Some things don’t change. Buckley Jr., William. Up From Liberalism (1959):

“A second marked characteristic of the Liberal in debate with the conservative is the tacit premise that debate is ridiculous because there is nothing whatever to debate about . Arguments based on fact are especially to be avoided. Many people shrink from arguments over facts because facts are tedious , because they require a formal familiarity with the subject under discussion , and because they can be ideologically dislocative . Many Liberals accept their opinions , ideas , and evaluations as others accept revealed truths , and the facts are presumed to conform to the doctrines , as any dutiful fact will ; so why discuss the fact?” (Kindle Locations 522-527).

I think that anybody who attempted to engage a Liberal in a climate debate would wholeheartedly endorse this statement.

“In dismissing a conservative’s contentions, it is not enough merely to say that the matter under ‘discussion’ is closed; it is usually necessary, for the sake of discipline, to berate the person who brought the matter up.” (Kindle Locations 527-529).

This observation is obsolete today. Modern “Liberals” are much lower than their namesakes sixty years ago. They feel necessary to smear their opponents, and, occasionally, to threaten or call for actions against them. From the Foreword:

“The ‘libera’ mentality which Mr . Buckley puts over a barrel in this book is , I am beginning to suspect, the ideological camouflage of the will to power of this new ruling class. I can’t find any other explanation of these fits of hysteria, these fixations which time will prove to have been irrational, some of which are so amusingly documented in this book. The Communists are excellent propagandists who have developed an uncanny skill in putting their words in other people’s mouths , but they are not that good.” (Foreword by John Dos Passos, Kindle Locations 111-114)