Last night on his show “Real Time With Bill Maher,” the comedian confronted GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum on the subject of climate change, asking directly why Santorum, a devout Catholic, is so out of touch with Pope Francis on the issue.
Santorum attempted to muddy the issue with fake statistics, asserting that a recent survey of climate scientists showed that 57 percent of them don’t believe that 97 percent of climate change is caused by CO2. Maher looked at the former Pennsylvania Senator and remarked:
“Rick, I don’t know what ass you’re pulling those numbers out of.”
Santorum insisted that his data was correct, which only led Maher to say:
“The Pope made a very strong statement in support of my position on climate change. Not yours. And your position when you heard that was ‘Hey, let’s leave the science to the scientists.’Okay, first of all, you’re not doing that.”
Santorum then attempted to interrupt the host by saying he disputed the number of scientists the Pope was relying on for his information. And to that Maher shot back brilliantly with this line which proved the absurdity of Santorum and all climate change deniers who also like to pretend they’re deeply religious:
“What I want to ask is, I mean, I’m not a Catholic, I’m an atheist. But I like the Pope better than you do. You’re saying the Pope should stick to what he knows, and I find that ridiculous.”
And that, Rick, is how you lose the debate without scoring a single point against your opponent.
Santorum, we all know, has no chance of being elected as trash collector, let alone President, but it’s always entertaining to watch him squirm when someone confronts him with the facts.
