WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jim Inhofe has taken his criticism of the mainstream media's coverage of global warming to the mainstream media.
The Oklahoma Republican appeared Tuesday on CNN to respond to that network's coverage of his remarks last week in which he lashed out at the media for promoting what he sees as alarmist warnings about global warming.
Inhofe made it clear that he views CNN's Miles O'Brien as an extremist on the issue but conceded that O'Brien has a lighter touch than others. "So many of these extremists out there, they are mad all the time," he told O'Brien during an interview. "But you're not; you smile. In fact, when you're cutting my guts out for two minutes last week, you smiled all the way through it, and I appreciate that."
Inhofe was responding to a CNN piece on his floor remarks in which O'Brien used other people to take issue with the senator, who believes that the concept of man-made global warming is a hoax, and cited the campaign contributions Inhofe has received for years from the oil and gas industry.
O'Brien said in that earlier piece, "Inhofe challenged the media to get this story right, as he put it, but when we asked for an interview several times, we were told he is too busy to speak to us this week." Inhofe aide Ryan Thompson denied that he ever told CNN that Inhofe was too busy to appear but that he was already booked for the times he was asked to appear. Inhofe actually appeared on another CNN program that same night, Thompson said.
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