CNN’s 10 back-to-back “climate crisis” town halls with 2020 Democrats were every bit a sideshow one could expect them to be. But there a few moments, Wednesday night, that stood out as particularly off the rails. Between advocating for global abortions, $16 trillion in new government spending, and insidious proposals to manipulate what you eat, it had some people pointing out it was a gold mine for GOP campaign ads.
Arguably the most disturbing point during the climate hysteria came roughly halfway through the town hall with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I).
After a commercial break, AC360 host Anderson Cooper went to an audience question from Martha Readyoff, who's “a teacher from New Milford, Connecticut.” Her questions dealt with whether or not Sanders was “courageous enough” to adopt global population control via abortion as a “key feature” of his plan against climate change (click “expand”):
Good evening. Human population growth has more than doubled in the past 50 years. The planet cannot sustain this growth. I realize this is a poisonous topic for politicians, but it's crucial to face. Empowering women and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth seems a reasonable campaign to enact. Would you be courageous enough to discuss this issue and make it a key feature in a plan to address climate catastrophe?
Sanders got in touch with his inner communist and declared “the answer is yes.” He went on to decry the Mexico City agreement as “totally absurd” because it “denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control…”
It’s worth noting that all the audience questions were pre-screened by CNN, so they knew that radical question was going to be part of their program and the narrative they were crafting.
In another clear attempt to drive the liberal agenda, Cooper began the Joe Biden town hall by grilling the former VP on why he wasn’t proposing a multi-trillion-dollar plan to combat climate change. “Your climate change plan talks about spending 1 .7 trillion. There are other candidates out there who are talking about spending $16 trillion. Is your plan aggressive enough,” Cooper demanded.
Biden defended himself by stating: “Yes, I think it is aggressive enough and it’s gotten good reviews from most of the environmental community. It's been rated very highly and I think that it is aggressive enough.”
In the third town hall, the one with California Senator Kamala Harris, CNN went to an audience member who wanted the government to manipulate what you ate (click “expand”):
CAROLINE COURSANT: Thank you. Climate change has been linked to agriculture and the overconsumption of red meat and also the overproduction of crops. Several countries have changed the dietary guidelines to reduce the consumption of red meat in light of the impact of the climate change. If elected, will you be supporting change in dietary guidelines? And then how will you plan on implementing the changes so people effectively change their diets?
To give the question merit, host Erin Burnett prefaced it by citing the U.N. “[L]ivestock cattle contribute 14.5 percent of all human-produced greenhouse gases. Which is an incredible number,” she proclaimed.
Taking burgers and steaks off your plate was one of the common topics throughout the night of too many town halls. At one point, host Chris “Fredo” Cuomo was talking with South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and wanted to know how he was going to convince people to lose the beef (click “expand”):
CHRIS CUOMO: One of the things that we keep being told by science is this cattle issue is a real situation. And as he was pointing out, it really is about supply and demand. If you don't want the beef they don't raise the cattle, the same way. But that's a big ask in American culture. So, what do you say to the Americans that you want to persuade who maybe aren't that left? Maybe in the center or center-right and they’re saying you want me to eat less beef?
Along with lying about the Green New Deal’s cattle crackdown, Buttigieg said he wanted to strike a “balance” with “consumption patterns” by using a “carbon tax and dividend.”
If the point of the town hall was to give Republican strategists soundbites for their 2020 ads campaigns, then Wednesday night was pay dirt.
The transcripts are below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Kamala Harris: Climate Town Hall
September 4, 2019
6:43:17 p.m. EasternERIN BURNETT: So, let’s go straight to an audience question now. Caroline Coursant is a lawyer from New York, Senator. She has a question about the impact of certain foods on the environment. Just to give some context, the United Nations says, that cattle, livestock cattle contribute 14.5 percent of all human produced greenhouse gases. Which is an incredible number. Carolyn, go ahead with your question.
