On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, correspondent Geoff Bennett offered his latest entry in a portfolio that’s increasingly geared toward sucking up to the incoming Biden administration. In an NBC News Exclusive with former Secretary of State John Kerry, Bennett lauded his new job as President-Elect Joe Biden’s climate envoy and wondered what Americans must “sacrifice” in order to heal the planet.
Anchor Lester Holt was all-in, stating in an opening tease that Kerry would speak about “what he’s calling a climate moon shot” and, in a lead-in to Bennett’s interview, informed viewers Kerry believes “the Paris climate agreement does not go far enough.”
Playing the role of stenographer, Bennett hyped Kerry as “tell[ing] us he's on a critical new mission” and questioned him from the left on whether the Paris climate agreement was sufficient (click “expand”):
BENNETT: Biden saying he'll rejoin the Paris climate agreement on day one, though there are questions over whether the deal, which Kerry helped negotiate, is doing enough. [TO KERRY] Since that deal was signed five years ago, we’ve had the warmest five years on record, a new UN report said countries failed to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. And so, the question is does the Paris agreement need to be stronger?
KERRY: Yes, absolutely yes. It has to be stronger and — and one of my missions on behalf of the president and the country is to help create the dynamic where we’re bringing reluctant partners to the table because they see the benefits. I’m confident we can get there. The issue is are we going to get there in time. That’s our race. This is our moon shot.
Back on the first day of the 2015 climate summit that would give birth to the agreement, the “big three” broadcast networks were all onboard, bemoaning on their November 30 morning shows how recent Islamic terror attacks was “diverting attention” from their wider goals of “limit[ing] global warming” through the (non-binding) agreement.
That night, ABC, CBS, and NBC newscasts spent 15 minutes and 14 seconds singing its praises.
Also that week, The New York Times was over the moon about its importance in supposedly saving the planet (pun intended).
And when President Obama announced on October 5, 2016 that it would go into effect, correspondent Ron Allen fawned over the agreement as “designed to stop” dangerous hurricanes.
So if it was horribly insufficient, what went wrong? Why did it fail to stop global temperatures? Unfortunately, Bennett and Kerry refused to say why other than having Bennett fret that President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement in June 2017.
After a brief soundbite from Trump, Bennett asked Kerry to tell the American people what they will need to “be prepared to sacrifice in order to meet the President-Elect's climate goals.”
Kerry replied with a classic sign of whether a journalist is sucking up to their interview subject: “That’s a great question.”
Devoid of any specifics, Kerry added: “I want to make it crystal clear. Moving to address the climate crisis does not mean you have to sacrifice or lose your quality of life. In fact, we will have more jobs and better jobs, better paying jobs.”
Did Kerry mean the radical Green New Deal? Did that mean taking aim at the energy industry in states like Pennsylvania? Does he agree with the Green New Deal’s goal of eliminating nuclear energy or guaranteeing every America a job? And what about the refusal of China and India to even make minimal progress on greenhouse gas emissions?
Unsurprisingly, we didn’t get an answer to a single one of these things.
Returning to Kerry’s “moonshot” line, he wasn’t the first person to make that claim. As NewsBusters wrote on December 14, 2015, then-MSNBC correspondent (and current CBS This Morning co-host) Tony Dokopuil made that claim two days earlier: “There's incredible optimism; incredible momentum to get this deal done. It's really like a Mars lander kind of moment — a NASA moonshot moment.”
Bennett’s latest suck-up to his leftist pals was made possible by NBC advertisers such as Google. Follow the link to the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant NBC transcript from December 9, click “expand.”
NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt
December 9, 2020
7:01 p.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; NBC News Exclusive]
LESTER HOLT: Our NBC News exclusive, John Kerry on his role in the new Biden administration and what he’s calling a climate moon shot.
(....)
7:13 p.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: NBC News Exclusive; Kerry’s Climate Challenge]
HOLT: Now to our NBC News exclusive. John Kerry, in his first interview since President-Elect Biden named him the nation's first climate envoy telling our Geoff Bennett the Paris climate agreement does not go far enough.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: NBC News Exclusive; John Kerry Speaks Out on Climate ‘Moonshot’ Mission]
GEOFF BENNETT: Tonight, former Secretary of State John Kerry tells us he's on a critical new mission as President-Elect Joe Biden's newly named special presidential envoy to combat climate change.
JOHN KERRY: He's deeply committed to it. What Americans should understand is we are in crisis but this is an opportunity. It's an opportunity for the United States to create millions of jobs to move into a new, more exciting, cleaner energy base for our economy.
BENNETT: Biden saying he'll rejoin the Paris climate agreement on day one, though there are questions over whether the deal, which Kerry helped negotiate, is doing enough. [TO KERRY] Since that deal was signed five years ago, we’ve had the warmest five years on record, a new UN report said countries failed to stop the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. And so, the question is does the Paris agreement need to be stronger?
KERRY: Yes, absolutely yes. It has to be stronger and — and one of my missions on behalf of the president and the country is to help create the dynamic where we’re bringing reluctant partners to the table because they see the benefits. I’m confident we can get there. The issue is are we going to get there in time. That’s our race. This is our moon shot.
BENNETT: President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement saying it cost American jobs.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP [on 06/01/17]: I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.
BENNETT: Kerry calling that a false choice. [TO KERRY] What should Americans be prepared to sacrifice in order to meet the President-Elect's climate goals?
KERRY: That's a great question, and I want to make it crystal clear. Moving to address the climate crisis does not mean you have to sacrifice or lose your quality of life. In fact, we will have more jobs and better jobs, better paying jobs.
BENNETT: Secretary Kerry will get a seat on the National Security Council. The first big test? New climate talks next year in Scotland. Lester?
HOLT: Alright. Geoff Bennett, thank you.
