White House talks up ‘public health benefits’ of global warming

October 24, 2007

Following up on an earlier item, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before a Senate panel yesterday on the impact of climate change on public health, but the White House altered her testimony before it was delivered. References to potential health risks were removed; one CDC official said Gerberding’s draft “was eviscerated”; and details on how many people might be adversely affected because of increased warming were deleted.

This afternoon, reporters asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino to explain what happened.

Q: On the CDC testimony, you said this morning on Dr. G’s testimony was not “watered down.” Can you tell us why it was altered to leave out any discussion of serious health effects related to global warming, and to leave out her original comment, that “CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern”?

PERINO: I haven’t seen the specific edits…. As I understand it, in the draft there was broad characterizations about climate-change science that didn’t align with the IPCC. And we have experts and scientists across this administration that can take a look at that testimony and say, “This is an error,” or, “This doesn’t make sense.” And so the decision was made on behalf of CDC to focus that testimony on public health benefits.

Well, there are public health benefits to climate change, as well, both benefits and concerns, that someone line Dr. Gerberding, who is the expert in the field, could address. And so that’s the testimony she provided yesterday….

“Public health benefits.” Seriously. The White House touched up the director of the CDC’s Senate testimony, coincidentally taking out the information the Bush gang finds politically inconvenient, and the president’s press secretary is left talking about the silver lining of global warming.

Too bad she didn’t get into specifics; I’d love to know what these “public health benefits” might be. Less hypothermia? Fewer instances of frostbite? A steep decline in the number of snowball-fight-related injuries?

Lest anyone think it was a slip of the tongue, Perino referenced these benefits three times in today’s briefing.

Q: So, why wasn’t the Senate committee able to hear Dr. Gerberding’s full opinion? Why were 10 pages of 14 taken out.

PERINO: I disagree, Peter…. We believe climate change is real; we believe that humans are largely responsible; we are working on a way to solve the problem. And in the meantime, we are working with experts, like Julie Gerberding, to figure out what are going to be the health benefits and the health concerns of climate change, of which there are many.

Note to the White House press corps: just stop showing up for briefings. You won’t learn anything of substance anyway.

you need to link a transcript. It must be a doosie.
Q: So, why wasn’t the Senate committee able to hear Dr. Gerberding’s full opinion? Why were 10 pages of 14 taken out.
PERINO: I disagree, Peter.
You disagree? WTF are you kidding?
Did they or did they not take out ten pages you stupid idiot?

  • Less hypothermia? Fewer instances of frostbite? A steep decline in the number of snowball-fight-related injuries?

    Steve, can I send you the bill for my new keyboard, since this one is now full of coffee?

  • Silly people. The 10 pages weren’t taken out, they were redacted.

    And when we say “we are working with experts”, you need to realize that “working with” can mean anything from browbeating to waterboarding. Otherwise the terrorists win, remember 9/11 changed everything.

    But even if we stretch the truth to point of organ failure, it won’t be lying, because calling it that would be impolite, and the Democrats will never stoop to that level.

  • I guess the WH wanted the Fox News version of the report, and Gerberding’s was neither fair, nor balanced.

    These people have no idea what they’re doing and nothing they say makes any sense.

  • “I disagree” is not an answer that any reasonable human being can make to a question beginning with “why”. I suppose you might be able to construct a sentence that starts with “I disagree” if you were saying that you disagreed with the underlying facts of the question (as in “I disagree that 10 pages were left out – we gave them the entire report”) but that doesn’t seem to be what Perino is doing here.

    My only conclusion is that Perino is not, in fact, a human being and is some sort of robotic AI spokesbot programmed only with a few talking points and unable to adapt her programming to anything sophisticated. Basically a GOP version of an Eliza bot. I think they’ve been working to perfect this technology on various blog comment systems and have now rolled it out into the public arena – Perino is only the first of a fleet of talking point spokesbots able to speak nonsense on command.

  • What’s coming next our of the insane Bush cabal? The public health benefits of dropping nuclear weapons on Iran?

