Transcripts For CNNW Crossfire 20140219 : vimarsana.com

But is the biggest threat to our National Security Something Else . In a sense, Climate Change can now be considered the worlds most fearsome weapon of mass destruction. On the left, van jones. On the right, Newt Gingrich. In the crossfire the adviser to the state department. And bill kristol, one of the president s harshest critics. Is Climate Change the biggest threat we face . Tonight on crossfire. Welcome to crossfire. Im van jones is on the left. Im Newt Gingrich on the right. In the crossfire tonight, two guests help us clarify john kerrys priorities. Today a traditional secretary of state might have called a News Conference to address at length the near civil war in the ukraine or the challenges we face in syria and iraq or Irans Nuclear program. Even the problems in venezuela. A real secretary of state would focus on the real world. Instead we have a secretary of state who says the biggest threat we face is Global Warming. I want you to hear it again. In a sense, Climate Change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction perhaps even the worlds most fearsome weapon of mass destruction. That statement is delusional. Its perfectly fine if youre in the u. S. Senate which has a hundred members and anyone can be randomly weird. But delusional thinking is totally inexcusable for any secretary of state. Well, i am were going to fight that. Because i think its wrong to jump on him about this. First of all, ive worked on this issue, as you know, for ten years of my life. Its a superserious issue, the pentagon says its superserious, the cia. And im surprised at you. Youre one of the most proscience people in public life. Here you have someone trying to elevate sigh tones the global discourse. I think youre wrong to jump on it. If you read the actual speech. Which i have done. Were not talking about the sentiment, were talking about the speech. In a war where you have prnl civil war in ukraine, several thousand Nuclear Weapons in russia, several hundred Nuclear Weapons in china over a hundred in pakistan, north korea Nuclear Weapons, to suggest that global Climate Change is anything comparable to the threat of Nuclear Weapons . I use the word delusional deliberately. Its really out of touch with the real world. The pentagon disagrees with you. Theres a guy named Newt Gingrich who disagrees with you. I want to hear you listen to yourself talk about this issue a few years ago. What would you say to senator inhofe and to others in the senate who are resisting even science . Whats your message to them here today . My message, i think, is that the evidence is sufficient that we should move towards the most effective possible steps to reduce carbon loading of the atmosphere. And do it urgently, now. Do it urgently. This, i love, this Newt Gingrich guy, hes great. I would hate he uwas talking to somebody who used to be called a flipflopper. I would hate to thing that Newt Gingrich is competing with john kerry for the title of flipflopper in chief. It was in a debate in the Senate Conference hearing room talking about taking effective steps and suddenly elevating this im happy to say this is a serious topic and debate seriously. To then elevate that to more important remember, the phrase he uses is very clear. Thats why the speech matters. Not a press release. He says, this could be the biggest mass threat. Perhaps, he says. Just plain not true. Were going to be fighting tonight, but weve got some people to help us get through this. In the crossfire tonight, a member of the secretary kerrys actual interNational Security Advisory Board. We also have Weekly Standard editor bill kristol. Im going to go to you first, bill. Dont you think maybe kerry went a bridge too far. Dont you think hes gone 15 bridges too far saying the secretary of state should resign over a line in a speech when john kerry is out there trying to get peace in the middle east and Everything Else hes doing . Peace in the middle east is going great. But dont you think the question why its not just delusional but offensive weapons of mass destruction have been used when john kerry was secretary of state, they were used by bashar al assad. Secretary kerry said it was a unique moment. Secretary kerry said we would remove bashar and prevent the use of them again and then president obama made a uturn and we did nothing and we have an agreement thats gotten a few but not most of the chemical weapons out and i know youre a critic. And 130,000 people are dead in syria and some are dead from weapon of mass destruction and instead john kerry gives speeches about global Climate Change. Ludicrous. I know you wish that wed gone into war in syria and a bunch of other place, but the Republican Party didnt support the president on a march to war. Ive asking you a specific question. Do you think that john kerry, who has shown the kind of creativity and energy that he has shown, should lose his job because Newt Gingrich doesnt like a line in his speech . I think hes a terrible secretary of state. Oh, my god. He is terrible. So farcical now, the Peace Process is going nowhere, ebb incredible flipflop on syria. My only worry is if we get criticized by john kerry, people