Rick Scott doesn't believe in global warming

In a wide-ranging interview Monday aboard his campaign bus, GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott said science does not support global warming. Asked if he believes in climate change, he said "No."

"I have not been convinced," he said. Asked what he needs to convince him, "Something more convincing than what I've read."

Scott finds himself in an awkward position as he completes the final leg of his six-day statewide bus tour in the oil-ravaged Panhandle. Scott continues to support offshore drilling though he said drilling within 10 miles of the Florida coast won't proceed until it is safer. "We are not going to drill now," he said. "It's not safe. It doesn't make any sense." (Read more here.)

But he refused to entirely rule out drilling in state waters, even though most of the Panhandle residents he met ardently oppose it.

"It's been an emotional black cloud over the Panhandle," said Rep. Jimmy Patronis, who attended a Scott event at the new Panama City airport.

On the issue of campaign finance, Scott criticized his rival Bill McCollum for paying his staffers with money from the Republican Party of Florida. He said McCollum -- who is running low on campaign cash -- should refund the party the money.

"I think that's wrong," he said. "I don't think the party should be paying for any candidates."

State law allows the party to pay staff expenses for its candidates' campaigns, but Scott declined the offer because he didn't think it was proper.

*

Comments

[fusion]

So he's a birther who doesn't believe in global warming

Color me shocked

[Gator(R)]

At least he isn't pandering on drilling for pandering's sake. Won't win him many friends though.

It's not 'Global Warming' its 'Climate Change' now. Technically, I think he is right, there is no absolute scientific proof, but there sure seems to be a lot of evidence warmer weather is impacting certain places, of course this could be offset by being cooler elsewhere.

Maybe we'll be able to grow oranges where I live again.

[fusion]

Gator(R)

It's an argument we don't need to be having....whether you believe in global warming or not, surely you would agree we need to move toward new forms of energy?

[Concerned]

My vote will not go to him, thats for sure. I don't want another Republican who does not care about the one world we have to live in. Its so much better to be safe, then to late and be screwed.

Repubs have sold the earth out for money time and time again. Scott shows me he is a puppet just like the others. Catering to the current energy producers is not the way to win votes.

He is anti-environment, no one who protects our resources could want to be associated with him.

So far nothing makes him different then the other Repubs , except that they are competing for the same powerful office so they can make money and do as they please. He is no different.

[So Sad]

Hey Rick - When you pay us back for the money you made from Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare fraud then feel free to mount the high horse. Until then, just stick to how you're pro-life and against illegal immigration. Oh, that's right - you make money from abortion and illegal immigrants too. Nevermind. Might be best to just put a lid on the self-righteousness then.

[little red riding hood]

Does it even matter what Rick says about anything? This time next year he'll be old news. He will crawl back into the 6th level of hell from which he emerged, but with $40-$60 million less cash on hand to play god with.

[when hell freezes over]

It's going to really, really hot where Rick ends up.

[Al Gore]

The correct response or course of action for a predicted and deadly climate crisis, is NOT just sitting in the dark for an hour once a year with the lights turned out. You doomers are disingenuous and we see right through you. Show some commitment. And how is it, that there are countless thousands of climate change “consensus” scientists outnumbering the climate change protestors? You would think they would all join you wouldn’t you?
If the climate crisis WERE actually happening as you doomers claim is was, it is, and there will be a climate crissis, we wouldn’t then be debating it’s actual existence now would we? And how does your “climate crisis” always manage to hide in such strangely far off places (free of human effects too) at the far off polar caps or high atop mountains, uninhabited South See island, and deep in far off jungles? How CONVENIENT!?
When consultants in lab coats being paid by tax-funding, pandering politicians making it look like they are doing something for you like say……………………….lowering the seas and making the weather colder with taxes, and profiting PR firms, a corporate media feeding frenzy of hysterical proportions, terrorist groups like Greenzipeace, and criminally-politically correct teachers ALL agree on the same thing, THINK don’t blindly obey and scare the children. Observe how they all benefit from what isn’t technically a lie (because it can’t be proven or disproved) and see how the history books are not going to be kind to this irresponsible era of environmentalism. If you still think that voters will vote YES to taxes for SAVING THE PLANET and vote YES to personal lifestyle levels, YOU are the new Denier.
Real enviros were happy and overjoyed at avoiding catastrophe, thanks to the Climate Gate emails (read them) and 24 straight years of climate crisis warnings gone 100% wrong and NO bad weather is still bad weather. Nice try. Get ahead of the curve climate changers because a wave of Denial payback is coming for your cowardly threats of death by CO2 to two generations of children. The next generation won’t be the politically correct pansies you were. So keep chanting “the science says” all you want, right into the history books, losers.

