Pruitt To CNN: Talking About Climate Change Is 'Insensitive' To Floridians

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo




By MATT SHUHAM Published SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 10:16 AM

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday that talking about climate change while a hurricane sliced through the Caribbean on its way to Florida was “very, very insensitive” to the people of Florida.

“Here’s the issue,” Scott Pruitt told CNN. “To have any kind of focus on the cause and effect of the storm; versus helping people, or actually facing the effect of the storm, is misplaced.”

“To discuss the cause and effect of these storms, there’s the… place (and time) to do that, it’s not now,” he said. Pruitt, the fossil fuel-friendly EPA administrator who sued the agency more than a dozen times before leading it, similarly said in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in Texas that it was “opportunistic” and “misplaced” to talk about climate change.

He added to CNN: “Congress should address that at some point. And Congress hasn’t. All I’m saying to you is, to use time and effort to address it at this point is very, very insensitive to this [sic] people in Florida.”

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/scott-pruitt-climate-change-insensitive-floridians

[ExciteBike66]

1. Lol, they are breaking my wittle heart...

How dare they tell me how climate change might make Irma worse! Don't they know that ignorance is bliss!

[NCjack]

53. Global Climate Change? The only alternative to the cause of Harvey, Irma,

fires on the West Coast, droughts in the west, etc this year that I think of is:

President Trump is an unrepentant whoremonger, and the religious leaders, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate Majority Leader all condone it. That puts all of USA at risk of God's wrath.

Trump, all Republicans in government, and all religious leaders should resign now.

[Hortensis]

60. Well, he has a point. But, they should have girded their loins, sucked in their guts,

determined to face the truth, and set out to educate themselves long ago. If it takes Mother Nature to smack them upside the head and wiser people to explain the lesson, so be it. Way past time.

[ananda]

2. Hawhaw

Go blow it out your ass, Pruitt.

Climate change is here in a big way now.

You *can* still deny it, but you will still
have to face it every damm day now.

[DesertRat]

3. !

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. Wow! He has turned into quite the little snowflake! eom

[lark]

5. Fuck him!

What's insensitive is his administration wanting to cut FEMA by 14%, actually that's stealing from victims of killer storms to give oligarchs millions of dollars in tax cuts. That's what he was personally trying to implement just days before Harvey. Once all the attention has died down, bet they put FEMA back on the chopping block again, the freaking idiots.

[cp]

6. Pruitt's got "misplaced" and "insensitive" all locked up

Hey asshole, it's your JOB to deal with climate change and you FAIL.

[Phoenix61]

7. Umm.... I'm in Florida and I think now is a

damn good time to talk about climate change because whether we talk about it or not, it's here. Pruitt is an evil little weasel who hopes we will forget about it once the storm passes. Not bloody likely. Now is the time to address it because, sad as this is, some buildings are going to be destroyed and we need to have a serious conversation about whether or not they should be rebuilt. If Harvey and Irma are omens of things to come, and I believe they are, we can't afford not to have that conversation.

[Wounded Bear]

8. It's never the "right time" to talk about shit you don't want to hear...

SMMFH

[padfun]

9. He doesnt know that non Republicans can walk and chew gum at the same time.

They all seem to think that a one thought mind is normal.
They also seem to use projection a lot.

[irisblue]

24. what paffun said.👆

[logosoco]

10. This guy is even more of an ass than I thought (and that's saying a lot!)

He literally said now is not the time to discuss the effect of the storms? So is he suggesting CNN and the many other news groups should not be reporting on what is going on right now?

So if he came upon a woman being beaten by her partner would he say "Now is not the time to discuss the violent nature of the person beating you"?

[Achilleaze]

11. Screw you Pru

republican lies about climate change must stop. Now. Americans know republicans don't want to talk about the lies they have been spewing - but it is way past time to do it. Pruitt and the other republican liars need to just STFU and let Americans deal with reality.

