Frank Luntz Accepts Global Warming Science
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 06.19.06
Many high-profile global warming skeptics have recently changed their position. We've mentioned Sir David Attenborough and Michael Shermer with his "data trumps politics" epiphany, but there are many more that we haven't written about like Gregg Easterbrook and John Tierney. The most remarkable cognitive flip to date must certainly come from Frank Luntz: He is the man who wrote the infamous memo (see page 7 of the pdf file for the part about global warming) coaching the current US administration on the best ways to confuse the issue and delay action (remember, Luntz, like Philip Cooney, is not a scientific - he is actually a political pollster). Well, Luntz has told the BBC that he now accepts the scientific consensus on global warming and has changed his position, but that he doesn't feel responsible for what the US government is doing with his advice (Australia, and recently Canada, have also been inspired by these tactics).
Full transcript:
Luntz: "It's now 2006. I think most people would conclude that there is global warming taking place and that the behavior of humans are (sic) affecting the climate."BBC: "But the administration has continued taking your advice. They're still questioning the science."
Luntz: "That's up to the administration. I'm not the administration. What they want to do is their business. It has nothing to do with what I write. It has nothing to do with what I believe."
Update: ThinkProgress has more, including the video of Luntz.
Via ::Sierra Club - Compass. See also ::The 4 Stages of Global Warming Denial
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It's nice that he desn't feel responsible for people who listened to his misguided advice. Maybe it will help him sleep at night.
This guy just figured out that he was way more employable if he changed his position. He just playing games.
of course. You don't really expect a Republican to actually take responsiblity for their actions, do you?
And I love how while Bush made fun of Gore and Kerry as listening to the pollsters, Luntz has pretty much defined the Marketing of American Politics (for the worse, imo).
I think this guy shifting his opinion is just the beginning of a much larger trend. It's going to be harder and harder for people to take the position that the Bush Administration has been taking until the 2007 State of the Union address.