"Climate Gate" Debated By Two Living Caricatures

Embedded below is a 3 minute clip from a televised debate last night about the recent "Climate Gate" scandal. The scandal first erupted a couple of weeks ago when hacked e-mails from some prominent climatologists at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Center were initially made public. This televised debate was between another professor from the University of East Anglia, Andrew Watson, and, via satellite, an American global warming sceptic, Marc Morano.

As they bicker back-and-forth, these two men become living caricatures of their respective positions on climate change. The professor is smug and superior, rolling his eyes dismissively while questioning the manners of his opponent and, in essence, conceding that these recent "Climate Gate" revelations are unfortunate only insofar as they are being misused by the ignorant or the mal-intended. And the sceptic, Marc Morano, does his best overbearing "ugly American" impersonation as he repeatedly talks over the professor as well as the program's host. His expensive suit and pudgy face could only scream "capitalist tool" more loudly if he also wore a top hat and had a cigar in one hand and a raw oyster in the other.

Putting that analysis to one side, this clip has become notorious in the last 24 hours because the exasperated professor primly calls Morano an "asshole" on live TV at the 2:37 mark of this clip.