Wanted: GOP Leader -- Basic Grasp of Current Issues Preferred

By Marc Sheppard

For those not convinced that the greatest challenge facing both Conservatives and the Republican Party is that of leadership, check out this video of John Boehner’s appearance on Sunday’s This Week.

Wow.

While the House Minority Leader’s entire performance was absolutely awful, one sentence in particular gets my vote for the most misinformed ever spoken on a Sunday morning talk show. Asked by host George Stephanopoulos what the Republican plan was for dealing with carbon emissions, the leader of the party had this to say:

“George, the idea that carbon dioxide is a carcinogen that is harmful to our environment is almost comical. Every time we exhale, we exhale carbon dioxide. Every cow in the world, you know, when they do what they do, you've got more carbon dioxide.”

Way to go, Congressman. That single sentence handed more ammo to Liberal ideologues who preach that most Republicans are scientific ignoramuses than any in recent memory.

For starters -- carcinogen? Where the hell did that come from? We’re working overtime to quench the MSM-driven hysteria and to educate the public about the inanity of declaring an essential trace gas a pollutant, and he gets on national television and uses the word carcinogen? Has he lost his mind?

Oh, and about those things that cows do – I think they’re called burping and farting. And while they do release a so-called greenhouse gas, that would be methane, not carbon dioxide.

In the previous segment, Stephanopoulos had displayed these words from Boehner’s response to Friday’s EPA announcement that they’ll begin the process of regulating greenhouse gases:

"This decision is nothing more than a back-door attempt to enact a national energy tax that will have a crushing impact on consumers, jobs and our economy. The administration is abusing the regulatory process to establish this tax because it knows there are not enough votes in Congress to force Americans to pay it."

And if I understand him to mean that the Lisa Jackson’s move is intended as a kick in the Congressional ass to pass an Obama cap-and-trade bill, on that he’s probably correct. After all, nothing will motivate power-hungry legislators into action faster than threatening to take authority out of their hands – especially this much authority. And the Senate move earlier this month by 26 Democrats and 41 Republicans to deny fast-tracking cap-and-trade most definitely signified an uphill battle for the green caucus.

But from the moment Boehner actually appeared on camera he came off as confused, irresolute and uninformed, to the point of giving the entire exchange the feel of an old Abbott and Costello routine, but without the laughs. At least -- not intentional ones.

With an ultra-Liberal agenda now controlling the media, the White House and its agencies while holding a majority in both Houses, we’d better find some real Conservative Republican leadership.

And find it soon – There’s serious work to be done.