SlowpokeBlog

I received an email about my "How to Get Republicans to Care About Global Warming" cartoon that could have been written as a spoof by someone trying to make the wingnuts look bad, except it wasn't. Jamie in Florida writes (with my comments interspersed):

The first frame has someone skiing in the grass. Is that John Kerry, because there were pictures of him skiing during the 2004 campaign.

I'm not saying all skiers are Republicans. I like skiing, even though it's too expensive and I'm not very good at it. Ski culture is often associated with wealth (see: Aspen), and Republicans represent the interests of the wealthy.

In the third frame ("Lack of Mink-wearing Opportunities"), the woman in the coat looks like Teresa Heinz-Kerry.

Eh, not really. What's more, the fact that Teresa is wealthy but supportive of Democratic economic policies that benefit the working class hardly means she's a hypocrite -- she is unselfishly going against her own financial self-interest.

In the fourth frame (about ice sculptures), it reminds me of the lavish parties Ted Kennedy throws, both in D.C. and out at Martha's Vineyard (which, coincidentally is where Teddy did NOT want a windfarm to be built, which would have produced lots of fossil
fuel-free energy).

Actually, that panel was inspired by the $2 million, week-long birthday party in Sardinia for the wife of convicted Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, which featured an ice sculpture of Michaelangelo's David with vodka pouring out of his penis. CNN has a slideshow here, though unfortunately no pics of David. I do applaud the inclusion of scantily-clad studs as party decor. Did I mention Tyco footed half the bill? And whatever Ted Kennedy may have done or not done about windfarms, this somehow means one should vote Republican to support wind power?

Maybe the way to convince Republicans about global warming is not to address the rich (because they mostly seem to be Democrats), but rather to try some real scientific evidence, rather than the same scare tactics that were tried in the 70s regarding "the coming Ice Age" and global cooling.

Better yet, let's admit we don't really know what's going on, because we haven't finished collecting a sufficient amount of unbiased data. (I'm sure they must teach *something* regarding the scientific method at Virginia U - you may want to take a class and pay attention, instead of doodling during it.)

These last couple paragraphs reveal the awesome power of right-wing media. It has convinced people like my correspondent that the rich "mostly seem to be Democrats" when they are in fact majority Republican (though, as this Slate article points out, the Dems have been peeling away upper-income voters in certain parts of the country, who choose to vote their conscience as opposed to their economic self-interest). And not even the consensus of nearly all the world's scientists is enough to convince my correspondent that global warming is real and significantly due to human cause. With enough money and think tanks, you can buy legions of misinformed people like this writer.