Annals of GOP character assassination: Steven Chu

The Energy Secretary is a "radical global warming activist." Not that there's anything wrong with that

Published September 1, 2009 10:35PM (EDT)

The GOP's utter disrespect for science or scientists continues unabated. At the Washington Independent, David Weigel lands a nice catch: the headline from a National Republican Congressional Committee press release attacking Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.)

Harry Teague Stumps for Change He Doesn't Believe In: Teague Dismissed Climate Change but Fundraises With Radical Global Warming Activist

Who could this raving radical be? None other than Energy Secretary and Nobel-Prize-winner Steven Chu. I guess it makes sense -- the man's last stop before Washington was Berkeley. If you aren't a radical global warming activist in Berkeley you get the cold shoulder at PTA meetings and never land a nice table at Chez Panisse. Further evidence for Chu's diabolical mania comes from his Facebook page, where you'll see that he is obsessed with all kinds of subversive plans to destroy the U.S. economy by encouraging energy efficiency and promoting weatherization and steering DOE funds to battery R&D and such-like.

So maybe the NRCC has a point. But can't they at least spell the man's name correctly? Sure, the Stephen/Steven error is easy to make -- I've done it myself -- but the GOP's reputation for being a stickler for accuracy could get tarnished by this kind of thing, if it keeps up.


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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