‘Standing Up to the WSJ’

Politicians are endlessly inventive in the ways they promote themselves—like the Geico ad says, it’s what they do—and Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse is one of the most creative. Even we’re impressed with his idea to use our recent criticism of his attacks on climate-change skeptics as a fund-raising tool.

Senator Whitehouse has been demanding that prosecutors use laws created to thwart the Mafia against dissenters who question global-warming models. As he struggles to rebut our critique of his awful idea, Mr. Whitehouse has apparently decided that if he can’t persuade the general public to adopt his climate absolutism, at least he can use the controversy to motivate his deep-pocketed partisans.

This week a recipient shared with us an email sent out on Tuesday by the Senator’s re-election campaign. The subject line: “Standing up to the WSJ.”

The email was addressed “Dear Friends” and said, “I hope you’ll take a moment to read this. It’s not often that the Wall Street Journal editorial page comes after your U.S. Senator as they have recently. You may have heard of this dust-up, and you deserve an explanation.”

They certainly do, and Mr. Whitehouse doesn’t skimp on the melodrama. His email consists of a description of what he portrays as his brave and lonely stand against the terrible abuse he is taking from fearsome foes, including “the Wall Street Journal editorial page, as well as various less-well-known blogs, fronts and just plain cranks.”

It seems some of these terrifying people call him names—“the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada,” for example. As for us, he says, “the Wall Street Journal is trying to saddle me with arguments I am not making, because they have no good answer to the arguments I actually am making.”

We could find nothing in the email to back up this assertion, so we asked the Senator’s office what he is talking about. A Whitehouse spokesman tells us, “He is referring to the end of your recent editorial where you claim the Senator is trying to ‘stifle’ political and scientific opponents.”

Glad we cleared that up. Apparently the Senator doesn’t understand why anyone would be concerned about the impact on political debate of civil charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or the potential for states and private litigants to seek treble damages.

Most academic scientists aren’t rich enough to dismiss the risk of a RICO suit, and even most companies would go out of the way to avoid the cost and risk of endless litigation. Why even raise the possibility of RICO suits—and suggest it to the Justice Department—if Mr. Whitehouse’s goal isn’t to punish those who disagree with him on climate?

By the way, the spokesman insists that “this was not a fundraising email.” But it did go to Mr. Whitehouse’s donors and the email says “Paid for by Whitehouse for Senate,” which means his campaign arm, not his Senate office. He also wants his donors to know that “I am not the kind of person to back down from a fight.” We’re happy to give him one, though we hope he doesn’t report us to the Federal Election Commission for making an in-kind political contribution to his campaign.