DELUSIONAL DEMS - AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  The Democratic Party, having invested heavily in climate change as its trendy-issue-of-the-decade, isn't going to allow a bit of data tampering to interfere with the delusion.  Why, why, the science is settled.  This is just another narrative.  This is...oh, you know.  From Declan McCullagh of CBS News:

If you're a U.S. politician calling for expensive new laws relating to global warming, you know you're in trouble when Jon Stewart lampoons the scientists whose embarrassing e-mail messages were disclosed in what's being called "ClimateGate."

Stewart is becoming a better reporter than a lot of the "legitimate" voices out there.

But Democrats put a brave face on it on Wednesday, with Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey saying that the leaked files and allegations of scientific misconduct should not stand in the way of the U.S. Congress swiftly enacting cap and trade legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (See earlier CBSNews.com coverage of ClimateGate and the costs of cap and trade.)

Incredible.  Why let facts stand in the way?  We have an ideology to pursue.  There are party invitations involved.

Markey, the head of a House global warming committee, said during a hearing that his Republican colleagues "sit over here using a couple of e-mails to (tell us) how to deal with a catastrophic threat to our planet." And: "There is no alternative theory that the minority is proposing, other than that we know has been funded by the oil, by the coal industries that want to continue business as usual."

That is too much for this CBS reporter:

That's a bit of an overstatement. The leak includes over 1,000 e-mail messages, and another 2,500 or so computer files, many of which are still being analyzed. And the burden of proof should properly be on anyone -- even a House committee chairman -- proposing new taxes and extensive regulations, especially when climate science is anything but settled.

What a refreshing perspective coming from a mainstream CBS journalist.

Question:  Will Katie Couric let him live?  That's a serious question.

December 4, 2009