Sarah Palin talks to Charlie Gibson about energy and the environment.

First, a word about mainstream media. Here's a key sentence in the ABC News report on Gibson's interview with Palin:

In the day's second interview, when it came to the discussion of energy policy, turf the Alaska governor is far more comfortable discussing, many of the differences between she and McCain were exposed.

That's professional writing? Lord help us.

Anyway, on that turf where Sarah Palin is supposedly not quite so comfortable, she refused to say that she knew for a fact that global warming is caused by the activities of the human being.

"Do you still believe that global warming is not man made?" Gibson asked Palin.

"I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. Here in Alaska, the only arctic state in our Union, of course, we see the effects of climate change more so than any other area with ice pack melting. Regardless though of the reason for climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet -- the warming and the cooling trends -- regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it and we have to make sure that we're doing all we can to cut down on pollution."

I don't know why she's being characterized as not "comfortable" there. It seems to me that she did an excellent job of putting doubts about human-caused global warming in a moderate and appropriately scientific way. Who claims to know for sure that global warming is entirely, wholly caused by man's activities?

Gibson follows up with the key question. (Look at the film clip at the link.) If you don't begin with the premise that human beings are the problem, then how does it make sense to talk about human beings doing something it?

If I'd been asked that question in her situation, I'd have had to bite my tongue not to say: That's the real reason for the demand that everyone sign on to the theory of human-caused global warming. People want to convince us to conserve, cut back, and change how we live, and that goal is served by getting us us believe that global warming is our fault. But the usefulness of the belief doesn't make it true.

But she doesn't say anything like that. She seems to think we can consider doing something to stop global warming even if we may not be causing it.

"We gotta do something...."