It's only a few weeks into 2011, but I feel I must nominate Fox Business' Stuart Varney for what could turn out to be the most inane statement of the year by a conservative host. During an interview with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli on the February 3 edition of his show, Varney advanced the notion that Cuccinelli's investigation into climate scientist Michael Mann, a former University of Virginia professor, has no bearing on the “argument about whether there is global warming or not.” This claim doesn't pass the laugh test -- not even a little bit. As I detailed a few weeks ago, the only reason Mann is under attack is because skeptics (falsely) assert that he tampered with data to support the case for global warming.

On the show, after pressing Cuccinelli on whether he “was going after” Mann, Varney stated: “This is not an argument about whether there is global warming or not -- obviously not.” Varney added: “That's not part of the debate here.” Cuccinelli replied: “Correct.”

In fact, the whole investigation is about trying to discredit the science behind global warming.

First off, Cuccinelli is a global warming skeptic. He has stated that global warming is “unreliable, unverifiable and doctored” science and has mocked the dangers posed by carbon dioxide. In December 2009, when emails from a U.K. climate research institute were stolen, conservative media exploited the ensuing controversy into “Climategate,” with skeptics alleging that the emails undermined the scientific consensus that human activities cause climate change. (They did not.) One particular email mentioned Mann and alluded to a “trick,” and conservatives grossly misrepresented it to allege that scientists “had tampered with data or perverted the peer review process to exaggerate the threat of global warming.” (They had not, and Mann was cleared of any wrongdoing.)

Cuccinelli has said that because of the Climategate emails, “there does seem to at least be an argument to be made that a course was undertaken by some of the individuals involved, including potentially Michael Mann, where they were steering a course to reach a conclusion.” So he continues to issue subpoena after subpoena for UVA records trying to determine whether Mann "committed fraud by knowingly skewing data as he sought publicly funded grants for his research." In criticizing the investigation, The Washington Post blasted Cuccinelli for engaging in what the Post referred to as an “ongoing campaign to wish away human-induced climate change,” and the Union of Concerned Scientists slammed Cuccinelli for “harass[ing] Michael Mann and other climate scientists simply because their results don't fit with his political views.”

But, to Varney, global warming has nothing, nothing, to do with this.