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Gingrich uses climate change hearing to personally slam Gore.

Today, both Newt Gingrich and Al Gore testified before Congress on the Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. While Gore spent the majority of his time explaining the global warming crisis and how investing in clean energy can simultaneously solve the problems of climate, economy and national security, Gingrich chose to spend his time launching into a set of attacks focused at Gore:

GINGRICH: I am an amateur paleontologist. I would be glad to take the Vice President to the Smithsonian or the American Museum of Natural History, where we can all look at all sorts of marine invertebrate life, which is collected as fossils because in fact, they use carbon quite effectively.

ThinkProgress assembled a compilation of Gingrich’s personal attacks on Gore. Watch it:

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As ThinkProgress has noted, Gingrich appeared last year in ads for Gore’s “We” campaign, promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Republican members present at the hearing appeared to mimic Gingrich’s strategy, spending their time hurling personal attacks at Gore and his credibility, rather than discussing the legislation or the science underpinning climate change.