Senator Inhofe to attend Copenhagen to represent American climate skeptics

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), one of America's better known climate skeptics, intends to make good on his promise to attend the upcoming talks at Copenhagen. This move, similar to his actions in 2003 when he attended climate talks in Milan, is meant to counter other American negotiators that would portray the US as "unified in its stance on climate regulation." Disdain for his attendance at Milan was so high that event attendees put up "wanted" posters with his face that read "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people." Inhofe joked that the poster was the "first time the environmentalists have ever quoted me accurately."

The green media has been quick to criticize Inhofe, with writers from the Washington Post referring to him as "the last flat-earther" and editorialists from Grist.org comparing the maturity of Inhofe's position to that of an adolescent boy. The most quoted line from Inhofe comes from an interview on the Larry Kudlow's CNBC show:

"I’m always the spoiler at this thing... So when Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and all the left get up there and say, 'Yes. We're going to pass a global warming bill,' I will be able to stand up and say, 'No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. I won.'"

When questioned on the possibility of countering statements made by his own president at Copenhagen, Inhofe had this to say about Barack Obama's position as a negotiator:

"I don’t know what [Obama]'s going to do. It’s clear that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, either. What is clear is that the far Left is also upset with Obama... There is far from enough support in the Senate. The Democrats don’t have the votes. There are too many newly-elected Democrats in the Senate who don’t want to go home and tell voters that they just voted for the largest tax increase in American history."

Inhofe's statement is backed up by a private document obtained by CBS news in a Freedom of Information Act request, in which the president was informed by the treasury department that cap-and-trade could represent an additional annual burden of $200 billion on the American economy, which is equivalent to raising personal income tax by about 15%. This figure is even more bleak than the estimates offered by the climate-denying U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's nice to see that [members of the Obama administration] are not spinning each other behind closed doors," said Christopher Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the original filer of the FOIA request. Read the private cap-and-trade document for more details.

Currently, Senator Inhofe says that two high-profile names have joined his "truth squad" to help him make 2009 "the year of the skeptic": Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) and a secret third attendee that some media believes may be 2012 presidential hopeful Sarah Palin.

Talking Points Memo’s Eric Kleefeld was critical of Inhofe's decision to continue anti-climate actions during international summits, saying "It’s nice to see how seriously foreign policy is taken these days — when a member of the political minority will send his own delegation to an international conference, in order to undermine the government and tell other countries that they can’t work with the United States."