NTZ “Being Very Unfair”, Says Heartland Institute. “‘Pay To Play’ Not What Heartland Does”

I feel obligated to upgrade a reader comment by Jim Lakely, Communications Director, The Heartland Institute, to a post. He says I was “being very unfair” yesterday.

My main gripe is that these two very dishonest Correctiv “journalists” should have never been allowed to get as far as they did. Now we independent skeptics here in Germany have to deal with being smeared nationally again.

In Germany, the skeptics are outnumbered by like 20 to 1; it’s not a 50-50 deal like in USA. German MSM journalists like those at ZDF are very nasty, unfair and dishonest to legitimate climate science critics.

Jim Lakely, Director of Communications, The Heartland Institute

I have other comments, but will hold them for another time.

I’d love to see a point-by-point rebuttal from Heartland to the nonsense made by ZDF Frontal 21 and Correctiv so that we can defend ourselves here.
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Pierre,
You are being VERY unfair to James Taylor and Heartland, and Naomi Seibt — who is not “distraught,” but angry (as is Heartland) at how this has been able “to weave a highly distorted, one-sided, yet believable hit piece.” You had it right on “distorted,” and not so right with the rest.

First: James is surely flattered by your battlefield promotion, but he is not the president of The Heartland Institute. He is the Director of Heartland’s Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy.

Second: They “worked” James spottily over several days in two cities over two weeks before he sat down for a brief talk. That’s a lot of squeeze for no juice. Their big “get” was a big nothing. They tried to bait James into agreeing for a “pay to play” arrangement, and the reporters say … “he didn’t say no.” Really? After two weeks of work, they finally get around to asking their “money question” and that’s it?

There’s a reason James didn’t say “yes”: Because “pay to play” is not what Heartland does, unlike many think tanks on the left. You’re seriously faulting James for steering a (fake) potential donor away from that “gotcha” dishonorable idea into discussing honorable like-minded work with a donor? By that standard, no one in the climate realist movement would ever be able to raise any funds to support our work.

Ask yourself: If these “journalists” had a genuine “smoking gun,” wouldn’t they have presented that instead of that lame “gotcha”?

Third: To compare this lame, days-long caper to the work of Project Veritas is a massive insult to the latter’s fantastic work.

I hope, Pierre, that you will consider giving Heartland some space on your site to more fully rebut for your readers your unfair and uncharitable take on this. Considering all Heartland has done to promote climate realism over many years, I hope you don’t consider that an unreasonable request.

Jim Lakely
Director of Communications
The Heartland Institute”

3 responses to “NTZ “Being Very Unfair”, Says Heartland Institute. “‘Pay To Play’ Not What Heartland Does””

  1. Mike

    I realise from reading the book by R Mark Musser about Nazis and German oaks that Germany has been central to this environmental dogma since the 19th century. It seems to be rooted in German thinking and so it is no surprise that it tries to drive this same agenda, with a few modifications of course, and you are one of those in the same country opposing the dogma.

    It is okay to “throw a wobbly” sometime Pierre, we all do, but we all admire the work you do. Hopefully there won’t be too much mess to clean up this time.

  2. drumphish

    Bill Hicks was more than a comedian.

    “This is where we are at right now, as a whole. No one is left out of the loop. We are experiencing a reality based on a thin veneer of lies and illusions. A world where greed is our God and wisdom is sin, where division is key and unity is fantasy, where the ego-driven cleverness of the mind is praised, rather than the intelligence of the heart.”
    ― Bill Hicks

    Off topic, maybe, but not irrelevant.

    Correct information trumps smarmy fake journalism (whatever that is).

    The remaining statists in Germany just can’t let go. Gotta do something.

    They must be in control of the fake free press these days.

  3. John K.

    Um, it’s just as bad in the US. Skeptics are a minority as noted by their lack of representation in the press. We’re never quoted or given platforms to explain our positions. The only bright light is that climate change ranks dead-last as a priority in major polls (Gallup, Pew, etc.).

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