Roger Pielke Jr. is astounded that "the overwhelming majority of scientists, the media, and responsible advocacy groups have remained mute" about "the repeated misrepresentation of science related to disasters and climate change."

More than anything else, even the misrepresentations themselves, the collective willingness to overlook bad policy arguments unsupported (or even contradicted) by the current state of science while at the same time trumpeting the importance of scientific consensus is evidence of the comprehensive and pathological politicization of science in the policy debate over global warming. If climate scientists ever wonder why they are looked upon with suspicion among some people in society, they need look no further in their willingness to compromise their own intellectual standards in policy debate on the issue of disasters and climate change.

Interestingly enough, Pielke particularly is concerned about the misrepresentations of those who (like Pielke himself) support immediate policy action to address climate change, not the so-called "denialists" or "skeptics."**

[**Why the scare quotes? Because most so-called "denialists" or "skeptics" do not deny the reality of anthropogenic contributions to global warming nor are they skeptical about the basic science of clmate change. Rather, most folks tarred with these labels are, to some degree or another, skeptical of the evidence for certain apocalyptic claims and the need for particualrly dramatic policy measures and particularly vocal about their concerns.]