By The Huffington Post News Editors
February 17 was a sunny, clear day in Washington, D.C., although temperatures barely topped the freezing point. Despite the cold weather, an estimated 40,000 people gathered on the National Mall to participate in the Forward on Climate Rally, urging President Barack Obama to tackle climate change and deny a permit to the controversial the Keystone XL pipeline.
On Fox News, host Neil Cavuto ridiculed rally-goers for protesting “global warming” during an arctic blast. “I think they might call this a case of, I don’t know, bad optics,” he said, as Fox showed footage of protesters bundled in hats and scarves. Cavuto was then joined by Fox Business analyst Charles Payne, who mocked not only the temperature, but the message of the rally. “Maybe that was it, maybe it was the icicles on their lips,” said Payne, laughing. He then imitated protesters trying to say the word “fracking” through frozen lips, a gag he repeated later in the segment.
Many climate deniers (and some Fox News pundits) have argued that low temperatures invalidate the science behind climate change. According to Media Matters, Rush Limbaugh noted in a January 11 show that it was “27 degrees outside San Diego right now, 27 degrees, and they’re talking about global warming.” Stuart Varney cited Jerusalem’s snow storm and record-cold temperatures in China in an attempt to refute environmentalists lobbying for a carbon tax.
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