On Wednesday night, Sarah Isgur Flores, Carly Fiorina’s Deputy Campaign Manager, hit back at MSNBC’s Chris Hayes over whether or not climate change was to blame for the California drought.
Hayes seemed shocked that Fiorina would oppose the United States and other nations agreeing to spend trillions of dollars to fight climate change as a “remarkable thing for a Republican, a believer in American exceptionalism to say, that there is this huge pressing challenge, it’s a really big thing that the world has to come together in. And it is not going to happen.”
Flores rejected Hayes’ notion that Republicans who believe in “American exceptionalism” should take the lead on fighting climate change and instead blamed liberal environmentalists for the California drought:
I think her point is that liberals have been willing to sacrifice jobs, people’s livelihoods on the name of ideology rather than actually explaining to people what it would take to make a difference. Liberals don’t explain that. All they do is destroy a lot of jobs in order to say they’re doing something.
Hayes continued to insist that the California drought was undoubtedly exacerbated by climate change but the Fiorina official pointed out that environmental leftists have refused to build a reservoir for decades:
The drought has been exacerbated because liberals in California haven’t been willing to build a reservoir in 30 years. If they were willing to capture some of the rain water in years where there was more rain water, then the drought wouldn’t be as bad on years when there is drought, which is fairly common in California actually.
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The MSNBC host continued to distort Fiorina’s views on dealing with climate change and proclaimed that “she says there is this problem and I’m just going to say, no one else will sign up for it, I’m going to walk away. Is that the way she’s going to lead America?”
Flores called Hayes out for playing an edited clip of Fiorina’s comments and explained that the Republican presidential candidate rejected the view that government mandates would adequately combat climate change:
If you played the rest of the clip she would have said that innovation is the answer to this. Not destroying jobs. Not telling people that a law in California will somehow fix global warming when it won’t. One nation acting alone will not fix this problem.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes
September 2, 2015
CHRIS HAYES: The president as you know is in Alaska, is the first president to visit above the Arctic today. And I wanted to ask you about Ms. Fiorina’s views on climate change, particularly as the president puts a spotlight on this. I’m going to play you a little sound from Carly Fiorina on the issue. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA: All those scientists who tell us that this -- that global warming is real, that it’s manmade, also tell us that it will take three decades, trillions of dollars and a coordinated global effort. What do you suppose the chances of that happening are? Do you suppose China is ready to sign up for that? Suppose Brazil is ready to sign up? Suppose Europe is ready? None of them are prepared to sign up and, by the way, no one is willing to spend the trillions and trillions of dollars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAYES: That strikes me as a remarkable thing for a Republican, a believer in American exceptionalism to say, that there is this huge pressing challenge, it’s a really big thing that the world has to come together in. And it is not going to happen. So what? So then what do we do?
SARAH ISGUR FLORES: I think her point is that liberals have been willing to sacrifice jobs, people’s livelihoods on the name of ideology rather than actually explaining to people what it would take to make a difference. Liberals don’t explain that. All they do is destroy a lot of jobs in order to say they’re doing something.
HAYES: What jobs are destroyed? Solar is one of the fastest growing employers on all of America right now. You want to tell all those people installing rooftops solar, their jobs are being sacrificed.
FLORES: I would recommend Carly’s book to you where she talks about all the jobs in Mendota, California, in particular. This is a state that has 100 or so billionaires and the highest poverty rates in the nation. And some of that is largely due to these environmental policies. It is what has led to this drought being so bad. And yes, it has caused massive destruction in some of these communities in the Central Valley.
HAYES: Sarah, I’m sorry, that’s not making a lot of sense. The drought has been exacerbated as every scientist will say by global climate change. There’s predictions that the drought-
FLORES: The drought has been exacerbated because liberals in California haven’t been willing to build a reservoir in 30 years. If they were willing to capture some of the rain water in years where there was more rain water, then the drought wouldn’t be as bad on years when there is drought, which is fairly common in California actually.
HAYES: This is -- this drought is not common, though, you would admit, right? These are the five driest years since they’ve been keeping track since 1860.
FLORES: California has droughts fairly frequently and for 30 years --
HAYES: But it doesn’t have historic droughts.
FLORES: -- they haven’t been storing the rain water.
HAYES: Five worst years. I’m not making that up. That’s not like some invention of the evil liberals. It is literally the five driest years in the history of California. Those are the facts on the table. And Carly Fiorina is from California.
FLORES: I hear you. But do you also hear me that they haven’t built any reservoirs or ability to keep rain water in some of those other years? And that may contribute to how bad this drought has been for the Central Valley?
HAYES: They’ve done tremendous amounts of water conservation, there’s tons of drip irrigation that’s happened. Let me ask you this, though --
FLORES: They’re not willing to build a reservoir because of the delta smelt, a fish about --
HAYES: Wait, Sarah --
FLORES: And that is now devastating people’s jobs.
HAYES: They have not closed the pumps for the delta smelt during the last year, first of all. Second of all, go back to your original idea. Here’s Carly Fiorina, smart, capable, CEO, believes in America’s leader and she says there is this problem and I’m just going to say, no one else will sign up for it, I’m going to walk away. Is that the way she’s going to lead America?
FLORES: That’s not what she said.
HAYES: That is what she said.
(CROSSTALK)
FLORES: If you played the rest of the clip she would have said that innovation is the answer to this. Not destroying jobs. Not telling people that a law in California will somehow fix global warming when it won’t. One nation acting alone will not fix this problem.
HAYES: You guys -- you guys have a much lower percentage of electricity usage of any state in the nation and your GDP has been booming since then. It shows it can be done. Sarah Isgur, it has fun to talk to you. Come on back and bring Carly Fiorina.