will think that Hillary Clinton was a little bit better, which she was. She did nothing, she had no accomplishments, she wasnt quite as delusional. Well inadvertently help Hillary Clinton by showing how bad john kerry is. Let me put you on the spot just a little bit. The central premise of my criticisms is in the toughness of my reaction is that a secretary of state is very different than a senator in that a secretary of state speaks for the most powerful nation in the world. This is at an International Event in indonesia. And presumably the speech had been thought through, written out and i assume hes telling us what he honestly believes. That he honestly would rank Global Warming as a threat that could be the greatest sing sl threat. Now, holding him to that standard, we can have an argument as, i said, that is delusional. But this is a serious state document that is designed to inform both the world and our own state department about our priorities. You know that in the state department speeches like this are cleared by dozens of people. So clearly this is well thought out. I serve on an Advisory Board to the secretary of state, but my comments here are strictly my own and dont represent the u. S. Government. And theyre always happy when i say that. Theres no question that john kerry is right on this issue. Thats right. Last year when the head of the Pacific Command was asked what our singlegreatest threat was, he said Climate Change and the reason is. It makes fragile situations worse, it kills crop, floods cities, destroys nations. He is right to be in indonesia talking about this because jakarta is in danger of being drowned out if the flood waters rise as much as the army corps of engineers predicts it will by tend of the century, five feet. You think Climate Change is more dangerous than Nuclear Proliferation . Im on record saying that Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change present the two biggest threats . You think Climate Change is as much of a threat as nuke rar. Climate change is slow growth mass destruction. Unbelievable. Climate change can change our planet forever. Why do you disagree with the pentagons assessment on this . Make a statement knowing that the let me ask you this. Yes. 1997 was a resolution in the United States senate should there be binding limits as kyoto suggested the Climate Change on carbon emissions. No, the u. S. Should sign no treaty with binding limits. One of those senators was john kerry. Now hes secretary of state, he goes around the world, giving speeches. What is he doing . Is he putting my pressure on china or russia to change their policies . They are, yes he just came from to great effect. Tell me how much influence he really wields. Theres more and more agreement that this is a real threat to us, that this could fundamentally change geopolitics forever. Let me give you one quick example where Nuclear Weapons and Global Warming come together. South asia. 135 Million People live in coastalythreatened areas. If the sea change is even close to what experts predict, those people are going to throw that continent into chaos. Theres 200 Nuclear Weapons in india and pakistan. You think its dangerous now . Wait 20 years and 50 years . 50 years . Can we focus on the fact that iran is getting a Nuclear Weapon in the next two years. We are focusing on that. This is just one speech. Let me stay on your version of reality. First, do you believe any commander would be appointed who said Climate Change didnt matter . This administration politically, it would be hopeless. To have a senior officer now say i will now repeat what the senator want meese to repeat the quadrennial review which sets policy for the country which is key to our National Security and includes Climate Change, youre saying that document, the political document is wrong . Heres what im saying. Of course its a political document. I do know political officials a t the defense department. But heres a simple test. This is why this is a farce. You go to the pentagon and say, i just read your review. This is one of the two greatest threats to the planet. Good. Were taking half your budget and well put half your budget into fighting global Climate Change, they will all of a sudden say to you, i dont think you quite understood the way in which we wrote this. Because thats a problem about 45 years from now, but this year we need three more ships. This is a budget issue. Last year for the typhoon that hit the philippines, we had 15,000 american troops there in relief. How do you budget for Something Like that . This is a problem the military actually is facing. Were updating the totally discredited science playing that the typhoon is caused by Global Warming . You cant blame any particular okay. But overall the weather patterns are clear. Joe, let me ask one other question. Last year is first year since 1962 that no major hurricane hit the United States. None. Now under your theory of all global Climate Change, how come it was the safest year since 1962 for hurricanes . Scientists will tell you individual years will vary, but its the overall trends. Ten of the warmest years on record have happened in the last 12 years. Something is happening here. The climate is warming. Weve gone up no warmer, its no warmer in the last 15 years. Were going to keep arguing about this. When we get back, here is what newt is absolutely missing. Any problem youre concerned about, any problem we can talk about will get worse, as you said, under Climate Change. Ill connect the dots for you globally when we get back. Theres this kid. Coach calls her a team player. Shes kind of special. She makes the whole team better. Hes the kind of player that puts the puck, horsehide, bullet. Right where it needs to be. Coach calls it logistics. Hes a great passer. Dependable. A winning team has to have one. Somebody you can count on. Somebody like my dad. This is my dad. Somebody like my mom. My grandfather. Im very pround of him. Her. Them. Iwe dont back down. 