[Beam me up Scotty]

Clueless. Just think of what might have been done with the $20M+ he's spending on this abortion.

[Alex!]

He still hasn't done a thing to differentiate himself from McCollum. Nerds of a feather sink together!

[Meme Mine]

Climate change isn't about energy. It's about the media and politicians and cowardly parents, threatening our children with DEATH BY CO2. Get ahead of the curve and stop the fear mongering and this silly hysteria because VOTERS have said NO and a coming generation of real radicals will bury this mass insanity of global warming and maybe some arrests to boot.
Pollution, YES! is real, CO2 Crisis? NO! The smoggy 70's are gone and lets face the future with courage, not like climate cowards.

[5:24 collects his $5 and secretly puts it towards some future beachfront property in Colorado]

What are they saying - that the last 4 months have been the hottest ever on record? I'm sure the tree-huggers paid someone to fake the numbers.

[Dante]

What awkward position? Only to the liberal Times would a conservative position be described as "awkward". Man-caused climate change/global warming is a wealth redistribution hoax, and I am all for drilling in the Gulf and anywhere else in U.S. territories.

[Bill]

Global warming still HAS NOT BEEN PROVEN to be caused by man!!!! For every one politician and academia that says it's true that man cause it I can show you a real scientist that says it has not been proven! Climate, in the definition itself, is always changing. There are other reasons for climate "change" such as sunspots. Also, climate is cyclical - meaning in goes in cycles. Going back we see that the earth was actually much hotter than it is now. Wake up people, climate change and global warming is all about politicians power and redistribution of wealth!

[marcus welby]

The overwhelming majority of informed scientists not connected by money to the fossil fuel industry know without any doubt that global warming is real and a serious threat to future generations. Almost all of the deniers are connected in some way to the fossil fuel industry. However, Americans do not seem to react to the threat of a crisis, but only to a crisis. We are almost there.

[Bill]

That is not true!!!! There is no overwhelming number of scientists that beleive man is causing global warming. That is a talking point on the left and absolutuley false!! There is no crisis here, people. The only crisis is caused by Obama and the left and we still have two years left to get rid of that crisis. READ!!! EDUCATE YOURSELF!!!! DON'T BELEIVE THE HYPE!!!! Global warming is all about redistribute wealth and is one more way the government can control more of our lives.

[Idiots]

Proof comes too late, you moron.

[Idiots]

Even if it were true that its about re-distribution of wealth, then yahoo to that.

Its about damn time.

[Lisa]

Look. If Scott wins the primary, I will be voting for Sink, along with a lot of other republicans I know.

If others can't see through his slime machine, too bad. He'll lose the general, and then maybe others can figure out why.

[Nice ticket]

So at the top of the republican ticket will be Scott, who ripped off the federal government for billions.

And Rubio, who double-billed the state for flights, and had the republican party pay his personal expenses on the party credit card.

[Scott Factor]

I don't doubt that the climate is changing. It does so naturally, as evidenced by history. The absurd part of this is that the world powers are using it as an opportunity to make large sums of money from the taxpaying public. If the climate change monkeys really want to make a statement, then THEY should LEAD BY EXAMPLE and cut their personal carbon footprint. This means fuel efficient cars, smaller homes, and no private jets. Al Gore is guilty of doing nothing while the blind follow him.

http://scottfactor.com

[bill]

Wow that is surprising. Willful ignorance is not a virtue. I don't know which one is worse, Scott or Mccollum. Lets hope neither becomes our governor.

[Ben from Odessa]

I'm with Bill 8:54

Really noting left to say about it, except...

(PS: Dante...GO HOME)

[Gator(R)]

5:00

I agree pursuing alternative forms of energy makes sense and it's an argument we don't need to be having. But don't ram some cap and trade nonsense down our throats based on the assumption it is real then. China just passed the US in use of fossil fuel. India is next. Doesn't really matter what we do if the global warming folks are right, neither of those countries gives a squat.

