So you support the strongarming of Exxon-Mobil by Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe, do you?
I don't view the letter as a strong-arm tactic. As I referred to in my first reply, it took years of increasing pressure to get the tobacco companies to admit the deleterious health consequences of smoking, and the tobacco companies paid for researchers to maintain a campaign of disinformation. Do you think that was ethical? If there had been a letter like this sent to the CEO of a major tobacco company 30-35 years ago, would you have characterized it as a strong-arm tactic then? Would your opinion of the letter have changed over the intervening years?
I provided the information on the WSJ editorial page to indicate that their characterization of the letter might be a tad biased. Given their proven editorial bias against global warming and the scientific understanding of it, the editorial page's response is unsurprising. Obviously the letter didn't have an effect because ExxonMobil responded that they are going to continue their funding patterns. It'll take market forces to make ExxonMobil understand where public opinion is really headed.