Sheldon Whitehouse Pwns ‘The Senator With A Snowball’

Earlier, we mentioned that Senator Jim Inhofe, arguably the loudest climate-change denier in the Senate, made a complete fool of himself on national television yesterday. The Oklahoma Republican used a snowball he’d rolled up earlier in the day outside the Capitol in order to argue there was no such thing as climate change. Well, one of his colleagues, Sheldon Whitehouse, was having none of it. The Rhode Island Democrat took to the floor to explain the overwhelming evidence for climate change to Inhofe and the nation.

Sheldon Whitehouse at the 2010 New England Council (from Council's Flickr feed)
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse at the 2010 New England Council (from Council’s Flickr feed)

Whitehouse pulled up NASA’s Earth-Now app on his iPad, and showed how warmer ocean temperatures were pushing a polar vortex down most of the East Coast–including Washington. “You can either believe NASA,” Whitehouse said, “and you can believe what their satellites measure on the planet. Or you can believe the Senator With A Snowball.”

So began what may be one of the most epic takedowns ever seen on the Senate floor. Watch here:


Whitehouse pointed out that the Navy is so alarmed by climate change that no less an authority than Admiral Sam Locklear, commander of the United States Pacific Command, called it “the biggest threat we face in the Pacific.” The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, an array of major corporations, and “every major American scientific society” are all on record as believing that climate change is very real. You can believe all of them, Whitehouse said, “or you can believe the Senator With A Snowball.”

Earlier, Whitehouse said that most Americans do believe in climate change. Take away the “conspiracy theorists,” people who simply refuse to accept “scientific truths,” and those with financial ties to fossil-fuel interests, and Whitehouse finds it hard to believe that there would be “virtually anybody left” who doesn’t believe in climate change. Oh, that’s right–most of those people don’t live in the “real America,” as represented by Inhofe.

I haven’t been able to find any footage of the look on Inhofe’s face while Whitehouse was slicing and dicing him. Between this and the news that his favorite scientist, Willie Soon, was bought and paid for by fossil-fuel companies, it’s probably a wonder that Inhofe is able to remain standing.

Inhofe’s only response so far has been to retweet a video clip from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Republican staff showing him tossing the now-infamous snowball. If that’s really the best Inhofe can do, it says a lot about him–or the climate change deniers as a whole.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.