Today on VIP Gore's testimony to the Senate, Inhofe ran the gamut of wingnut denialist lies about global warming. The big gotcha moment came at the end when Inhofe lead Gore into a yes/no questions and culminated with a pledge that recalled the post-Oscar energy bill smear.
Having the luxury of screen capture, I took a moment to read and transcribe the pledge.
Take a close look and you will see something deliberately deceptive written into it.
Personal Energy Ethics Pledge
As a believer:
that human-caused global warming is a moral, ethical, and spiritual issue affecting our survival;
that home energy use is a key component of overall energy use;
That reducing my fossil fuel-based home energy usage will lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions; and
that leaders on moral issues should lead by example;
I pledge to consume no more energy for use in my residence than the average American household by March 21, 2008.
What we have here is a classic bait and switch gambit. Gore agreed that fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases but then is rhetorically trapped into reducing ALL of his energy use. Is it any wonder that Gore needed some time to unravel Inhofe's deceptive reasoning? But as Gore tried to explain, until he was rudely interrupted by Inhofe, he buys his energy from the Tennessee Valley Green Power Switch program and is in the process of adding solar panels his house.
TVA has built the first commercial wind-powered turbines in the southeastern U.S. on Buffalo Mountain in Anderson County, Tennessee. Solar generation sites are located in the service areas of participating public power companies. And methane gas is providing power at Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis, where a methane waste by-product from the city’s wastewater treatment plant is used for co-firing.
The obvious point being that Gore gets his energy from clean, renewable sources. Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases, not wind and solar energy use. As for combusting recycled methane, well methane is 21x more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2. So breaking down unused methane into CO2 is a much more environmentally friendly alternative to oil and gas. Coincidentally, the oil and gas industry is Inhofe's top campaign contributor.