Ted Turner Tells Obama to Get 'Climate Change Under Control'
In an exclusive Wednesday interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, CNN
founder Ted Turner expressed his hopes for President Obama and advised
him to "get this global climate change under control."
During the 6 p.m. ET hour of The Situation Room, Blitzer teed
up Turner to give Obama advice and promoted his new biography Last
Stand. He added that "Turner's politics clearly lean left" and noted
"his admiration for former President Jimmy Carter."
[Video below. Audio here.]
"I think he's got an opportunity to really get us out of trouble," Turner said of President Obama. He argued for nuclear disarmament as well: "I'm very much in favor of us getting rid of nuclear weapons as quickly as we can."
Turner's biography that Blitzer promoted includes his adulation for former President Carter as someone who will be vindicated by history for his environmental and energy policy, as Politico noted:
"'Unfortunately, we live in a world that punishes people who are ahead of their time. It happened with Galileo, with Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and with President Carter,' Turner tells Wilkinson in the book. 'He wanted us to take a long hard look at ourselves in the mirror, as a nation. It was tough medicine.'"
Turner recently called for nuclear disarmament on CNN and claimed that "war is just about over with." During the Gulf oil spill, he remarked "I'm just wondering if God's telling us he doesn't want us to drill offshore."
Ironically, as NewsBusters reported, Turner's Republican son claimed he has a "hard time" watching CNN because the network is "pretty much to the left."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on April 3 on The Situation Room at 6:51 p.m. EDT:
WOLF BLITZER (voice-over): After his father died, Turner turned his
family's struggling billboard business into an empire. Over the years,
he's had his hand in TV, sports, sailing, and the restaurant business.
He's also passionate about his causes, including the environment. He's
one of America's biggest private land owners. He has about two million
acres across 13 states. It's a big part of his life and the new book
about him.
(on camera): You're really determined to save this planet, aren't you?
TED TURNER: I'd like to. It's the best planet we've got.
BLITZER: And the single most important thing all of us can do, especially if we read this book would be –
TURNER: Is take care of everything.
BLITZER: Are we doing that?
TURNER: No.
BLITZER (voice-over): Turner has said his biggest goal is to change the
world. He's close to fulfilling his long-term pledge to give $1 billion
to help the United Nations. And he's a champion of nuclear disarmament.
(on camera): You fear nuclear war. All of us do.
TURNER: You bet. It'd be the end of – it'd be the end of the world.
Though I'm very much in favor of us getting rid of nuclear weapons as
quickly as we can.
BLITZER (voice-over): Turner's politics clearly lean left. He talks
about his admiration for former President Jimmy Carter and his hopes for
the current commander in chief.
TURNER: I think he's got an opportunity to really get us out of trouble.
BLITZER (on camera): If he's watching you right now, give him some advice. You're Ted Turner speaking to President Obama.
TURNER: Let's be sure to get this global climate change under control.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