Mention nuclear energy and all the so-called environmentalist pucker.

[Jeff]

Yet another reason I will be voting for Rick Scott. The planet has been warming and cooling naturally for over 4 billion years... long before man arrived and will continue to do so long after we are gone.

[Jeff]

If all of your claims about Scott "ripping off" taxpayers were true... why hasnt the AG (McCollum) done his job and prosecuted him? Maybe because it is just another lie from a career politician.

[Gator(R)]

Jeff - jurisdiction, statute of limitations, to name a couple. It's obvious his company paid the largest fine in history, what is not is Scott's culpability. He was fired, but no charges filed. Doesn't mean he is pure as snow, however. To me, that is not an item On the old resume I would be proud of.

He's not as nuts as Senator Alexander, but still seems like another rich guy with personality issues.

[Al Gore]

Global warming threatens to end the world as we know it. We are past the point of no return. Grab a masseuse and get your jollies while there's still time.

[Gator(R)]

10:07

May not be a bad thing. The polar bear someone thoughtfully filmed dying in the ocean would still be dead, but Leonardo Dicaprio would still be alive.

[stuntmanmike]

Gator(R); You're dreaming since the inception of this thread.

[Gator(R)]

' Don't let go Stuntman, don't ever let go!'.

[Susan S]

Rick Scott is an idiot. No wait, he's not an idiot, those who support him are idiots. He's just taking advantage of the idiots.

[stuntmanmike]

Gator(R): I'll wake you up when it's over. In the mean time we are planting subliminal "Charlie is God" messages in your mind.

[Scott does not believe in Tooth Fairy either]

Why should anyone believe in something that is not real unless they are an innocent child who deserves the opportunity to indulge in the fantasy?

Fossil fuel related global warming is a fantasy.

[God is a Politician]

Strange how a scientific phenomenon like global warming divides right along party lines.

[Rich Matarese]

--
The anthropogenic global warming (AGW) hypothesis surfaced in the late '70s among a bunch of incompetent and therefore justifiably marginal crackpots masquerading as "climate scientists."

Had it not been for politicians steering whopping big research grants (ripped off from average taxpayers like you and me) to this blundering boojum, there would have never been any traction for "global warming" whatsoever.

As it was, research people all over the civilized world got the word: if you want to get that grant money, you've GOT to link your work - truthfully or lying your butt off - to this "politically correct" cause celebre.

The politicians just loved "global warming," of course. Yet another fake catastrophe they could use as a way to get the voters all terrified, and to stampede 'em into suffering all sorts of new taxes in the name of "saving the environment."

So the AGW fraudsters prospered, and came to dominate the mock-discipline of "climatology," controlling the research money at every big university and in every government agency, using extortion on the editors of scientific journals, taking over the peer review process and using it to prevent contrary scientific research from getting published.

But all that came crashing down with Climategate, didn't it? We got a 20/20 behind-the-scenes looks at just how these conniving scum were colluding to perpetrate what is nothing less than the scientific fraud of all time.

Makes Piltdown Man look like a college prank, doesn't it?

Billions - hell, TRILLIONS - of dollars, yen, euros, and pounds utterly wasted on "renewable energy" that is absolutely unnecessary (we've got plenty of fossil and other petrochemicals to burn, not to mention the environmental idiots' big bugaboo, nuclear power), millions of people thrown out of work, elderly people burning their books in their fireplaces last winter to keep warm because they can't afford the heavy taxes on natural gas and heating oil....

Look, folks, the next time you meet a global warming "true believer," kick him square in the crotch, okay?

It's nothing compared to what he's been doing to YOU.
--

[kiko]

global warming is the greatet hoax!!!

[Common Sense - do we have it?]

What we know about global warming:

1.) It has happened many times in the past and appears to be cyclical.

2.) Recent discoveries indicate that drastic climate reversal can occur in as little as ten years.

3.) CO2 levels always rise during episodes of global warming. Scientists cannot say for sure whether this is a cause or an effect.

4.) Both CO2 levels and average world temperatures have been increasing during the Industrial Revolution and with the widespread burning of fossil fuels.