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Because every other will make every National Security problem worse. Big floods, that can destabilize governments. That makes it easier for extremists to grab power or Nuclear Weapons. No food, people riot. When the oceans rise, people flee. You can imagine these scenarios with a billion climate refugees. Thats a dangerous place. Look, all these issues are interrelated. Its not delusional to focus on climate disruption, its delusional not to. Now, back in the crossfire, weve got Joe Cirincione and bill kristol. I want to start with you. Lets just go back to this point about the pentagon and its concern. You dont deny that the science of Climate Change. You believe that something could be happening here. We should take it seriously. Clearly the earth has warmed. I dont think theres anything different about that today over 150 years. It has flattened out over the years. What are the consequences of that warming is, good or bad. Dont you thing the pentagon is right to take this seriously . John kerrys getting beat up for saying this is a National Security issue. Dont you thing the pentagon is right to take it seriously . I love hearing van jones say the pentagon is right. Ill have our guys at the Weekly Standard clip that and put that up online. Honestly, if this were as serious as you all thing it is, shouldnt the president of the United States actually be spending Political Capital to do something about this . The democrats controlled the United States senate. Cap and trade. Why arent they trying to bring that up for a vote. This is what i think is annoying, whats sort of infuriated newt and i would share his infuhr yags fury is the word, fuhr be this. This is just talk. This is nonsense. If this were as serious as you think, the president would be using capital he has to change u. S. Policy and hes doing nothing. Thats just wrong on the facts and you know it. He just talked about putting a billion dollars to try to do something about this. He did go before congress, the house actually passed a resolution, werent able to get it through the senate. This president has done more he put 36 billion in the stimulus package trying to move the ball forward on green energy and the price of solar has come down. This president has done well. The republicans have turned this against a litmus of faith. I honestly know republicans who were sort of on their heels after 2008. The science is cutting against the president. My response was the notion of making this the biggest threat. Now, lets talk about reality from a different angle. Right now i think we ought to go to kiev to show you. Yes. Kiev is literally burning. This is a live picture from kiev. One of the people watching kiev burn who has a deep interest in this is Vladimir Putin, who is described by former secretary of defense gates who says when he looked into his eyes he saw a stone cold killer. If youre Vladimir Putin and you looking at the american backdown in syria and the american backdown in iran where the ayatollah said the negotiations will accomplish nothing. Doesnt mind if he talk. Youre now seeing the secretary of state put his Political Capital on Global Warming. Dont you think from putins standpoint as a guy who thinks of himself as probably the toughest guy on the planet that this is all sort of a joke . He has no interest in those things. His interest is whats going to happen to kiev and he has no interest in the president once again drawing a line as he did this afternoon as he did earlier in syria because putin doesnt think the president is going to do anything. I think its a tragedy that youre making this a political football. This is a very important speech on a very important topic. One speech that he gave. I was there when john kerry at a plowshares event gave a great terrific speech on nonproliferation. About stopping the spread of these weapons. Hes talked about iran today the president of the United States spoke out against the violence in kiev. Theyre taking action trying to get targeted sanctions against the top officials of the ukraine government. Theyre organizing with the eu and hopefully the eu will act tomorrow. Of course theyre doing all of these things. This is one of the important things you have to do. To govern is to choose so should they put their capital on Climate Change . Should they put their capital on iranian Nuclear Weapons . Putin . Theyre clearly not capable of