It’s no surprise that some opponents of clean energy legislation are fighting dirty. Big Polluters were always expected to use underhanded tactics, and they’ve managed to live up (or down) to the stereotype. But in the last week or so, the opposition’s pronouncements have veered from merely misleading to downright wacky.
We like to think it’s a sign of desperation triggered by the other side’s knowledge that they’re losing. However you want to interpret it, here are four quotes that will make your jaw drop:
Pennsylvania State Senator Daryl Metcalfe
As a veteran, I believe that any veteran lending their name to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change … is a traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution of our great nation! Remember Benedict Arnold before giving credibility to a veteran who uses their service as a means to promote a leftist agenda. Drill Baby Drill!!!
Senator Metcalfe wrote that about Operation Free, a group of decorated war veterans who are traveling the country to talk about the importance of energy independence to our national security. Operation Free pointed out that “the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the National Intelligence Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency have all decided that climate change is a security threat that must be dealt with seriously and honestly” – but Metcalfe still refuses to apologize.
Senator James Inhofe
There’s another secret person going with me. We’re going to have a team of three, a truth squad of three.
Senator Inhofe (R-OK) made that announcement on Bill Bennett’s radio show. (ThinkProgress has the clip) Inhofe had already announced that he would travel to Copenhagen to be a “one man truth-squad” during international climate change treaty negotiations. Now we know that John Barrasso is going with him and we’re anxiously awaiting the identity of the third “secret” climate change denier.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue
Members come and go all the damn time.
Donohue explains why a highly-publicized string of companies leaving the Chamber doesn’t bother him. Politico pointed out that rarely, if ever, have so many companies publicly left a business group over a policy disagreement.
Rush Limbaugh
This guy from The New York Times, if he really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet, humanity is destroying the climate, that human beings in their natural existence are going to cause the extinction of life on Earth — Andrew Revkin. Mr. Revkin, why don’t you just go kill yourself and help the planet by dying?
Limbaugh calls for the untimely demise of reporter Andy Revkin, who had the nerve to acknowledge that a rapidly increasing global population is one of the factors contributing to climate change. This hate-filled invective is par for the course for Limbaugh though, so this might not be a sign that the opposition is growing desperate. Either way, you can find a link to the comments on Media Matters.
3 Comments
I suggest you not use Media Matters to check on Rush Limbaugh quotes. A complete transcript of every show is readily available on his web site. Media Matters has a dismal track record of accurately quoting him.
You say “This hate-filled invective is par for the course for Limbaugh”. I suggest you actually take the time and listen to him. Your quote is a complete and total LIE! I have listened to him for years and hate is NOT something he preaches.
As for Pennsylvania State Senator Daryl Metcalfe. Good for him, he is telling it like it is. Anyone who supports Cap and Tax IS nothing but a traitor!
If you click on the link we provided to Media Matters, you’ll see THEY link to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show. There’s an audio clip of Rush saying what’s quoted — in his own voice.
Whether it comes from his website, from Media Matters, or from one of the many other sources (here, here, here) that copied and/or linked to the quote — it’s the same quote.
Rush uses, satire, sarcasm, and something he calls “illustrating absurdity with absurdity”. If you actually LISTEN, you will see that he is making a point. He is not serious about wanting this guy to kill himself. Media Matters bends over backwards to ignore his actual points, and paint him as a hate monger. All Republicans are painted that way by the media in general. We are all “racist, sexist, bigoted homophobes”. All a pack of lies by the way but the truth doesn’t seem to stop the unending attacks.
You can’t get Rush by listening to one or two shows. It takes a bit for some people. Longer for liberals as they tend to be the butt of his many jokes. BTW he hammers lots of Republicans too. He was relentless against McCain during the election and equally so with Bush during the Medicare prescription drug deal.