You have to wonder. But that's what they're doing. Ezra Klein adds it up.
Not a single GOP member of the House Energy Committee will say global warming is real, reports Evan McMorris-Santoro. ...
... On Monday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up Republican-backed legislation to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases. Democrats proposed a series of amendments that simply admitted the reality of global warming -- they didn’t require regulation or a carbon tax. Just an admission of the state of the science. Rep. Diana DeGette’s amendment was particularly careful in its language: “’The scientific evidence is compelling’ that elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases resulting from anthropogenic emissions ‘are the root cause of recently observed climate change,’” it read. Not one of the 31 Republicans on the committee voted for it, or any of the amendments. Not one. Confronted by one of the most significant threats our planet faces, the 31 House Republicans charged with coordinating America’s response refused to even admit the underlying facts. “I would say it’s not settled,” said Rep. Joe Barton.
"We'd rather die and take all the rest of you with us than admit we're wrong." Is that what you mean, Representative Barton?
Klein also has some interesting news about who's going to catch hell if there's a budget shutdown. The responsibility is no longer shared by of both parties. Republicans will be blamed alone.
The public is overwhelmingly opposed to a budget shutdown and polling shows they’d likely blame Republicans, report Dan Balz and Jon Cohen: Large majorities in the poll say a partial shutdown of the federal government would be a ‘bad thing’” but each side squarely blames the other for not compromising in the budget negotiations...Among those who say a government shutdown would be harmful, about twice as many say they would hold the GOP, rather than the president, responsible.
