Their tears are not those of joy or relief that the issue of climate change is getting it's due notice. Their cries are for more petty reasons than that. Lynn Westmoreland from Georgia lead the charge that Gore did not have a right to come to the floor of the House to share his breadth of knowledge based on a minute and highly disputable reason.
From WTVM in Georgia:
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats cheered Vice President Al Gore's return to Capitol Hill to testify on global warming. Georgia 3rd District Republican Lynn Westmoreland didn't.
As Gore visited with former colleagues on the House floor around lunchtime Wednesday, Represenative Westmoreland argued that the Democrat was violating recently enacted ethics rules rescinding floor privileges for former congressmen working as agents of a foreign government.
Because Gore serves as an adviser to Britain on climate change, Westmoreland said, he shouldn't have been allowed. The third-term lawmaker, who represents northern Columbus & Harris County said it was "in total violation of the House rules." He said Democrats don't even pay attention to their own rules.
Is that the best these guys can come up with? Gore serves in an informal role as an advisor for Britain and does not even get paid. The former Representative, Senator and Vice-President has an incredible breadth of knowledge on the subject so that the Congress should be honored to have him speak. The Democratic Majority is well aware of that, however at least this one Republican tries to use counter-arguments that are based on the ridiculous and the absurd. Westmoreland should try to debate Gore and those in the reality-based community with factual arguments on the issue instead of throwing out trivialities. Of course, he has no facts to refute the ever-increasing awareness of man-made climate change so that really is a non-starter.
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