Newt Gingrich Doubts Global Warming: 'I Believe We Don't Know'

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday said it's unclear whether man-made global warming is real.

"I believe we don't know," he told Fox News' Sean Hannity in a Wednesday night interview.

In 2008 Gingrich appeared in an ad with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging action on climate change. "We do agree that our country must take action to address climate change," he said, sitting on a sofa with Pelosi in front of the U.S. Capitol. The former House speaker recently said that the ad was "the dumbest thing I've done in recent years."

Earlier in his career, Gingrich co-sponsored a 1989 bill stating that climate change was "resulting from human activities."

In the Hannity interview, Gingrich also outlined what he would do within the first hours of being president. "We would have about two hours after the inaugural address, we would stop and sign between 100 and 200 executive orders and presidential findings," he said. "For example, the very first executive order we'll sign will terminate all of the White House czars as of that moment. So they'll all be gone. The goal is, by the time President Obama lands in Chicago, we will have dismantled about 40 percent of his government by signing a whole series of extensive orders.

He also predicted an instantaneous economic recovery if President Barack Obama is voted out of office: "The economy starts to recover late on election night, when people realize Obama is gone. Literally that night, you'll see businesses making hiring decisions. You'll see investors making investment decisions. You'll see folks going ahead with new startups who were waiting and with bated breath."

Comments

[Goodthink2012]

05:48 PM on 02/07/2012

My guess is that his master, Callista, isn't sure about all that science stuff. And Newt is WHIPPED.

[Michael J OConnell]

04:39 PM on 12/08/2011

The fact the anyone listens to Newt or considers him a presidential candidate demonstrates how broken our media is and how broken our politics are.

[Bianca Befana]

05:25 PM on 12/07/2011

I believe there are many things FigNewtie doesn't know. I could list them, but there's not enough room. BB

[Ssebo]

11:28 AM on 12/07/2011

Suppose a gunman aims a gun at your family. And you don't know if his gun is loaded. "You believe you don't know." Yet you have the chance to take him out. At considerable cost, true.

So, what would you do?

[BlackbirdHighway]

09:33 AM on 12/06/2011

Newt is only saying that as a shibbolith; he has to show conservatives that he is one of them. Climate denial is something conservatives use to identify members of their tribe.

The same goes for Romney. Perry and Bachmann may actually be true believers in climate denial.

[Bogstomper2]

11:32 AM on 12/06/2011

"Climate denial is something conservati­ves use to identify members of their tribe."

That's an interesting point. If you read enough denier posts, you see that very few of them bother to make an argument. They mostly just ridicule and sneer and pat each other on the back for it. That's not discussion, that's herd identification.

In a way, I can understand their behavior. Today's conservatism insists on a blind obedience to a certain script, and if you question the script, you're labeled a "RINO" and ostracized. Since we're a social primate, the threat of being kicked out can be pretty scary.

[sarojacarson]

01:30 AM on 12/06/2011

newton the apple is falling, why is it that an affair at some time bothers everybody? why cant a man have an affair? whats wrong? its a private matter. and we shd leave it so.

[Aubrey Jones]

11:58 AM on 12/04/2011

WOW... this guy is a real piece of s**t. First of all, using the royal "we" like Mitt doesn't help you. Second, I didn't know you were a part-time Climatologist, Newt! Beyond your own personal denial, what evidence can you bring forth that disproves human-made climate change? What studies can you cite beyond muttering a sound-bite phrase to stir up your largely ignorant fan-base? How could anyone vote for this guy? He is only in it for himself. He doesn't care about the economy and the individual well-being of the american people. He only cares about himself. Did you know, Newt, that the unemployment rate did drop to 8.6%? It's not much but a clear indication that the economy is on the rise. Let's bring facts to the table, instead of your conjecture.

[OkieMon]

08:18 AM on 12/04/2011

and this guy is the smartest republican ? what a bunch of id*iots.....

[palindrom]

09:05 PM on 12/04/2011

I think it was Krugman who said that Newt is a stupid person's idea of what a smart person sounds like.

[jimspy]

05:20 AM on 12/05/2011

Oh! OH! That should go down as a classic!

[sheeple999]

04:46 AM on 12/04/2011

Its cold comfort at best, but I believe that gingrich will live to see the day that his descendants curse his name.

Sadly, as a baby boomer, they'll be cursing mine as well.

[MarsAmbassador]

06:53 PM on 12/03/2011

This just cements my view that conservatives have abandoned reason, logic & facts for fantasy & faith. Compare global warming to their religious beliefs. With global warming and climate change they are faced with empirical data, accredited sources of information, centuries of comparable data for analysis, consensus amongst 90+% of the scientific community working independent from each other and environmental physical proof all over the globe. But their doubtless, staunch religious views are enforced by nothing more than their desire to believe. Now that's fine, I'm not going to knock anyone's choice to believe whatever they want regarding religion, but to be 100% sure of that and say "nobody really knows for sure" in regards to climate change, well, that's just ridiculous. If anything, they should be saying that about BOTH, as a bare minimum. I can understand arguing over the CAUSE of global warming or climate change, but to discount that it's happening at ALL when faced with such indisputable evidence? That's simply willful.

