Dr. Roy Spencer -- one of the few climate scientists who doubts manmade climate change and one of the few climate scientists often quoted by conservative media -- announced that he is going to start calling his opponents “global warming Nazis.”

In a February 20 post on his personal website, Spencer wrote that he was going to start calling those that use the term “deniers” of manmade climate change “global warming Nazis” because, he said, the term “indirectly equate[s]” climate change “skeptics” with Holocaust deniers. He went on to detail how “extremists” on climate change are supposedly like Nazis, including saying that they are “over-educated” like Nazis supposedly were:

Like the Nazis, they advocate the supreme authority of the state (fascism), which in turn supports their scientific research to support their cause (in the 1930s, it was superiority of the white race).

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This authoritarianism tends to happen with an over-educated elite class...I have read that Nazi Germany had more PhDs per capita than any other country. I'm not against education, but it seems like some of the stupidest people are also the most educated.

So, as long as they continue to call people like me “deniers”, I will call them “global warming Nazis”.

The term “denier” has been used since 1475 according to the Oxford English Dictionary and since at least 1800 according to Google's record of English books. However, some argue that is reminiscent of Holocaust deniers, while others, including some of those who doubt the consensus on climate change, have embraced the term. In fact, National Review editor Rich Lowry, who had previously claimed that “climate denier” was intended to invoke Holocaust deniers, now uses the term against those advocating climate action. A scientist at Scientific American wrote that he uses climate denier for those who deny the basic science and thinks those who deny this warming is “almost certainly because of human influence” are “at least leaning toward being a denier.” He uses “skeptic” for those who dispute the impacts of climate change.

Spencer has said that recent warming may be mostly natural, contrary to 97 percent of his colleagues. A 2011 study by Spencer received substantial attention from conservative media, including from Fox News, which suggested the study had destroyed a “central tenant [sic]” of global warming. Later, the journal editor that published the study resigned, saying it “likely” had “false claims” and shouldn't have been published. Spencer has also suggested that he is politically motivated, stating that he “view[s] [his] job a little like a legislator, supported by the taxpayer, to protect the interests of the taxpayer and to minimize the role of government.”

The Daily Caller, which -- along with other conservative media outlets -- often quotes Spencer, appeared to trumpet his announcement, writing up his remarks uncritically and detailing those who use the term “climate denier.”

After some in the comment section of his website took umbrage with his use of the term Nazi, Spencer doubled down, adding a note that “Considering the fact that these people are supporting policies that will kill far more people than the Nazis ever did -- all in the name of what they consider to be a righteous cause -- I think it is very appropriate.”

UPDATE (3/6/14): The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) "denounced" Spencer's remarks on February 26. ADL's Shelly Rose said in a statement:

The six million Jewish victims and millions of other victims of Hitler deserve better.  Their deaths should not be used for political points or sloganeering. This type of comparison diminishes and trivializes the Holocaust.

Spencer responded on his blog that “a new holocaust” of green energy has “already begun”:

Ms. Rose, I understand your desire to honor the memories of 6 million Jews murdered over several years during the Holocaust. But every ten years single year, 8 million children die from poverty.
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I am instead warning against a new holocaust, which has already begun as countries suffer the economic consequences of forcing high-priced, “concierge energy” on the masses.