doing all of them simultaneou y simultaneously. You dont think john kerry is trying to craft an ice raillypalestinian framework. You dont doubt that hes serious about it at least in the amount of time that hes spent down there, right . Hes delusional on all three. You disagree with his policy but hes putting his capital the Israeli Palestinian thing is crazy. The west bank is stable. We dont want to go into why the middle east is so unstable. For example, the war on iraq. Im happy to go into that if you want to have the rest of the debate in that. It doesnt excuse kerry one way or the other. Which democratic senator from massachusetts voted for that . I believe his name is john kerry. It was a mistake. Hes been held accountable for that. You dont get everything right as you know. Were talking about capital. Youre saying despite the speech, again, i only reacted to what he said. I didnt make it up. Despite the speech, this may be the greatest danger were faced with, youre not saying, look, hes really putting his capital on palestine or israel, hes putting it over here. The American Government has to do more than one thing at the same time. It turns out when you have these interlocking problems you have to do more than one thing. Anywhere. Were not doing anything about anything. That is not true and i am you had this nice list of all things were doing and nine out of ten were things we were saying. The president spoke out about this, we were alarmed by this, appalled by that. You would be the first person to applaud john kerry. If you designed a secretary of state, you would design john kerry. Hes energetic, creative, going everywhere, trying to talk and show american presence. You are sitting here saying hes the worst. I think you should say one positive thing about john kerry to do something good. No. No terrible hes the worst secretary of state than Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright and other democrats. Let me ask you to stay here. We want you to weigh in on todays fire back question. Do you agree with secretary kerry, Climate Change is the most fear some weapon of mass destruction . Tweet yes or no. [ male announcer ] these days, a Small Business can save by sharing. Like carpools. Polly wants to know if we can pick her up. Yeah, we can make room. Yeah. [ male announcer ]. Office space. Yes, were loving this communal seating. Oh, its great. Yeah. 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Save up to 10 just for combining your auto and home insurance. Call Liberty Mutual insurance at. [ thump ] to speak with an Insurance Expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house, or add a car to your policy. Personalized coverage and savings. All the things humans need to make our world a little less imperfect. Call. And ask about all the ways you could save. Liberty mutual insurance. Responsibility. Whats your policy . Were back. Now its time for our outrage of the day. Im outraged over a field test scheduled for the spring by the federal communications commission. It plans to study how local stations pick the news in order to, quote, ensure that the information needs of allamericans are being met. This may be even more than unusual than john kerrys speech. The idea that we need the government to protect us from the very reporters that expose the misdeeds of bureaucrats is absurd. Thomas jefferson would be enranged. Thats the first kind and caring thing you said about the media. Yesterday i was outraged because of the Texas Governor candidate greg abbott. He would not disavow ted nugent. A couple of weeks ago he called president obama, quote, a subhuman mongrel. Sarah palin has endorsed abbott. She says, if hes good enough for ted nugent, hes good enough for me. There are some people who fling around the word racism way too often but when you call a mixed race blackman a subhuman mongrel, thats racism. Governor palin, i want you to know something. My kids are mixed race. Theyre not subhuman, theyre not mongrels, and no republican leader should do any namecalling. Youre a mom. We expect more than that. You can go to facebook or twitter. Do you agree with secretary of states assertion kerrys assertion that the Climate Change is perhaps the most fierce some weapon of mass destruction 567892 say yes, 48 say no. I think thats where the country is on this type of stuff. What do you think . On kerrys assertion . And the countrys reaction to it . Thats one of the reasons the secretary of state has to speak out about these things. They have to let the publics around the world know about the science and the immediate threat that were facing from the warming of the earth. Fair enough. I want to thank you both for being here. T the debate will continue on here. Im dan jones. Im Newt Gingrich. Erin burnett out front starts erin burnett out front starts right now. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com next breaking news out of k kiev tonight. We have exclusive footage. Facebook pays a jaw dropping 19 billion for an app. Is it worth it. Ted nugent calls the president a subhuman mongrel. Lets go out front. Good evening, everyone. Im erin burnett. Breaking news. Military forces and ukraine on the move ready to defend bases and weapons