Sarah Palin went on a bizarre tear against Bill Nye’s qualifications to speak about climate change during an event Thursday on Capitol Hill, claiming that Nye “is as much a scientist as I am.”
“He’s a kid’s show actor, he’s not a scientist,” the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee said, according to The Hill.
Palin was on Capitol Hill for the premiere of a new film “Climate Hustle,” which dismisses the scientific consensus on the potentially disastrous effects of man-made global warming, including sea level rise and a greater frequency of severe weather events. Nye, the host of the popular ‘90s television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy” and an outspoken advocate against the dangers of climate change, is one of the movie’s primary targets.
Palin is a fossil fuel booster known for embracing the slogan “Drill, baby, drill” while campaigning on the 2008 ticket with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). On Thursday, she said that the “alarmism” about climate change is pushed by politicians who have a “predetermined” political agenda, according to The Hill.
She urged candidates on the 2016 trail to speak more about the issue in order to make it “less political.”
“It’s something that our candidates should be talking about, and giving us their view on and hopefully acknowledging that it needs to become, in the science community, less political,” Palin said, according to The Hill. “Otherwise, it leads us to believe that so many things coming from perhaps the scientists could be bogus. If this is bogus, you know, what else are they trying to tell us and trying to control us around if they can’t get this one right?”
