Aidan Moorehouse
CBS Paints Saintly Picture of Newsom on Climate for Possible 2024 Run
July 28th, 2022 8:05 PM
With the economy officially in a recession, and over 75 percent of Democrats wanting somebody other than Joe Biden to run for President in 2024, CBS Mornings on Thursday decided now was a good time to highlight California Governor Gavin Newsom while hitting Biden from the left for his insufficiently shrilly climate change measures.
CBS's senior national and environmental correspondent Ben Tracy set the stage, melodramatically proclaiming, "Raging wildfires, epic flooding, record-shattering heat waves. Climate change is turning summer into the season of suffering."
During his interview with Tracy, Newsom waxed indignant about the federal response, "It's malpractice. It's — it's shame. I'm ashamed — uh, that these Republicans and one or two Democrats have put us in this position."
Tracy tried to trap Newsom into criticizing Biden directly by asking "did President Biden overpromise or underdeliver?"
But Newsom didn't bite the bullet, responding, "No. I applaud the President of the United States for trying to meet the moment and try to be honest, this is what it's gonna take. We all own this. Democrats, Republicans, House, Senate."
Nonetheless, even Newsom's slickest replies were no match for the CBS editing team, who inserted Biden's speech in Somerset, MA, where he said "climate change is an emergency."
Contrasting the supposedly feeble Biden with the strong and decisive Newsom, Tracy commented:
Despite calling it one, President Biden has not officially declared climate change a national emergency, which could give him more power to combat the crisis.
A new poll finds 61 percent of Democrats think the Biden administration could be doing a lot more on climate. Now California is trying to fill the void.
Tracy touted the many different climate change initiatives Newsom's California has undertaken, "including major investments in a west coast offshore wind industry, and technologies to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air, as well as a fleet of satellites to detect methane leaks."
After playing a clip of the glorious leader visiting a NASA laboratory in Pasadena, and a brief mention of California's radical plan to ban all fossil fuel-powered cars by 2035, Tracy let the real purpose of this glowing interview slip, hinting, "But Newsom may have another year in mind, a run for the White House in 2024 if President Biden decided not to seek re-election."
When Tracy directly asked the question to Newsom, he responded, "I'm positioning myself to sleep better at night than I'm sleeping now."
That Newsom's visit to the White House while Biden was in the Middle East was to check the condition of the White House beds like some uber-elite Mattress Firm was probably not what anybody expected. Regardless, the lefties at CBS clearly see Gavin Newsom as the future of the Democratic Party. After all, the rest of the country loves California's brand of liberalism, right?
Someday, the liberal media will realize trading one liberal coast for another isn't going to win them any voters in the vast space in between. But it is not this day.
This leftist hagiography was made possible by Google and Cadillac. Their contact information is linked.
Click "Expand" to see the relevant transcript.
7:39:22 AM ET
GAYLE KING: The explosive oak fire near Yosemite National Park is California's largest wildfire this year. Now the crews say they hope to have it fully under control by the weekend — they've got a lot of work to do — but that's just one of many that have burned across the west, partly due to the heat and drought conditions brought on by the global crisis of, you know it, climate change.
Federal action on climate change may be on the way after Senator Joe Manchin dropped his opposition to one proposed bill. Before that announcement, our senior national and environmental correspondent, that's Ben Tracy, had an exclusive interview with someone under immense pressure to act. That's California Governor Gavin Newsom.
BEN TRACY: Raging wildfires, epic flooding, record-shattering heat waves. Climate change is turning summer into the season of suffering.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM: You know, preview of things to come. So familiar to so many Californians, to Americans, to people around the globe.
TRACY: And California governor Gavin Newsom is outraged that so far Congress has failed to pass comprehensive climate legislation.
NEWSOM: It's malpractice. It's — it's shame. I'm ashamed — uh, that these Republicans and one or two Democrats have put us in this position.
TRACY: In a letter to President Biden, Newsom accuses Republicans and climate deniers in Congress of doing the bidding of polluters.
TRACY: It's not really a surprise, though, that the Republicans would oppose this climate legislation. So did President Biden overpromise or underdeliver?
NEWSOM: No. I applaud the President of the United States for trying to meet the moment and try to be honest, this is what it's gonna take. We all own this. Democrats, Republicans, House, Senate.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN [at press conference in MA, 07/20/22]: So let me be clear, climate change is an emergency.
TRACY: Despite calling it one, President Biden has not officially declared climate change a national emergency, which could give him more power to combat the crisis.
NEWSOM: And we in California hope to change the game with unprecedented investments, so it's not just ambition, but we're realizing that ambition.
TRACY: His plan is to spend 54 billion dollars of California's nearly 98 billion dollar budget surplus to combat climate change, including major investments in a west coast offshore wind industry, and technologies to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air, as well as a fleet of satellites to detect methane leaks.
Methane is an invisible gas seen here with infrared cameras. It's 84 times more powerful at warming the planet than carbon dioxide. Leaks can happen during fossil fuel production and largely go undetected.
NEWSOM [At Pasadena, CA]: The methane's overlooked — um, because it's unseen.
FEMALE SCIENTIST [At Pasadena, CA]: The L-band is going to be imaging the Earth globally so —
TRACY: Newsom visited NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where they're building another satellite scheduled to launch in 2024. It will collect data on how the planet is responding to climate change including how fast glaciers are melting in Antarctica and the loss of trees in the Amazon rainforest.
TRACY: Is the idea to make California a bit of a laboratory for the rest of the country?
NEWSOM: Absolutely. We want to iterate. We want to iterate, and we want to futureproof this state. We are in a hurry.
TRACY: California is home to nearly 40 million people and the world's fifth-largest economy. It's accelerating the transition to electric vehicles by banning the sale of new gas-powered cars and trucks in 2035.
But Newsom may have another year in mind, a run for the White House in 2024 if President Biden decided not to seek re-election.
TRACY: A lot of people think you're positioning yourself to run in 2024.
NEWSOM: I'm positioning myself to sleep better at night than I'm sleeping now. [SCREEN WIPE] At the end of the day there's one overriding powerful force on the planet, it's mother nature. She bats last, she bats 1,000.
TRACY: And he says the devastating changes we're now seeing around the world should motivate us to take climate change seriously. For CBS Mornings, I'm Ben Tracy in Pasadena.
Ben Tracy