Obama reminds climate-change deniers: 'When the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny Sputnik was up there'

Obama throws shade.
(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

In his last State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama told more than a few jokes — but one of his most pointed was implicitly directed at those who deny climate change:

Sixty years ago, when the Russians beat us into space, we didn't deny Sputnik was up there. We didn't argue about the science, or shrink our research and development budget. We built a space program almost overnight, and 12 years later, we were walking on the moon. [Obama]

The applause on the left side of the aisle was wild. On the right? Not so much.

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Nico Lauricella

Nico Lauricella was editor-in-chief at TheWeek.com. He was formerly the site's deputy editor and an editor at The Huffington Post.