  • Anne in 5:

    These people have no idea what they’re doing and nothing they say makes any sense.

    Strongly agree with the second half of that. Strongly disagree with the first half.

  • You forgot some other benefits, CB.

    Like having oceanfront property … in Pittsburgh.

    Or the ability to grow sugarcane in Des Moines.

    Or all the pretty little bugs and animals that will migrate up north.

    And, of course, there’s the fact half of Hawai’i would be gone, and we all know they’re barely a state anyway.

    So let’s all join the White House and be a wee bit more positive!

    /snark

  • Seems appropriate (Winter Wonderland)

    Fires bell ring
    are you listening
    in the lane
    ash is smoking
    A beautiful sight
    we’re happy tonight
    living in a denier’s wonderland

    Gone away is the bluebird
    here to stay is are microbes
    He destroys all my blood
    beside the mud flood
    living in a denier’s wonderland

    In the wasteland we can build a junkman
    Then pretend that he is Mikey Brown
    He’ll say: Are you saved?
    we’ll say: No man
    But you can kill us all
    when you’re in town

    Later on
    we’ll conspire
    as we dream by the fire
    To face unafraid
    the world that we’ve made
    living in a denier’s wonderland

    In the wasteland we can build a junkman
    and pretend that he’s a EXXON man
    We’ll have lots of fun with mister EXXON
    until the societal collapse knocks him down

    If it rains
    ain’t it thrilling
    Though your eyes feels a burning
    We’ll drive and play
    in our SUV today
    living in a denier’s wonderland

  • I’ve written about this before: http://www.houstonpress.com/2002-08-15/news/global-warming-is-good-for-you/

    It’s a well known PR strategy for when the facts are against you:

    1) Deny the facts.

    2) When you’re forced to admit the facts, say they’re actually good facts for you.

    3) When you can no longer deny the facts are bad for you, say it’s too late to do anything about it, so continue on course.

    The idea is not to win, but delay as long as possible. This shows 1) is no longer possible.

  • sarabeth – you may be right; that they are incompetent does not mean they don’t have a plan.

    I swear, I don’t think there has been one day during the Bush administration when I failed to utter or think, “are you f-ing kidding me?”

  • Re beach parties in Pittsburg…

    Does anyone know a site that shows projected new coastlines after the ice caps have melted? Projected world map?

  • Unfortunately fewer snowjobs from right wing aparatchicks will not be a benefit of global warming.

    While party-liners will speak about fewer polar bear attacks and fewer snowbound Donner parties as a benefit of climate change with a straight face, a lot of pretty f’ed-up tropical diseases are finding their way to more northerly climates, including vector-borne diseases spread by ticks and mosquitos. This is truly the anti-Enlightenment as people in leadership positions are choosing not to think but to only believe what their very fallible leader says. Pitiful.

  • anney–That 100-meter projection is a bit much, but when I looked at it, I was just stunned. Even the 3 meter one is disturbing.

    But, you know, lots of neato stuff will happen … like surfing in Memphis.

  • One health benefit: How much we’ll laugh when Perino experiences total mental meltdown in front of the cameras. Snowjob sounded like something from 1984. Perino sounds like a spoof of something from 1984.

  • Apparatchiki and our Soviet Commissariat Government

    Members of the “apparat” were frequently transferred between different areas of responsibility, usually with little or no actual training for their new areas of responsibility. Thus, the term apparatchik, or “agent of the apparatus” was usually the best possible description of the person’s profession and occupation.

    The term was usually associated with a specific (political or social) mindset, attitude and appearance of the person; when used by “outsiders”, it often bore derogatory connotations.

    It is also frequently used to describe individuals appointed to positions in any government on the basis of ideological or political loyalty rather than competence.

    — Science is now vetted by political apparatchiks, heath care and child welfare, the same. We have a functioning secret police apparatus via electronic spying and recording. Connect the dots and call it what it is.

    We are living under an unfolding Soviet style form of government.

