Sen. Inhofe's sad spin on CNN

onOct 5, 2006 @ 14:51 PDT

Here’s the YouTube clip of Sen. James Inhofe on CNN trying to defend his fringe science views with host Miles O’Brien. DeSmog readers will know that Inhofe has been on a recent tear with his “global warming is a hoax” message, and CNN‘s O’Brien hit back hard. O’Brien even has a clip of one of Inhofe’s own Republican colleagues, Rep. Christopher Shays stating: “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 [Inhofe] to say otherwise just is like putting a bag over his head and not seeing it.”

One thing, about Inhofe you have to love is his ability to come up with outrageous sound bites. Check out the beginning of this clip where Inhofe states: “You [CNN‘s O’Brien] always smile, so many of these extermists out there, they’re mad all the time, but you’re not, you smile. In fact when you were cutting my guts out for two minutes last week, you smiled all the way through and I appreciate that.” With that quote, Inhofe has gone from simply being a Flat Earther, to just downright creepy.

O’Brien does a great job debunking Inhofe, just has to stay away from arguing the science and creating the appearance of a scientific debate, when there isn’t.

By Kevin Grandia

Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a “Green Hero” by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the “Top 50 Tweeters” on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevin’s research into the “climate denial industry” and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Koch’s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea party networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a “Certified Expert” on the political and community organizing platform NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the world’s best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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