The Chronicle editorial board decided today that Rep. Joe Barton (R) is its latest “bad guy.”
Why?
Rep. Barton had the audacity to request that scientists who are funded by the national government to study global warming provide his office detailed information regarding their studies and claims.
The Chronicle agrees in principle, but doesn’t like Barton’s approach:
Barton is right that global warming is a pressing and controversial issue — and tracking the use of federal funding is a worthwhile endeavor. In his indiscriminate mining for documents, however, Barton ignores the first steps of fact-finding: hearings, discussions with the scientists and reading the peer-reviewed and published papers in the field.
Maybe Barton’s review of documents to prepare for further inquiry is a better first step?
Here comes the trademark Chronicle smear:
Given his indebtedness to the oil and power industries — from 1989-2004 he received more money from these industries that any other House member — Barton seems to be acting on motives other than a thirst for truth.
Unless the editorialists (or was this one by Tim Fleck, who’s good at tossing such bombs?) are mindreaders, how can they so easily divine Barton’s motives?
This editorial is notably lacking the “elegance, wit and insight one looks for in … editorial pages in their ideal state.”
RELATED: Now let me get this straight… (Isolated Desolation).
