Jim Inhofe and the crazy old man who controls the weather - By Mark Morford

[madokie]

You sort of expect conservative legislators in a place like, say, Idaho, to be sort of, you know, not all that bright. As in, unsure which blob is Europe, Jesus-was-American, don’t-eat-the-yellow-snow sort of OMG embarrassing. And, as evidenced by this adorable little salamander story – coupled to the most hilarious 2014 gubernatorial debate you can’t believe was actually real – you’d be all kinds of terrifically right.

But the big honchos? The upper cadre of old, white Republican relics who run the show in DC and who openly despise everything you and I stand for – the planet, love, sex, water, beauty, air? With them, I sometimes tend to be of a slightly more generous spirit.

Silly of me, I know. Thing is, I want to believe these powerful men, many of whom have been in office for millennia and all of whom have college degrees and/or law degrees, I want to believe they play dumb about the Important Stuff not because they don’t know better, not because they actually believe man rode dinosaurs or women’s vaginas have teeth, but because they have to; they’re bound to the World of Dumb by the gross gravitational force of “the base,” that famously unlearned horde of tremulous conservative voters without whom the GOP would instantly lose all power and meaning.

Why do I deceive myself this way? Because the alternative – the idea that top Republicans are as savagely ignorant as a pile of oily bricks – is so unappetizing, so baffling, so heartbreaking, it hurts the soul to hear it proven wrong.

The rest: http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2015/01/23/jim-inhofe-and-the-crazy-old-man-who-controls-the-weather/

[Beowulf42]

1. Okay

but this seems to me to be a nuanced search for meaning where there is no nuance. They are money grubbing rich people tied to the 1%. Nuance? There is no there there.

[longship]

2. What!? He did not say that he wasn't a scientist???

I thought that was the new official caveat of the GOP.

I am not a scientist, but...

Of course, he thinks climate comes from the Bible, or something. Humans cannot effect climate no matter how much shit they burn. Did I get that right, Inhofe?

Suffice it to say, we'll take it one step at a time since the last time I heard you say something about climate change you said that it was all a hoax, a conspiracy by scientists who only wanted to pad their wallets, and apparently their CVs.

But, Jim, we will drag you by your hair, if need be. Science is the best thing humans have ever come up with. Religion? That would be one of the worst.