Jon Meacham got one thing right. On Thursday's Morning Joe, he said that the heads of any conservatives listening to him would blow up over their Wheaties. What was Meacham's remark that was so explosive for any right-thinking listener? His prediction that someday, we'll look back and realize that Al Gore was . . . "a prophetic voice" about the environment.
Meacham glorified Gore in the context of commenting on the withdrawal from the presidential race of Jay Inslee. Inslee's campaign was focused entirely on impending environmental doom.
Note how Meacham moved the goalposts way, way back to make Gore look better. As we well remember, in 2006 Gore claimed that within 10 years, i.e., 2016, it would be "impossible for us to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet’s habitability for human civilization." That led to Rush Limbaugh's famous Al Gore Doomsday Countdown Clock.
Here's the full exchange:
Morning Joe
8/22/19
6:45 am EDTWILLIE GEIST: The Amazon rain forest is on fire this morning, so it’s appropriate that we're talking about Jay Inslee. Jon Meacham, he brought an issue to this campaign that, frankly, is more popular and more important to voters, especially young voters and Democrats now, than it has been ever. When he was asked any question on the stage at a debate he would go right to climate change, perhaps putting some pressure on the other candidates to put their focus there as well and to put out more aggressive plans on climate change.
JON MEACHAM: Yeah, and it’s possible that in 20 years, maybe 30, we’re going to look back and say people like Al Gore, people like Inslee in this cycle, were the prophetic voices that we should have heeded. Now, you know, if there are any conservatives, you know, out there, their heads just blew up over their Wheaties. But it’s possible that the centrality of that question, with its national security implications, with its economic implications, and with the self-evident details we have that the planet is changing.
Note also Willie Geist's claim that it was appropriate to discuss the environment given reports of rainforest fires in the Amazon. That would imply that global warming is responsible for the fires. In fact, it appears that the fires have been set by people clearing land for cattle raising.
