
Limbaugh is making headlines for some recent controversial comments about science.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh is no stranger to saying some outlandish things, but this time even the website Politifact is calling him out for some of his recent comments. Limbaugh claimed that the relative lack of destructive hurricanes in the past decade was proof that climate change was a myth.
His comments came in the wake of Hurricane Matthew’s destructive path along the East Coast as a Category 4 storm. Limbaugh said the Obama administration was “playing games” when it comes to hurricane forecasting, hyping up storms through the National Weather Service in order to push his agenda of climate change and global warming.
He mocked former Vice President Al Gore, who claimed that after Hurricane Katrina devasted New Orleans we would only continue to see more destructive hurricanes because of climate change.
“And then what happened?” Limbaugh said on his show, which aired Oct. 5. “We had 11 years of no hurricanes — 11 straight years of no major hurricanes striking land in the United States, which just bores a hole right through the whole climate change argument. They want people to think this way: Hurricane reported. Must be climate change.
“Lousy comedy because good comedy must have an element of truth in it. That’s what makes it funny. There’s no truth in this,” he added. “I’m not even in Florida. There was no 200 feet of water. We didn’t get any damage at all to speak of at all where I live. The usual downed tree limbs and leaves all over the place. But, we escaped it. But you see, the point is I said the government’s hyping Hurricane Matthew to sell climate change. It’s inarguable. But to him that’s just the most outrageous thing anyone would say. Why? Because Conan for lack of ability to critically think has just bought hook, line, and sinker into whatever the state says.”
But Politifact said that focusing on Atlantic hurricanes that strike the U.S. ignores storm activity worldwide, and storm frequency doesn’t strictly correlate with rising temperature. Also, there is more than enough data showing that climate change on a rare phenomenon. As a result, Politifact rated the statement as “pants on fire.”
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