New York Times Makes Factual Blunder
Paper erroneously claims Senate last voted on global warming bill in 2003
The May 28 Times editorial incorrectly claimed, "The Senate last addressed climate change in 2003 when it cast 43 votes in favor of a bill sponsored by Mr. McCain and Mr. Lieberman." (LINK)
In their apparently hasty Google search of Senate history, the editors at the Times failed to report that the "Senate last addressed" global warming legislation in 2005 under the McCain-Lieberman bill.
Perhaps the Times would rather forget about the 2005 bill since it was handily defeated in June by a vote of 60-38, an even larger margin than the 2003 vote (55-43). [See: LINK ]
The editors at the Times should be even more ashamed for today's error since they wrote at least one editorial about the 2005 bill. [See: NYT: Feeling the Heat - June 14, 2005 - LINK ]
Is the Times so disinterested or discouraged about the prospects of a global warming cap-and-trade bill that it does not even bother to conduct a simple fact check regarding the last Senate global warming vote? Or are the paper's financial woes forcing cutback in basic research?
A simple search of their own editorial archives would have enlightened the editors and avoided their mistake.
Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), then chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee (now Ranking Member), declared on June 22, 2005, "The Senate's sound rejection of mandatory carbon caps is a victory for American families and businesses large and small. With the addition of five votes against the measure beyond the previous 43-55 vote in 2003, the momentum is clearly moving against mandatory caps." (See: Inhofe Applauds Senate's Sound Rejection of Mandatory Caps on Carbon Dioxide Emissions - June 22, 2005 - LINK)
This is not the first time the New York Times has made embarrassing factual errors.
The award-winning Inhofe EPW Press Blog has consistently been called to act as the ombudsman of the fourth estate and this New York Times editorial correction has fallen once again on our shoulders.
As of 3:30 PM EST today, the New York Times had not yet issued a correction for their error.
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Marc Morano
Communications Director
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) Inhofe Staff
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