Row with US senators 11 December 03

I’m just out of a conference with several of the most hard-right US senators, including Larry Craig, James Inhofe and Craig Thomas. Larry Craig said that the IPCC report was the “most boring damn piece of literature you’ve ever read in your life”, whilst Inhofe followed up with his assertion that global warming “is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”. I was unable to sit quietly by whilst they used the discredited Soon and Baliunas study to challenge the scientific consensus on global warming. So I shouted out that the study was part-funded by the American Petroleum Institute, raising a laugh from the assembled reporters. A furious debate ensued after the press conference closed and Senator Thomas stormed over to me, with lots of wagging fingers on both sides. To be continued…