Inhofe: Tell Environmentalists What I Told Barbara Boxer–‘Get over it. Get a life.’

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Republicans tend to object whenever Democrats insist on calling the GOP “the party of ‘no’,” but then someone like Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) will go and say something like this and suddenly we’re reminded that their grounds for objection are pretty thin.

The EPA has threatened to regulate this through the Clean Air Act. That isn’t going to work in my opinion because we can stall that until we get a new president–that shouldn’t be a problem. … But while the House will pass a bill … in the Senate, they’re not going to be able to pass it.

Inhofe was speaking at the Heartland Institute’s Third International Conference on Climate Change, where he was a welcomed guest. In that comfortable environment, he let loose a little. “As I’ve told Barbara Boxer, ‘Get over it. Get a Life. You’ve lost. We’ve won,” Inhofe said to laughter and applause.

Referring to cap-and-trade legislation making it’s way through the House right now, Inhofe cautioned, “it takes 60 votes in the senate. Maybe the people who wrote our Constitution knew what they were talking about after all.”

Inhofe is referring to cloture–a procedural vote the majority must win with 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. Of course, the thing about the filibuster and cloture is that neither appears anywhere in the Constitution. Oh well.

Actually, this important fact is actually well known to Republicans–including Inhofe–who were quick to note that the Constitution is silent on the question of minority rights in the Senate back in 2005 during the debate over the nuclear option.

But I’m sure the founding fathers were on Inhofe’s side at least in spirit.

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