    –cognitorex

  • Our prayers are being answered. Will you all guarantee we are finally warming? Wisconsin will have milde winters and Greenland can resume farming after the long global cooling that some say began around 1250 and became a disaster for many. Lets hope you are correct.

  • Sugar cane in Des Moines? Hmmm. . .

    If it gets to where I can grow vinifera grape varietals in Iowa, I may just start seeing things Dana’s way!

    Feel free to pre-order you Chateau Zeitgeist Pinot Noir right here. . .

  • Dear Friends,

    Our top White House officials don’t care about global cilimate change or any of the social, medical, or political upheaval that goes with it.

    To the extreme right wing, The Rapture is defintely real, it will happen in their lifetime, and their families and children and grandchildren will be saved from Hell on Earth… so why not use the Earth as a sh*thouse to leave behind for all the Jews, Bhuddists, Muslims, Mexicans, African-Americans, Orientals, Homosexuals, New-Agers, and other sinners and minorities?

    It doesn’t matter where they are in the world or whose side they are on… there is still nothing worse than fanatics with power, weapons, and money, who think they’re right with God.

    Makes me wonder if border security is about “keeping them out” right now or about “keeping us in” later, once they’ve finally managed to eliminate or bypass the last of our Constitutional rights. I love America… but this is not America. This is Federalistland.

    * * * * * * * *

    “A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned.” – Firefly

    “It’s my estimation that every man ever got a’ statue built of him was one kinda sommbitch or another.” – Firefly

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  • Health benefits? Well… With less sweet water available, there’ll be less food. Solves the problems of obesity.

    We really ought to start investing, heavily, in desalination technology. And start developing edible plants which would thrive in salt marshes…

  • The latest press release from the White House touts the health benefits of death:

    1. no more asthma

    2. no more dandruff

    3. don’t have to worry about bird flu

    4. Salmonella, E. coli, botulism and lysteria are someone else’s problem

    5. nearly 100% abstinence rate–especially for pre-marital sex

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  • Funny, I was under the impression that global warming’s harms to human health far outweighed its benefits. Who to believe, who to believe…. our pathological liers in office, or an independent scientist like Paul Epstein?

    http://chge.med.harvard.edu/about/faculty/journals/sciam.pdf

  • Feel free to pre-order you Chateau Zeitgeist Pinot Noir right here. . .

    Sounds great, but what about champagne? If you’ll have a decent bubbly ready by mid-January of 09, I’ll take a case!

  • Too bad she didn’t get into specifics; I’d love to know what these “public health benefits” might be. Less hypothermia? Fewer instances of frostbite?

    CB you won’t believe this but George Will argued these exact points in the October 22nd issue of Newsweek in an article entitles “An Inconvenient Price”. Read the article here

    It’s just a little bit looney…

  • Well you have to admit, so many of the problems on earth today boil down to having just too many people. Killing off a few billion people by expanding the tropical disease belt and creating widespread famine due to drought, incubation of more virulent forms of crop blights and increasing the annual viability rate of insect eggs would have immediate beneficial effects for the earth’s eco-system. In the longer term, this could very well make the world a better place for many of the surviving species. Just not necessarily us.

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  • Oh racerx, you had me at “waterboarding” lol!
    And when we say “we are working with experts”, you need to realize that “working with” can mean anything from browbeating to waterboarding. Otherwise the terrorists win, remember 9/11 changed everything.

    Bush: We’re doing all we can to fight climate change…..
    …scientists. Fighting these climatofascists is hard work.
    But we’re fighting them in the report redaction room
    so that we don’t have to fight them in the congress and your children’s textbooks.
    Some people say that the climates are changing, I hope we are not (sic)
    But when comes to whether climates are changing, I’m the Decider.

  • Is there ANY doubt that Republicans are just moronically greedy bastards who don’t give a sh*t about ANYTHING but their own selfish, petty deluded selves?

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  • But there truly are benefits to global warming. This is just the beginning of the propaganda to fool the masses into thinking the benefits outweigh the detriments. Once that little bit of deceit is achieved, we can carry on polluting for the good of the planet!

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