[n2doc]

12. As predicted

Heaven help us if the sheeple happen to look up

[mountain grammy]

13. Ignorance is bliss.

Fucking moron.

[Kleveland]

17. If ignorance is bliss..

Pruitt is surely in Nirvana!

May he rot in hell!

Squinty eyed bastard.

He just looks like an evil asshole every time I see him.

[mountain grammy]

27. Agree

[niyad]

47. what's the old response? "if ignorance is bliss, he must be orgasmic"

[Kleveland]

14. Hey Pruitt, STFU!

I'll tell you what is insensitive, YOU, you moronic self interested asshole!

Enjoy all that money that you have acquired from those who love to line your pockets!

Denying reality, does not change it.

You will have hell to pay.

What goes around, comes around.

There is no hope for you, or any of your kind, because that requires self awareness, and compassion.

You are devoid of both.

It's not nice to fool Mother Nature!

[heaven05]

15. Pruitt, bullshit!!!!!!

STFU!!!!! Goddamn RW bullshit. All trump has shown me is how many backward, stupid and ignorant people ameriKKKa has at ALL levels of this society.

[chaking53]

16. denying climate change is insesitive to humanity as a whole

denying climate change is insesitive to humanity as a whole

[gopiscrap]

18. Having Pruitt in office is insensitive

to not just Floridians, but to the entire world

[DetlefK]

19. Please. Let us not talk about gun-regulations this soon after the shooting.

[NRaleighLiberal]

20. Pruitt's very existence is an insult to human beings

[Nitram]

21. So we need a trigger warning when discussing reality with Floridians?

[thbobby]

22. Same bullshit as NRA

NRA says the same after gun atrocities.

The putrid fuckwads (NRA, Pruitt) know that the proliferation of guns and US murder rate AND climate change are dangerous and destructive to people. They just love money more than people or our planet.

My contempt for them is beyond what I can verbalize.

[Delmette2.0]

31. I was about to say something about the NRA.

+1000.

[DFW]

23. And talking about car inspections is being insensitive to the guy whose brakes just failed

Yeah, we'll pull him from the wreckage, but the fact remains that he could have prevented his accident if he had thought about keeping his car inspected and getting it fixed up in the first place.

[Marthe48]

25. Wonder if this ass has ever seen or read

end-of-the world fiction? Where asses like him always get their comeuppance? From Mother Nature, or God.

[marybourg]

26. I think it was"very, very insensitive"

of him to waste our money defending against his more than a dozen suits against the EPA for doing its job.

[vkkv]

28. Because Flor-it-ions mostly vote for GOP'sters who fight and defund CLIMATE SCIENCE?

You're right Scott ScrewUP, it's insensitive to insult those fucking pro-GOP voting idiots!

[underpants]

29. Stalling. Now is not the time. (4 months later) how about now?

Oh we've moved on.
There no 100% scientific evidence.
That's already been decided.

[flotsam]

30. I would guess...

...that all the antediluvian Floridians are quite ready to discuss and address climate change.

[haveahart]

32. Talking about deregulation is insensitive to everyone! Removing building codes and not enforcing

them is costing lives and property and taxes.

[not fooled]

33. Whaddya wanna bet

he actually knows climate change is real, but just keeps lying and lying to keep the petrochemical $$$ rolling into puke coffers.

The worst kind of propagandist--one who knows he is spewing BS and does it anyway.

A pox on all their houses (NOT said humorously--may they all rot in hell).

[Delmette2.0]

34. Is it too early to talk about the drought in Western States?

You know the ones that are burning up with wildfires? I live in Montana and we have lost over a MILLION acres of grass land and forests to fires. My sister is close to three fires. My brother and niece are on either side of a fire in Washington. I can't wish for the wind to blow in one direction or another because someone I love will be in danger. WTF! Now, is the time to scream and yell about climate change.

