They played on our fears?

Remeber Al Gore in meltdown mode shouting "They betrayed this country! They played on our fears!" Duke University scientists are beginning to reveal just who was playing on our fears and it appears to be Al Gore and company on Global Warming. From the Washington Times:

Global warming may not be as dramatic as some scientists have predicted. Using temperature readings from the past 100 years, 1,000 computer simulations and the evidence left in ancient tree rings, Duke University scientists announced yesterday that "the magnitude of future global warming will likely fall well short of current highest predictions."

Al Gore has been screaming recently that we only have 10 years to reverse the course of Global Warming. We have had massive coverage of a NASA scientist claiming he has been muzzled (how does that work?). We have had the fear inducing movie "Day After Tomorrow" showing the Statue of Liberty under massive ice. Then we have them blaming the policies of Bush on the Gulf hurricanes like Katrina. We have predictions of polar ice caps melting and flooding our coasts - all with pictures of polar bears jumping among small icebergs. Then there is the new Al Gore video where the cover shows a "march of penguins" in desert sands instead of snow and ice. In short, fearmongering.

Duke's research finds the chances of major warming quite smaller than the dire gloom and doom warnings:

The Duke estimates show the chances that the planet's temperature will rise even by 11 degrees is only 5 percent, which falls in line with previous, less-alarming predictions that meteorologists made almost three decades ago.

Duke also points to pre-industrial warming cycles as evidence it is not simply the evil presence of man causing the problem:

The Duke research, however, found substantial ups and downs in the Earth's temperature before modern times, countering other studies that confine noticeable temperature increases to the industrialized era. Marked climate change in other centuries resulted from "external forcing," said the Duke findings, citing volcanic eruptions and other influences.

So when it comes to fearmongering, the liberal side takes the cake. For the war on terror "fearmongering" we have 3000 dead on 9-11 and global attacks from suicide bombers. While the global warming fearmongering is based on a few hot summers in Europe, mild winters and more hurricanes than usual. So who is the one playing on our fears?