radical stance on climate change and they’re proud of it. Late last year Todd boasted about banning “climate deniers” from his show. On Sunday, he and his fellow liberal journalists tried to boost the dangerously radical Green New Deal while avoiding the craziness it proposes.
At the start of the panel discussion, Todd eagerly jumped right into touting some of the idealized goals of the GND:
This week, here's a bullet points of the Green New Deal. I want to put it up here. Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, upgrade all existing buildings, overhaul transportation systems, guarantee a job for every American. It's a resolution, not a bill.
Of course, Todd twisted the facts and utterly failed to mention the ludicrous details of the GND. He didn’t even fact-check Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the GND’s author when she was lying to his face.
The GND admits that the goals of “overhauling the transportation system” and “net-zero” gas emissions would be met by getting rid of “farting cows and airplanes”. Those “upgrades” to “all existing buildings” gutting your home and rebuilding it. And that’s not to mention the parts that involved installing a socialist government in America. Todd praised the GND for “guaranteeing a job for every American”, but he neglected to mention that the proposal called for shoveling money to people “unwilling to work”.
“Yeah, I think this is aspirational,” praised Daily Kos and Vox founder Markos Moulitsas. “This is so ambitious that these details will have to be worked out over decades. This is a broad, aggressive, bold agenda. It will take time to implement, but at least it shows people where the Democratic Party is going on the issue of climate change.”
A short time later, facts-adverse MSNBC host Katy Tur tried to scare people into accepting the radicalness of the GND:
The U.N. said we have 12 years before complete disaster. Talk to the representative of the Marshall Islands and he's calling it what could amount to genocide if we allow things to go as they are. The reports aren't just hey, it's going to get bad. The reports are people will die. Millions and millions and millions of people will die and I think that there's an appetite among voters out there, especially democratic voters and potentially swing voters…
And according to Kimberly Atkins, senior Washington reporter for radio station WBUR, it was “brilliant” of Ocasio-Cortez to not mention the details regarding implementation of the GND. “And I think that is an issue that moves and I think the aspirational aspect of this; I think it was pretty brilliant to not to put in a bunch of details that people can immediately start taking down.” In other words, it was brilliant because people couldn’t see the full absurdity of the proposal.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Meet the Press
February 10, 2019
10:55:35 a.m. EasternCHUCK TODD: This week, here's a bullet points of the Green New Deal. I want to put it up here. Achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, upgrade all existing buildings, overhaul transportation systems, guarantee a job for every American. It's a resolution, not a bill. Here was President Trump's tweet in response, a bit of sarcasm. “I think it is very important for the Democrats to press forward with their green new deal. It would be great for the so-called carbon footprint to permanently eliminate all planes, cars, cows, gas and the military – even if no other country would do the same. Brilliant!” Markos, the party – the Democratic Party is this a healthy debate that's happening right now?
MARKOS MOULITSAS: Yeah, I think this is aspirational. This is actually popular and if Trump thinks this is going to hurt us politically he's absolutely not really paying attention to the pulse of the country. This is aspirational like you said, it's not a bill. The details would have to be worked out. This is so ambitious that these details will have to be worked out over decades. This is a broad, aggressive, bold agenda. It will take time to implement, but at least it shows people where the Democratic Party is going on the issue of climate change.
(…)
DAVID BRODY: And I believe this is a major, major pothole for Democrats coming in 2020. Big time. Iceberg right ahead.
KATY TUR: I'm not so sure about that. I mean, I think you have some real reporting out there from experts not just analysts on television, but from actual experts at the U.N., from Donald Trump's own administration saying how dire this is. The U.N. said we have 12 years before complete disaster. Talk to the representative of the Marshall Islands and he's calling it what could amount to genocide if we allow things to go as they are. The reports aren't just hey, it's going to get bad. The reports are people will die. Millions and millions and millions of people will die and I think that there's an appetite among voters out there, especially democratic voters and potentially swing voters to say, “hey, let's do something about this now because it's going to affect our future.” And there's real economic damage that can happen as well. Billions of dollars in economic damage from crops, to deaths, to losing ocean front homes and businesses in -- over the next century.
(…)
KIMBERLY ATKINS: I think on the issue like this, on the environment, it’s sort of like health care, it’s something that people understand and connect to. And they are seeing these dire warnings and they're thinking of their children, not even only their grandchildren, their children and what kind of world we are literally leaving for them. And I think that is an issue that moves and I think the aspirational aspect of this; I think it was pretty brilliant to not to put in a bunch of details that people can immediately start taking down. I think it says, “hey, come to the table with the proposals that will help us deal with this very important problem.”
(…)
