The Chicago Tribune, on the fallout from FakeGate:
Science relies on multiple layers of honesty. They include the honorably conducted gathering and analysis of facts, a perpetual quest for irrefutable evidence supporting conclusions — and trust that everyone is acting with integrity.
When scientific truth becomes sufficiently compelling, it matters little what the critics or skeptics say. It doesn’t matter if everyone doesn’t believe. Doubters cannot make the Earth flat.
But stunts such as Gleick’s — this effort to sully opponents with dishonest tactics — undercuts scientists around the world as they marshal evidence to convince an increasingly skeptical public about the dangers of global warming.
Note: they wouldn’t be half as skeptical if it wasn’t increasingly obvious that the shenanigans all seem to be originating on one particular side.
If the theory was sound, they wouldn’t feel the need to lie, or to withhold their data. The fact that they do lie and they do withhold their data simply proves that at Best, they have a weak case. One so weak that it could be refuted easily and they Know It.