[Nay]

35. Typical RW asshole, using what he considers a 'snowflake' word ("insensitive") to

derail any talk about what the RWers don't want to talk about at all -- climate change.

God, I hate these people.

[scarletlib]

36. What an asshole! I am a Floridian & believe me climate change is real.

[niyad]

37. and when the hurricane is gone, the recovery will make talking insensitive, etc., etc.

[haele]

38. Insensitive to Floridians? Which ones?

The Floridians you and your fellow travelers have been lying to for decades - "don't worry, God will take care of you and as long as you're with us, nothing will happen to you?"

The Floridians you and your ilk been scaring with tales about how "the Liberals" were cheating you out of your "American Heritage", taking money and stuff you worked hard for all your lives, and giving all the natural resources to "Lazy Godless Dirty Hippy Slactivists" and "Those People" instead of sharing?

Or the Floridians working fossil fuel jobs, or the rich cheaters and paper-shuffler Conservative think tank types worked to cut regulations in some Randriod fit of greed and selfishness, who are now reaping the pain of all the ignorance and avoidance of responsible actions they've been indulging in?

The average Floridian that I've met would rather have been properly informed as to the risks facing them and be given the appropriate tools and infrastructure to deal with the climate change that is affecting them right now than be told "Don't worry, we're praying for you in this unexpected catastrophe" and then watch as Jose follows Irma - along with whatever else might be developing over the Sahara that can hit them later in October or November...

Prayers do very little other than make you maybe feel a little bit better when you're stuck with your family on the Interstate with thousands of other drivers and a CAT 4 barreling down on you, because the only place you could afford to live in was a doublewide or an older house that wasn't retrofitted to Hurricane standards in a floodplain, and neither would be expected to survive a direct hit. In fact, in such cases, I think prayers by themselves are rather insensitive...

Irma wasn't "unexpected". There were warnings about storms like Irma for the past decade and longer...But it never seemed to be the time to address that inconvenient climate change, right?

Haele

[ancianita]

56. Nice! May I quote you?

I've been fussing about these old folks in my retirement community being exactly how you describe, and how you can't politely talk sense into any of them.

[haele]

57. Not a problem.

You're welcome to use it as you wish.

Haele

[ancianita]

58. Thanks! Perhaps this is it?

[lostnfound]

39. Insensitive to talk about gravity? Nt

[mnhtnbb]

40. Denying climate change is insensitive to the people whose lives will be changed by it.

These Republican a$$holes all need an Irma enema up their butts.

And I apologize if anyone is offended by my language. I am so angry that these fu*king Republicans have lied and denied
and bullshitted around for the last 20 years when this country could have--and should have--been leading the world in
developing ways to reverse the folly of our love for fossil fuels.

[PatSeg]

41. Scott Pruitt

is insensitive to Floridians and pretty much anyone on the planet.

This reminds me of the gun nuts who get bent out of shape whenever gun regulations come up after a horrific mass shooting.

[weissmam]

42. tell him to go pound sand

[sofa king]

43. So I guess it's out of the question...

... to point out that God is fucking Republican states straight in the ass this year.

As I have pointed out already a couple of times this year, Jesus makes reference to a thing called "unforgivable sin." Saint Augustine defines it as "resistance to the known truth." Human-caused climate change is only denied by those who have a profit-stake in delaying a proper response, and those fools they can dupe into going along with them.

It is a "known truth." God knows it, and those who pretend otherwise are going straight to Hell, no appeal. Now God is coming straight at 'em, too. That's wrath, and condemnation. You redneck yahoos lurking out there better take this observation straight to your religious leaders.

[xxqqqzme]

44. I thought gov skeletor

forbid the use of those two words.

[NCjack]

45. Scott Pruitt is an energy corporate-backed hack who searches for solutions

to environmental problems in his Bible. He is committed to squeezing every dollar possible from petroleum and coal deposits. He and his kind will permit no reduction in fossil energy mining until unregulated capitalism determines that those industries can no longer be exported, even when protected with subsidies. Science accelerated the USA into the technology leader of the world. Pruitt and his cohorts are pulling us back to the 18th century.

