If he was being so deliberate, why did he also repeatedly use the word "plateau"? Using cute spin doesn't "debunk" anything. The cute mention of a "slowdown" actually refers to changes that were statistically insignificant -- in scientific terms, that means no change at all.
You also missed the key question he used to set up his speculation of what might be happening:
"So the real question is where all that heat is going, if not to warm the surface."
That sure sounds to me like he is saying the surface hasn't been warming -- certainly not at all like what was predicted (and, whether the author knows it or not, not in any statistically significant way at all).
Ok, judging from this post maybe there is a chance you're not dishonest and just not bright enough to understand.
Lets look at the sentence you don't understand and quoted.
"So the real question is where all that heat is going, if not to warm the surface."
The Greenhouse Effect is basic science that all scientists agree on (even your deniers admit the greenhouse effect). The present estimates are that the increased CO2 levels are causing an increase in heat to the atmosphere of about 400,000 Hiroshima sized nuclear bombs daily. That's a lot of heat and you think it would go straight into the atmosphere and surface temperatures. Mostly it does, but the author points to new studies that show that the heat is also stirring up the atmosphere (like a kettle as it boils), this is causing more extreme weather events, bigger continent wide storms and that's stirring up the ocean. As the ocean gets stirred up (picture yourself holding a pan in the oven as you try to heat some water for your tea, as the water gets hot so does your hand and it shakes and you splash some water on your hand and think that its now cooling off), as the ocean stirs up the very, very cold water that normally sits at the bottom gets stirred up to the surface and that cools the air as it passes over the ocean.
The 400,000 Hiroshima type nukes worth of heat are still heating up our world, but they are stirring things up and splashing around the bottom of the ocean and that cooled the air a bit.
That is what the author is saying.
Now, this point also backs everything I've been saying.
What is surprising is that you still think that article backs you.