Olbermann named Beck “runner-up” in “Worst Person” for claiming the “globe was the hottest” in 1934

Written by Kathleen Henehan

Published

During the October 26 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck the “runner-up” in his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for claiming that “the globe was the hottest” in 1934 on the October 24 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, as Media Matters for America documented. According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), 1934 was the hottest year on record for the United States, not the globe. The hottest year on Earth was actually 2005, according to a temperature analysis by the GISS. In fact, the GISS does not even rank 1934 among the globe's five warmest years.

Olbermann has frequently named Beck during his “Worst Person” segment, as Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). Olbermann also named a CNN executive “Worst Person” for hiring Beck to host his CNN Headline News show.

In awarding Beck the “runner-up” on his October 26 broadcast, Olbermann said that Beck is “now being used to try to deny global warming.” While Beck has asserted that the Earth is, in fact, warming, he has said that “there's a disagreement on why.” For example, during his May 2 hour-long special, Exposed: The Climate of Fear, Beck stated:

Anyway, the bottom line is, no one is denying that the globe has warmed. It has, 0.74 degrees Celsius.

But there's a disagreement on why, and there's even more disagreement on if it will be catastrophic or not. The tactics Al Gore uses in “An Inconvenient Truth” deserve an Oscar. We all have to remember: There's a difference between science and science fiction.

In addition, on the October 25 edition of Glenn Beck, Beck argued that he is “not willing to say that the globe is not warming, because it is warming,” before adding: “I believe it may be natural, but even if man caused it, I think what the scam is, is us having the audacity to say that we can fix it.”

From the October 26 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: Runner-up, Glenn Beck. He's now being used to try to deny global warming. Telling his sheep that the hottest year in global history was 1934. Actually, 1934 was the hottest year in American history. As for the globe, where all of us live, the hottest year was 2005. Followed by 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2006. I mean, I know facts aren't mandatory in what you do, but isn't it embarrassing when you get them wrong every day?