It seems our soon to be head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, wingnut and climate change denier James Inhofe is already making the rounds in the media now that Republicans have retaken control of the Senate.

He at least got a small amount of pushback during his appearance on CNN's The Lead this Wednesday when host Jake Tapper let Inhofe know that the majority of scientists disagree with his position that climate change is a hoax. What Tapper should have asked him as well is just how many of the scientists he was quoting are being paid by the likes of the petroleum industry and their think tanks.

Transcript via:

TAPPER: One of the most outspoken critics of the deal, you just heard him in the piece right there, Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, the soon-to-be chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. And he joins me now.

Senator Inhofe, thanks so much for joining us.

You say you're against this plan because you think China is getting off too easy and because you simply don't believe China will do enough to reduce its carbon footprint. But is that really your issue with the deal? I thought you didn't think carbon emissions were a problem?

INHOFE: No, I don't think so. In fact, science has totally changed since 2001. Back then, everything was global warming and we're all going to die and all that, and then as we realized, Jake, what the cost was going to be and it would be the largest tax increase in the history of America, $300 billion to $400 billion every year. (Editor's note: Bush tax cuts cost an estimated $4.5 trillion.)

And you've got to keep in mind, you remember when Lisa Jackson was director of the EPA appointed by Obama, and I asked her the question on the record, live on TV. I said, if we pass any of this cap-and- trade stuff either by regulation or by legislation, would that have the effect of reducing CO2 emissions? Her answer is, no, it wouldn't because this is not where the problem is. It's in China. It's in India. It's in Mexico.

You know, you can carry that argument further, Jake, and say that as we would reduce ours and chase our manufacturing base to China where they have no regulations, it would have the effect of increasing and not decreasing CO2.

TAPPER: OK, well, I take your point. But without getting into remedies, let's just talk about manmade climate change itself.

There is a scientific consensus overwhelming that climate change is real, that at least partly manmade, that some action must be taken. You've called it a conspiracy. What are you talking about?

INHOFE: No. I'm just saying that when you say that science has settled and the overwhelming scientific analysis comes to that conclusion, frankly, that is just not correct. I can remember back in about 2002 and 2003, when I first started finding out from scientists that the science is not there and then, all of a sudden, it started rolling in and I published in the congressional record, not hundreds, but thousands of scientists who disagree with the United Nations.

Keep in mind the scientists that I'm talking about, that's the United Nations that we're talking about and there are many of them who are supposed to be taking part in that and they were not allowed to do it because they didn't agree with their consensus was.

TAPPER: All right.

INHOFE: And by the way, this China thing, let's keep in mind, President Xi, he said they're going to continue to increase their emissions until 2030.

TAPPER: Right.

INHOFE: They're long gone after that, and so, it's easy to say something like that when in fact, they are saying they're going to increase one additional coal-fired plant every 10 days in China for the foreseeable future.

TAPPER: All right, Senator. Well, the overwhelming majority of scientists disagree with you, but I do want to move on to another topic in the news.

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