OFA Fundraising off of Polar Vortex… Caused by Global Warming

A new Organizing for Action fundraising release shows how it is fundraising by citing the attacks conservatives have made on the polar-vortex argument for global warming.

The release reads:

When record-low temperatures swept across the country last week, we heard from so many of the usual suspects eager to deny climate change.

Folks like Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, and leading climate change denier in Congress James Inhofe all quickly jumped in to declare that the cold weather disproves global warming.

But then something different happened: People who actually understand the science pushed back – strongly. Here are just a few examples:

– On the “Today Show,” Al Roker took a minute to pull up the entry for the polar vortex from a meteorology glossary dating back to 1959, mocking the notion that the term was some climate conspiracy — and it was pretty awesome to watch.

– Politifact gave Rush Limbaugh a “pants-on-fire” rating for his allegation that the polar vortex was something fabricated by the media to try to blame global warming for the cold weather.

– Matt Sampson and Carl Parker at the Weather Channel filmed a great short clip destroying the notion that a polar vortex could disprove global warming.

That’s how you know that, together, we’re successfully changing the conversation on climate.

Across the country, more people understand that extreme weather – of all types – is happening more and more every year, and it’s because our climate is changing.

Thanks for all your hard work – keep it up,

Ivan

Ivan Frishberg
Climate Change Campaign Manager
Organizing for Action

Let’s take Mr. Frishberg’s arguments one at a time.

As far as a climate conspiracy goes, and the fact that the polar vortex has been a subject of discussion for fifty years, he might want to notice a curious change in the MSM. In 1974, an institution he probably respects – Time Magazine – blamed the cold polar vortex on global cooling, writing, “Scientists have found other indications of global cooling. For one thing, there has been a noticeable expansion of the great belt of high-altitude polar winds – the so-called circumpolar vortex – that sweep from west to east around the top and bottom of the world.” Forty years later, Time reversed itself, writing, “…not only does the cold spell not disprove climate change, it may well be that global warming could be making the occasional bout of extreme cold weather in the U.S. even more likely. Right now much of the U.S. is in the grip of a polar vortex…”

Frishberg’s criticism of Rush by quoting Politifact as an objective source is simply hilarious. For evidence of Politifact’s obvious Democrat party bias, see Nolte, John, here, here, and here.

As for the Weather Channel experts, we’re talking about the same channel that erroneously reported that the New York Stock Exchange was under three feet of water from Hurricane Sandy. We’re supposed to believe them about global warming?