Inhofe isn't bullish on bear
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
8/29/07 at 3:49 AM
Correction
The woman in the Polar Bear outfit was Jean McMahan.
A costumed acti-
vist fails to sway him
from believing that
man-made global
warming is a hoax.
The polar bear on the front
row probably didn't change
Jim Inhofe's mind much.
Oklahoma's senior senator
remains steadfast in his belief
that science is on his side
when it comes to global climate change and the environment.
He's even more sure that
economics are on his side.
Inhofe made it clear Monday at the Tulsa Press Club
that he has not wavered from
his position that man-made
global warming is a hoax and
that, even if it's not, the cost of
curbing energy consumption
and greenhouse gases is far
too high.
"You can argue about the
science, but you can't argue
about the cost," he said.
In any event, Inhofe said,
he is confident that he is winning the argument on merit.
"People are now pretty
much convinced that the science has never been there,"
he said. "During this recess,
many more scientists have
come over to my side."
This was news to the polar
bear, or rather the woman
dressed as a polar bear, Jean
McMahan Green.
Green has been appearing
regularly at political events to
make known her concern for
polar bears.
"I wanted to ask him about
the poison in the (bear's)
blubber from the fish they
eat," she said.
When asked whether she
believes Inhofe's assertion
that the biggest threat to polar bears is overpopulation,
Green laughed.
She's not the only one.
Inhofe's statements on climate and the environment are
frequently the butt of television comics and commentators. He doesn't seem to care.
"When you don't have the
truth on your side, when you
don't have the science on
your side, you resort to name-calling and threats," he said.
Newsweek's Aug. 13 cover
story's headline -- "Global
Warming Is a Hoax" -- paraphrases Inhofe, and the story
itself identifies him as a chief
operator of what it calls a well-funded "denial machine."
The story accuses Inhofe of
using his former position as
chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment
and Public Works to portray
inaccurately the degree of scientific dissent on climate
change.
Inhofe said Monday that he
was unaware of the story.
The Jim Inhofe EPW Press
Blog on the Environment and
Public Works Web site attacks what it calls News-
week's "screed."
The blog is written by Marc
Morano, Inhofe's committee
communications director.
"This is a profit center for
Time and Newsweek," Inhofe
said Monday in explaining
the environmental reporting
of the nation's two largest
weekly news publications.
"I would say they are not
objective. The more hysterical they can make things
sound, the more copies they
sell.
"But I don't mind. I don't
mind standing up for things
when nobody else will."
Randy Krehbiel 581-8365
randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com
Associated Images:
A woman wearing a polar bear outfit raises her hand to
ask a question during a speech Monday by U.S. Sen. Jim
Inhofe in Tulsa. She was dressed as a polar bear to make a
point about the bears’ plight in regard to global warming.
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