John Kerry calls out lack of climate questions at debate

Former Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday blasted the lack of questions about climate issues at the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday in Westerville, Ohio.

“Twenty years from now, it won’t wear well that in a THREE hour debate, there was time to ask about Ellen at a Cowboys game, but not climate change. Not once!” Kerry tweeted Wednesday.

YES to this! Twenty years from now, it won’t wear well that in a THREE hour debate, there was time to ask about Ellen at a Cowboys game, but not climate change. Not once! https://t.co/qTvbr7LvyU

— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) October 16, 2019

Numerous figures criticized moderators for closing with a question about Ellen DeGeneres and former President George W. Bush’s friendship as opposed to political issues, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D). Kerry quoted Inslee’s tweet, which called climate change “the existential crisis of our time” and called the omission “completely inexcusable” Tuesday night.{mosads}

Brian Kahn, the founder of the environmental news website Earther.com, also took issue with the DeGeneres question, tweeting “CNN thought it was more important to use Ellen hanging out with a war criminal as a jumping off point to ask about bipartisan friendships than ask about the largest existential threat facing humanity.”

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, who was onstage for the debate, also named climate change as an issue that would have been a better use of debate time than the question.