Science = proof or the active search for proof
Religion = blind faith based on nothing more than the desire to believe

[Thomas Nonnemaker]

09:44 AM on 12/04/2011

You are wrong. Us conservatives DO rely on facts, which is EXACTLY why most don't believe in this global warming garbage. I have researched this thing to the hilt, read it both ways. Watched Al Gore's movie. I want to read the evidence that says there is, but then I also research more about it, rather than just taking it on its word. And the proof is not there. In fact, quite the contrary. One must remember that these scientists promoting this global warming theory....why do you think they do it ? Is it to warn the population, get the truth out so we can start to change, etc, etc. ? The answer is 'No'. they have to survive just like the rest of us, and what is needed for survivial in this society.....money. So they try and slant the data to make it seem like something apocalyptic is coming, and they sensationalize it (just like the media does) so that more people are interested, and hence, more money rolls in. But data-wise, it is not there. One very simple thing is the relative size of the earth to the sun. If one sees a picture of this (as from space), and you see how teeny tiny the earth is to the size of the sun, people would realize that "Hmmm, maybe this temperature fluctuation has something more to do with the solar flares from the sun than what type of car I drive."

[qwert1234]

10:00 AM on 12/04/2011

that was the weakest refutation of global warming i've ever seen. no amount of conspiracy theories that you make up will change the fact that CO2 absorbs longwave radiation.

[qwert1234]

10:03 AM on 12/04/2011

and another thing - you honestly don't think the people who study and do research in this field have considered the role of the sun? quite arrogant on your part.

[mudshark12]

05:38 PM on 12/03/2011

Now that Cain is toast, Newt can take up the chant Nein! Nein! Nein! for things that he wants to deny. Don't mean he's right about it though.

[palindrom]

09:08 PM on 12/04/2011

Yup.

Y'know, it's the first day of Zappadan.

[mudshark12]

12:59 AM on 12/05/2011

Wowie Zowie! When palindrom (a user @ HuffingtonPost.Com) told we that today is the 1st day of Zappadan, I thought he was kidding me (Eddie, are you kidding me?). But then I thought he may be serious about this folks. So I did what everyone does nowadays, I googled it, lo and behold Zappa lovers everywhere celebrating the life and talent of Frank Zappa during Zappadan. Frank died December 4 (1993) and was born on December 21 (1940) and his fans have called this period of time Zappadan to honor his music and to remember him. Zoot Allures, The Massive Improvelence of it all!

F & F !!!! Dude YOU are my new pal!

[archarabia]

03:07 PM on 12/03/2011

This man makes for entertaining reading, but there is no way on God's green earth that he will ever be president. The only thing that scares me is that Americans might prove me wrong and pull a 'W as the did in 00

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

05:11 PM on 12/03/2011

No, but he still serves the purposes of the denial movement as a "manufactured" leader.

[mudshark12]

05:34 PM on 12/03/2011

I'm afraid of that happening too. Pulling a "W" is just SO wrong!

[Katmandu01]

02:52 PM on 12/03/2011

"There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns."
- Donald Rumsfeld
“Curiouser and curiouser!” Cried Alice
- Lewis Carroll

[JHKH]

01:44 PM on 12/03/2011

I believe Newt is like Romney. He'll say whatever he believes his audience wants to hear. Like the rest of the Republican field, he has no principle worth not getting elected for. And he has a dearth of knowledge about much of anything, except what will enrich him personally -- financially or in the power he can wield.

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

05:27 PM on 12/03/2011

Then the greater question is, why do right wing audiences want to hear such things.

[JHKH]

07:19 PM on 12/03/2011

I certainly can't explain that. It has baffled me for decades. I have never ceased to be amazed how, with the same set of facts, the right wing jumps to a conclusion diametrically opposed to science or common sense. I suspect it is a congenital defect, or a mental illness . . . but lacking definitive studies. . .

[j b f]

07:38 AM on 12/03/2011

What's this we don't know. That may be correct--we don't know because most of us are not scientist nor do we have much of a background in science. We need to rely on a community of experts in this field who are constantly collecting information and making logical conclusions. Global Warming is a fact. Most scientist believe that the effect human activities have on the environment very likely and more obviously likely play a significant role in the warming of the earth. Does anyone know a politician who tells the truth ?

[gallon]

11:21 AM on 12/03/2011

Well, if you watch the commenters, you see that there are indeed real scientists that pass through here and share their wisdom.

Key: the scientific people are usually talking science
the deniers are usually talking hoax and scam and conspiracy and Al Gore

Here are just a few high quality science based resources

http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/program_history/keeling_curve_lessons.html
http://nsidc.org/
http://www.noaa.gov/

and a couple of blogs run by scientists

http://www.skepticalscience.com/
http://www.realclimate.org/

[reltna08]

06:00 PM on 12/03/2011

Kitty, what would we do without you?

[reltna08]

08:09 PM on 12/03/2011

Kitty, I hate to tell you this but some of the AFMRs have been answering for you... How's your day going? I hope productive....