All Americans are being given an environmental science lesson this summer and beyond. There will be a test at the the 2018 election. Vote DEM to restore science as the basis for government policies to provide a healthy and safe environment, jobs, and prosperity. Votes for GOP will strengthen ignorance and speed our decline to a 3rd world existence. The time to discuss the global climate change issues was in the 1970s, when we could have made meaningful improvements through "no regret" policies, which were improvements that would be beneficial even if scientists were wrong in their future scenarios of adverse impacts. Energy resource owners prevented that. Now is the time to get a grand science-based strategy on the table, get a consensus for action, and commit to it.

A side note that should be considered. When the USA's economy is humbled and can't rebuild, be assured that the 1% will still have the wealth to relocate to comfortable places on planet Earth, and they are not taking us with them. We will be fighting for life, each year, declining in ability to provide shelter, crops, and industries. This end point is what Scott Pruitt doesn't want you to discuss. What might happen and how to change the course.

[SunSeeker]

46. Climate change denial is insensitive to everyone on the planet. nt

[Solly Mack]

48. I guess it's insensitive to talk safe food handling/prep before/during an E-coli outbreak too.

[truthisfreedom]

49. When you bury your head in the sand nobody can hear

you scream as climate change kicks your ass.

[LiberalLovinLug]

50. They do the same thing with discussing gun control after a mass shooting

"...there’s the… place (and time) to do that, it’s not now"

And then it turns to never.

[IronLionZion]

51. We haven't had a mass shooting in a while, shall we pass gun control now?

asshole

[LisaM]

52. Like you can't talk about gun control after a shooting, or using a seat belt after an accident....

that point of view has always, and will always continue, to floor me.

That's the EXACT time to talk about it. It doesn't mean you can't help the victims.

[SharonClark]

54. Geez! Some people can walk and chew gum at the same time.

Evidently Pruitt cannot.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

55. He's a stupid snowflake. . . . . nt

[DoctorJoJo]

59. Pruitt Speaking ....

... is an insult to humanity! Of all the Dumpster appointees, this ignorant cretin takes the cake for absurdity.

JoJo

[truthisfreedom]

61. "Stop trying to connect all of these changes in the climate to

Climate change!!!"

[relayerbob]

62. Isn't this the same logic they use when refusing to talk about gun safety

... right after another massacre? Hypocrites

[Skittles]

63. so you see, it is NEVER a good time!

[Corvo Bianco]

64. I would have considered destroying hundreds of thousands of lives for coal cash to be insensitive.

[Sunlei]

65. Scott Pruitts little dig at Congress-, "And Congress hasnt"

[Lucky Luciano]

66. Pruitt's existence is insensitive to Floridians. nt

[ThoughtCriminal]

67. I think he misspelled "Coal and Oil Executives"

There. I fixed it.

[raven mad]

68. And I'd be willing to wager -

he doesn't live there.

[WinkyDink]

69. What a damn dumb comment.

[Oneironaut]

70. Kind of like "Talking about wartime deaths during war is treason" and "Let's talk about guns later!"

This is a slimy diversionary tactic - nothing more.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

71. FALSE DICHOTOMY: understanding cause vs helping people???? Do both, you idiot - what is it with

some people that they cant have more than one thought in their head at a time. Doing one thing does not preclude doing the other.

Besides - unnderstanding cause and fixing it *IS* helping people.

[rockfordfile]

72. Actually this is the exact time. Florida has a corrupt Governor and corrupt AG. Both anti-science

[truthisfreedom]

73. Is it insensitive when Miami's Mayor Toms Regalado says: If this isnt climate change,

I don’t know what is?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/miami-mayor-climate-change-hurricane-irma_us_59b417dee4b0b5e5310683ae