One of the chief figures in the climategate debacle is Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State. Next to Jones, he was probably the most notorious and obnoxious. He, of course, is famous for the now long debunked MBH (Mann-Bradley-Hughes) “hockey stick” graph, made using goofy statistics and Californian trees.
Not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, he takes to the pen in this oped in the WaPo. If you have the time, look at the comments. The WaPo readers aren’t having any of it.
Particularly bizarre, illogical, and utterly left wing, is this:
Palin wrote that Alaska’s climate is changing but referred to “thawing permafrost and retreating sea ice” as “natural, cyclical environmental trends.” In fact, such changes are among the effects scientists predicted would occur as greenhouse gas levels increase.
In context, the statement doesn’t even fit. But it was red meat for the left-wing fanatics that he imagines that we all are. Could have just as easily come from a certain little green weenie. You can’t have a proper defense of the shenanigans at CRU without dragging Sarah Palin into it.
Steve McIntyre did a reasonable fisking of it at his blog here. The basic problem with the whole piece is that it’s a complete non-sequitur. It’s actually not a new argument, it’s basically the fake-but-accurate argument warmed over. But it does have an additional bit of fakery: the “independent lines of evidence” claim.
Here’s the short refutation of the “independent lines of evidence” argument: If these other lines of evidence were so robust, why does he hang on to his phony hockey stick by his fingernails?
Imagine that you’re on a jury. The prosecutor tells you that he has the sworn testimony of a drug-peddling pimp, and lots of other evidence that he doesn’t talk about. If the other evidence is so solid, why does he make the testimony of the pimp the centerpiece of his case?
Sorry, Mike. You already shot your best shot. Now your hockey stick goes down in history next to Piltdown Man. That was quite a meltdown, Mann.
Update: Mann is a victim.
Tags: climategate, Michael Mann, Sarah Palin, WaPo
