Ahead of Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s expected Monday announcement declaring his candidacy for President of the United States, NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday teed up California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown to blast the Republican as “absolutely unfit to be running for office.”
Todd teased Brown’s attack at the top of the broadcast: “Climate catastrophe. Jerry Brown, the governor of drought-stricken California, on why there should no longer be a debate about climate....Plus, find out which 2016 contender he thinks is unfit for office.”
During the later interview, Todd brought up Cruz objecting to the man-made climate change theory: “As you know, the issue of climate change is polarizing. I want to play for you a clip this week from one of the Republican presidential candidates on the issue of climate change. Here it is.”
A soundbite played of Cruz on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers explaining: “My view actually is simple. Debates on this should follow science and should follow data. And many of the alarmists on global warming, they’ve got a problem because the science doesn't back them up.”
Turning to Brown, Todd invited the liberal governor to go after Cruz: “That was Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a likely presidential candidate, saying what he said on climate change. What do you say? Because you've dealt with some Republican skeptics in California on this.”
Brown seized the opportunity to denounce the 2016 contender: “I would say what he said is absolutely false....And that man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of existing data. It’s shocking and I think that man has rendered himself absolutely unfit to be running for office.”
Todd conveniently edited Cruz’s full statement to Meyers:
My view actually is simple. Debates on this should follow science and should follow data. Many of the alarmists on global warming, they’ve got a problem because the science doesn’t back them up. In particular, satellite data demonstrate for the last 17 years, there’s been zero warming. None whatsoever. It’s why – you remember how it used to be called “global warming” and then magically the theory changed to “climate change”? The reason is it wasn’t warming, but the computer models still say it is, except the satellites show it’s not.
While trying to label Cruz’s argument as “mostly false,” Polifact acknowledged it was accurate: “Cruz does have a point: There hasn't been any significant warming over the past 17 years. However, the scientific mainstream counters that it's misleading for climate change skeptics to assume this flat trend line will continue indefinitely, or that it negates the long-term likelihood of global warming.”
Here is a transcript of Todd’s March 22 exchange with Brown about Cruz:
10:30 AM ET TEASE:
CHUCK TODD: Plus, climate catastrophe. Jerry Brown, the governor of drought-stricken California, on why there should no longer be a debate about climate.
JERRY BROWN: This has to be almost at the level of a crusade.
TODD: Plus, find out which 2016 contender he thinks is unfit for office.
BROWN: That man betoken such a level of ignorance.
11:03 AM ET SEGMENT:
(...)
TODD: As you know, the issue of climate change is polarizing. I want to play for you a clip this week from one of the Republican presidential candidates on the issue of climate change. Here it is.
SETH MEYERS: Because I think the world’s on fire literally. Hottest year on record. But you're not there, right?
SEN. TED CRUZ [R-TX]: I just came back from New Hampshire where there's snow and ice everywhere. My view actually is simple. Debates on this should follow science and should follow data. And many of the alarmists on global warming, they’ve got a problem because the science doesn't back them up.
TODD: That was Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a likely presidential candidate, saying what he said on climate change. What do you say? Because you've dealt with some Republican skeptics in California on this.
BROWN: I would say what he said is absolutely false. Over 90% of the scientists who deal with climate are absolutely convinced that the human activity, the industrial activity, the generation of CO-2, methane oxides, and nitrogen, all the rest of those green house gases are building up in the atmosphere, they’re heat-trapping, and they’re causing not just warm drought in California, but severe storms and cold in the east coast. So it's climate disruption of many different kinds. And that man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of existing data. It’s shocking and I think that man has rendered himself absolutely unfit to be running for office.
(...)
