WE KNEW IT, WE KNEW IT, WE KNEW IT – AT 8:48 P.M. ET:  Well, at least the White House is entrepreneurial.  If one thing doesn't sell, they try something else.  And they've learned their Orwell.  From Fox:

From the administration that brought you "man-caused disaster" and "overseas contingency operation," another terminology change is in the pipeline.

The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is.

No, guys, that's not the problem.  The problem is that you never made your case.   The public is on to you.  They know that the issue is complex, and that the "science" is not as clear as you've claimed.

White House science adviser John Holdren urged people to start using the phrase during a speech last week in Oslo, echoing a plea he made three years earlier. Holdren said global warming is a "dangerous misnomer" for a problem far more complicated than a rise in temperature.

The call comes as Congress prepares to adjourn for the season without completing work on a stalled climate bill. The term global warming has long been criticized as inaccurate, and the new push could be an attempt to re-shape climate messaging for next year's legislative session.

"They're trying to come up with more politically palatable ways to sell some of this stuff," said Republican pollster Adam Geller, noting that Democrats also rolled out a new logo and now refer to the Bush tax cuts as "middle-class tax cuts."

COMMENT:  I suspect that this gimmick won't be any more successful than the last one.  What the American people want is a serious, neutral inquiry into what we know, and what we don't know.  They want to know what's proved, and what's theory. 

One problem here is that the people don't trust the media – something clear in every poll – and demand real answers that won't be filtered through the Obamafied press.

When I was at the Columbia School of Journalism, which was respectable in those days, we were taught a basic lesson:  Never underestimate the public's intelligence, and never overestimate its knowledge.  The "global warming" crowd has done both, with predictable results.  New labels will not change the fact that the garment is worn out.

September 16, 2010