James Inhofe

The delightful travails of a fading climate denier

In all the chaos of moving, I missed out on the latest episodes of Inhofenfreude.

First and most cosmically delectable is the news that Sen. John Warner plans to unceremoniously boot Inhofe from his seat as chair of the Senate EPW committee. Inhofe was already going to lose out when the Dems took over, but now his crazed hands are being pried from the controls even of this lame duck session. Oh, the ignominy! Oh, joyous laughter ringing through the Roberts household!

Even better is Inhofe's reaction:

"I have long been a friend of John Warner; however, I think he has misunderstood the rules. I intend to retain my leadership position in the 110th Congress, returning as the Ranking Member of the EPW Committee," Senator Inhofe said.

Heeeeee hee hee! Tra la la. Is it Christmas already?

Can Sen. Warner unseat Inhofe as ranking member on Environment and Public Works Committee?

Just when you thought all the pleasant surprises of the election must be spent, one more appears in your inbox on a Friday afternoon. Senator John Warner is going to reassert his seniority on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee to be the Republicans' ranking member, forcing every polluter's favorite Senator James Inhofe into the number two position.

Warner doesn't have the greenest record in the Republican caucus, but this year he has said some interesting things about climate change. Interesting in a good way, not interesting in an Inhofe way.

Boxer kicks out Inhofe as Senate Environment committee chair

Democratic victory in the mid-term elections means that Barbara Boxer of California will replace James Inhofe of Oklahoma as the chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee. According to Katrina Van Heuvel of The Nation, yesterday Boxer said:

"He thinks global warming is a hoax and I think it is the challenge of our generation. We have to move on it."

Melting of Larsen B ice shelf connected to climate change

Introducing a new regular feature here on Gristmill: the Inhofe Alert.

Inhofe Alerts are not about Sen. James Inhofe (R-Mongo) himself. They're about the ever-accumulating evidence for global warming. Remember: based on the logic of the position he has taken, Inhofe must dismiss every one of these studies. He must claim each one is false, or that it is fabricated by brainwashed scientists seeking the approval of their peers. Or scrabbling for funding. Or acting on behalf of the New World Order. Or something.

Without further ado, today's Inhofe Alert:

I have arrived

I think I've finally arrived.

I have now joined the august ranks of journalists -- including such luminaries as Tom Brokaw, New York Times environment reporter Andy Revkin, and AP science reporter Seth Borenstein -- publicly attacked by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works. They hate me! They really hate me!

Some background: EPW is chaired by everyone's favorite flat-earther, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Mongo). A while back, Inhofe hired Marc Morano of CNS news -- famous (if that's the word) for writing this piece questioning whether war veteran Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) faked the wounds that got him two purple hearts -- to head up his communications operation. Morano wasted no time firing off press release blasts attacking various reporters and public figures for "bias." (Remember, in the right-wing dictionary, "bias" means a stubborn insistence on distinguishing truth from falsehood.)

Today, I have the dubious honor of being the target of one of these attacks.

Battles it out with recalcitrant CNN anchor

Check out the video of Sen. James Inhofe appearing on the cable news show of Miles O'Brien, the very CNN anchor that slammed his wackadoo speech from a few weeks ago.

It's ... tense. Inhofe is courteous in that blank-eyed, sociopathic way that makes you think he'd just as soon strangle O'Brien as talk to him. "Keep smiling ..." he said at the end. Shiver.

The whole segment is a dense exchange of dueling quotes from scientific studies. At one point, Inhofe even says, "well, you have your scientific study, I have mine." As if this is just a he-said she-said thing, don't you know.

Of course O'Brien was in the right, and kudos to him for having the right studies on hand to rebut Inhofe's distortions. But more than anything this clip shows how deeply unsuited cable television is for educating viewers on these things. The barrage of science becomes white noise, and that's just what Inhofe wants.

I wish O'Brien had asked a simple question: "The overwhelming majority of climate scientists take one position. A tiny minority, many funded by fossil fuel industries, take another. Why have you, in your capacity as a U.S. Senator, chosen to champion this tiny minority so vocally?"

It’s a TKO

Oh, this is delicious. You may recall Sen. James Inhofe's wackadoo speech on global warming and media bias the other day. Well, CNN did a segment on it, pointing out the many flaws and falsehoods. They ended with this: "Inhofe challenged the media to get this story straight in that speech, but when we asked for an interview with him we were told he's just too busy to speak with us this week."

Sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Update [2006-9-28 16:28:4 by David Roberts]: Inhofe responds.

Like peanut butter and chocolate

Today, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) took to the Senate floor to give what was billed as a "major speech" on climate change. (Full transcript here.)

Inhofe is, of course, famous for being one of the Last True Skeptics, resolutely resistant to the idea that global warming is real, much less dangerous. It is, he says, the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." He's an implacable foe of any energy legislation that doesn't begin and end with drilling. (His latest gambit was an attempt to punish California for its recent climate legislation.)

He's also, as it happens, a budding media critic. His office at the Senate Environment Committee has taken to publicly attacking journalists who fail to demonstrate sufficient balance (a mix of truth and falsehood) and objectivity (refusal to distinguish between them).

Now, some might find nefarious motives for Inhofe's skepticism, and no doubt his indebtedness to the oil and gas industry plays some role, but veteran Inhofe-watchers realize that on this issue, he is a True Believer. Whether that is more or less scary than simple corruption I leave to the reader.

What's remarkable about this particular speech is its windy, compendious breadth. Inhofe comes off like nothing so much as an assiduous right-wing blogger who's spent hours in his Cheeto-scattered basement combing the net for every rumor, half-truth, and slander he can find, collecting them all into some half-ass database of delusion.

It's a bravura performance, though one can't help wonder when Oklahomans' more pressing concerns are being addressed.

I don't have the time or energy to refute every piece of disinformation, but here are some highlights, so you'll know what to look for the next time you discuss the subject with a conservative skeptic:

Pretty much what you’d expect

As we speak, Sen. James Inhofe is on the floor of the Senate making a "major speech" called "Hot & Cold Media Spin: A Challenge To Journalists Who Cover Global Warming." The full transcript is not yet available, but you can see a press release with excerpts.

Or you can watch it live here.

At least at the moment, he's spouting the "it's not a problem but even if it were Kyoto wouldn't do anything because it's too weak" argument that I still fail to understand. If it's too weak, do something stronger. No?

More later.

Update: Now it's the "restricting dirty-energy development in the developing world would keep them poor forever" argument.

Update: Now he's citing Bjorn Lomborg, with whom he recently canoodled.

Update: Now he's saying global warming activism is cover for an insidious quest for global governance.

Update: Now it's the "technology is the answer, especially nukes" argument.

Update: Now it's the "scientists used to predict global cooling" argument. More on that here. In short: no they didn't.

Update: Ooh, now a cheap shot at Gore, saying he's just using global warming to get in the White House. Yeah, that makes sense.

Update: I've counted about 50 uses of the words "alarmist" and "hysteric" so far.

Update: Apparently James Hansen, legendary climate scientist, is nothing but a "political activist."

Update: Now he's attacking NYT's Andy Revkin for writing a children's book.

Update: "Balance" is slowly catching up to "alarmism" and "hysteria."

Update: Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is one of the "sickest scientific propaganda films" ever. Sick! He's quoting Richard Lindzen about the movie. For "balance," you know.

Now it's a droning recitation of alleged errors in Gore's film -- all of which have been debunked ad nauseum. Wonder if his fellow senators know that, though.

All right, I gotta go to a meeting. All I'll say is, debunking all the bullshit in this speech would require a long, long, long time. I'll be back later with the transcript.