June 15, 2015

Think the Climate Debate Is Settled? Jeb Bush Says You’re “Arrogant”

You’ll be shocked to learn that the former Florida governor is “not a scientist.”


On Monday, Jeb Bush is expected to officially launch his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. While some pundits are portraying the former Florida governor as a moderate, there’s at least one issue on which Bush appears to be just as far to the right as Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul: climate change. Back in December, we put together a video highlighting Bush’s past statements that he’s a global warming “skeptic,” that he’s “not a scientist,” and that the world “may not be warming.”

Since then, Bush’s climate science skepticism has continued. “I don’t think the science is clear of what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural,” he said in May. “For the people to say the science is decided on this is just really arrogant.” Watch the updated video above for a sample of Bush’s climate rhetoric.

More Mother Jones reporting on Climate Desk

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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