CAROLINE COURSANT: Thank you. Climate change has been linked to agriculture and the overconsumption of red meat and also the overproduction of crops. Several countries have changed the dietary guidelines to reduce the consumption of red meat in light of the impact of the climate change. If elected, will you be supporting change in dietary guidelines? And then how will you plan on implementing the changes so people effectively change their diets?
(…)
CNN’s Joe Biden: Climate Town Hall
September 4, 2019
8:00:31 p.m. Eastern [1 minute 30 seconds]ANDERSON COOPER: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Anderson Cooper. Now, scientists tell us, if our planet warms more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.5 degrees Celsius, we are facing massive and dangerous tipping points. Flooded coastal cities and island nations underwater and the destruction of coral reefs.
So, tonight, CNN is dedicating an entire night to the climate emergency and how the top ten Democratic presidential candidates plan to address this urgent threat. We're coming to you, of course, tonight just as Hurricane Dorian, the strongest storm anywhere on the planet this year has decimated parts of the Bahamas and is threatening the east coast. Ahead, we'll speak with Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Joining me on stage former Vice President Joe Biden.
Nice to see you, sir.
So welcome, going to have an audience question in a minute. I just want to -- some broad strokes here, your climate plan calls for zero -- net zero emissions by the year 2050. There’s a lot of policymakers out there who say, “look, it's got to be done faster, talking ten, 12 years.” Your climate change plan talks about spending 1 .7 trillion. There are other candidates out there who are talking about spending $16 trillion. Is your plan aggressive enough? I guess that's the question.
JOE BIDEN: Yes, I think it is aggressive enough and it’s gotten good reviews from most of the environmental community. It's been rated very highly and I think that it is aggressive enough.
(…)
CNN’s Bernie Sanders: Climate Town Hall
September 4, 2019
9:00:51 p.m. EasternANDERSON COOPER: Let’s take another question from our audience. Martha Readyoff is a teacher from New Milford, Connecticut. Martha, welcome.
MARTHA READYOFF: Good evening. Human population growth has more than doubled in the past 50 years. The planet cannot sustain this growth. I realize this is a poisonous topic for politicians, but it's crucial to face. Empowering women and educating everyone on the need to curb population growth seems a reasonable campaign to enact. Would you be courageous enough to discuss this issue and make it a key feature in a plan to address climate catastrophe?
BERNIE SANDERS: Well Martha, the answer is yes. And the answer has everything to do with the fact that women in the United States of Americas, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies and make reproductive decisions.
[Applause]
And the Mexico City agreement, which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control to me is totally absurd. So, I think especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, something I very strongly support.
(…)
CNN’s Pete Buttigieg: Climate Town Hall
September 4, 2019
10:34:33 p.m. EasternCHRIS CUOMO: So, you have the anxiety of the worker. But as David was asking earlier, there's something about the anxiety of the consumer and the citizen.
One of the things that we keep being told by science is this cattle issue is a real situation. And as he was pointing out, it really is about supply and demand. If you don't want the beef they don't raise the cattle, the same way. But that's a big ask in American culture. So, what do you say to the Americans that you want to persuade who maybe aren't that left? Maybe in the center or center right and they’re saying you want me to eat less beef?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: Look, first of all, I'm from Indiana. And secondly, I love cheese burgers. So, I get that this is an issue. And the important thing to understand and get across is that we can have a more balanced diet and therefore a more balanced footprint and not propose that they abolish the cow. Which is what a lot of people are saying about the Green New Deal.
Not because that’s what it actually envisions, but because it's an easy Republican talking point.
Of course, we need balance in all of the consumption patterns and part of what a carbon tax and dividend does is it resets the price signals in the market to help make that happen, without ordering Americans to abandon something that is very important to them. Instead, we change the economic signals, we bring it into balance. And balance is what we have lost when it comes to our relationship with creation with the Earth that sustains our ability to live.
(…)
