On Monday, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) took to the Senate floor and launched into a 45-minute diatribe on global warming science. Repeating his claim that global warming is a hoax, Inhofe said, “The American people know…when they are being used and when they are being duped by the hysterical left.”
In particular, he attacked the news media. According to Inhofe, “During the past year, the American people have been served up an unprecedented parade of environmental alarmism by the media and entertainment industry.”
This morning, CNN hit back with a segment documenting that virtually everything Inhofe said was flatly contradicted by the facts. Watch it:
[flv http://video.thinkprogress.org/2006/09/inhofe.320.240.flv]
The CNN segment concluded: “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.”
Read another debunk of Inhofe’s speech at Gristmill.
Transcript:
O’BRIEN: But some Republicans are fighting a different battle. Listen to the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Environment.
INHOFE: I’m going to speak today about the most media-hyped environmental issue of all time, is the word that gets everybody upset when you say it and the word that many or the phrase that many politicians are afraid to say and that is global warming.
O’BRIEN: It’s not new ground for Oklahoma’s senior senator. Jim Inhofe has repeatedly called global warming a hoax. Despite a steady stream of stark evidence, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, the warmest temperatures in 12,000 years, the senator is not convinced.
INHOFE: During the past year, the American people have been served up an unprecedented parade of environmental alarmism by the media.
O’BREIN: In a 45-minutes speech on the Senate floor, he voiced skepticism over this graph called the hockey stick. Despite some flaws, most climate scientists consider it the best t depiction of Global Warming. Inhofe says there’s evidence that the an arctic is actually cooling, even though most scientific findings suggest the contrary and point to the loss of major chunks of ice sheets and shelves. And he says the polar bears of the arctic are thriving, even though two of the most influential wildlife agencies say they are veering toward endangered status. Inhofe is all but alone on capitol hill these days. Most Republicans believe the scientific juror is in.
REP. CHRIS SHAYS (R-CT): We have seen too much documentation to know that the world is getting warmer. We know that the ice shelves are melting. And for him to say otherwise just is like putting a bag over his head and not seeing it.
O’BRIEN: Undaunted, Inhofe also took on Al Gore.
INHOFE: In May our nation was exposed to one of the slickest science propaganda films of all time, former Vice President Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth.
O’BREIN: Inhofe offers a 12-point indictment of Gore’s documentary on climate change. He says the list might have been longer if he had actually seen the movie.
[snip]
O’BRIEN: We should point out in the recent five-year period, Senator Inhofe received more than $850,000 in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry. 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 too busy to speak with us this week.