Phxated

Which page of the Arizona Republic do you read?

Today, you could read page one, which contains the start of an in-depth Associated Press debunking on so-called Climategate. The story begins:

LONDON – E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data – but the messages don’t support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by the Associated Press.

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don’t undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse-gas emissions.

Emphasis added. AP says five reporters read all 1000-plus emails, totaling about one million words.

Anyway, that was on the front page. (Satisfied, Expresso Pundit?)

Now, since the Republic is a full-service operation, you could also read Robert Robb, on the paper’s ed page, who has been enraged about the Climategate emails for weeks. For example:

[L]eading climate scientists conspired to hide uncertainty in the data, prevent others from checking their work and suppress conflicting judgments.

Even before these revelations, there were reasons to be circumspect about what was known about the effect of industrialization on global climate. There is, first of all, the hubris of believing that human beings can concoct a series of mathematical equations in a computer model that fully duplicate the interactions within the earth’s atmosphere.

All three sentences are problematic.

(The last is the current denier talking point: “It’s all too complex to know for sure.” It’s also rhetorical gibberish: “The hubris of believing that human beings can concoct a series of mechanical devices that could fly a human being across long distances.”)

Anyway, today, Robb is back on the case again, this time muttering ominously about how the emails are a nail in the coffin of academic peer review.

There’s no reference to the AP story, just as in the past he’s never acknowledged similar assertions by most knowledgeable observers.

All of this is to get back to one of PHXated’s little hobby horses, namely the poor editing at the Arizona Republic. In a state like Arizona, of course there’s going to be an energetic little right-wing columnist who nibbles on the national blogs and regurgitates them for the less sophisticated folks on the home front. That’s Robert Robb.

That’s fine. But why doesn’t an editor push Robb a little? This sort of thing doesn’t seem to happen at the Republic much, so here’s a few sentences any busy op-ed editor at the Republic is welcome to cut and paste into an email to Robb:

Hey, Rob: Did you see the AP story we ran Sunday? 1800 words, pretty in-depth. You been banging on the emails as “deeply disturbing.” AP says not so much. Since you’ve been out front on this you need to address it one way or the other so readers don’t think you’re dodging it.


World Net Daily attacks McCain

A column on the popular right-wing site by Craig R. Smith, a gold broker, is an example of why McCain has been so shrill of late as he shores up his right flank. Says Smith:

I’m done supporting candidates from either party who are more concerned about being liked and accepted by the opposing party and the media than they are about representing my interests in D.C. It made me sick to my stomach to watch McCain ignore the American people on issues like immigration and TARP.

In the essay, Smith calls Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer racists. It’s unclear what exactly he’s referring to.

Smith says right-thinking Americans have somewhere to turn in McCain’s re-election race next year:

McCain is in a battle for his political life as he faces re-election in November 2010. His anticipated competition, a former congressman turned radio talk-show host, J.D. Hayworth, is a mere two points behind McCain in a head-to-head Rasmussen poll for the upcoming primary. It is a statistical dead heat.