Unfortunately, we don't know with absolute certainty that the burning of fossil fuels contributes to climate change. On the other hand, by the time we have more solid evidence, we may have passed the tipping point where something can be done. A proactive approach seems to indicate that we must act as though CO2 from fossil fuels are a contributing factor, even if they may be riding atop a natural phenomenon.

I think even if the US were to seriously eliminate fossil fuel usage, China and probably India would just burn up what's left. However, we (the USA) doesn't stand a chance of convincing them otherwise if we don't make an effort ourselves.

Given the current situation of peak oil and a future of rising oil prices, it makes sense to switch to sustainable, non-polluting forms of energy generation now. Because the implementation of these new industries will require the use of fossil fuels, we need to reduce our domestic consumption and divert a significant portion of our current fuel use to the development of green energy, before it becomes too expensive.

[Christine]

If he needs something more convincing than what he's read he should try a science textbook. Or maybe go visit some geologists or climatologists. You know - the people who actually know what they're talking about.

[Dan]

So who does - besides Al Gore and some eggheads?

[74475]

Oh come on media people, Scott doesn't have anything in his head to backup his statement on potential global warming. If you were to ask Scott questions about what entails Medicaid or Medicare fraud he may have some backup details there.

[Jimbo]

Global warming is real. It always has been. Witness the Great Lakes...

[buzzard.]

I believe in global warning, but I don't think it's all the fault of fossil fuels. Sure, fossil fuels may have some effect, but a more likely culprit would be the decimation of the world's population of trees. We've literally removed a large portion of the world's "lungs" and are continuing to do it every day.

And I'm not just talking rain forest. Every one of you that lives in a development that was created by first removing the trees, you're partially at fault.

The canopy of a large oak tree provides a tremendous amount of cooling. Don't believe me? Walk under an oak tree in your neighborhood then out into the sun. About 10 degrees difference, easy.

Now replace that oak with a couple of thousand square feet of sun-absorbing concrete and what do you get? Instant global warming, not something that may or may not develop over time.

And that doesn't take into account the tremendous air filtration a tree provides, and the oxygen it produces.

Want to do something to stop global warming? Plant a tree. Plant a couple. It's something we can all do and it doesn't take an act of congress.

And if you want to push government to do something about global warming, urge them to grant tax breaks for every tree planted.

[Wow! Just wow! Bill McCollum, invoking Rick Astley, serves up worst political ad since Mike Weinstein]

Wow! Just wow! Bill McCollum, invoking Rick Astley, serves up worst political ad since Mike Weinstein

http://bit.ly/bNNo1H

[marcus welby]

Global warming deniers would do well to consider:
Most glaciers are receding.
Gleenland snow/ice receding big time
Arctic almost free of ice in summer
Sea level rise 20 cm. since 1880
Longest warm period in last half a million years.
1/4 of CO2 in atmosphere now has been put there since the industrial revolution began.
We deny this evidence at our own risk.

[Just...Lame-O!!!]

9:49 OMG!!! U R Right! That's got to be the lamest spot I've ever seen! Is this the kind of crap McYawnin's going to spend our taxpayer matching funds on??? Please, give it to the poor!

[FUGOP]

What a bunch of idiots. Conservatives will be happy to destroy the whole damn planet as long as they turn a buck, and Florida will be one of the first places to go. The lack of Social responsibility or ethics toward communal welfare is astounding. Comical that conservatives believe that the most base instincts of humanity are defendable positions in an argument.

[al gore ?]

any one seen Al lately ?

[Mike]

Psychopath: A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse. Synonym: Rick Scott

[bob_calder]

Contrary to the expressed opinion of Rick Scott and the rest of the denial community, global warming due to human causes is the consensus opinion of science. If you are curious, visit the Union of Concerned Scientists website ucsusa dot org or a website built by the climate science community -realclimate dot org- for discussing it.
These are basically official spokespersons for the community of scientists as they exist for this purpose. Period. There is nothing else to say. The arguments were basically over before James Inhoffe took his first dollar from ExxonMobil. Virtually 99% of all you have heard about it not being settled has been paid for by either Exxon or its allies.

What does this say about Scott? What does this say about you if you agree with him?

It says he doesn't bother checking when someone says something he wants to hear. Something like "We have to get God back in the classroom." Or "Obama isn't a citizen."