Make that "cow-manure-on-a-stick"

Molly K. Hooper writing today in The Hill:

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a few choice words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) landmark climate-change bill after its passage Friday. When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t."

Using his privilege as leader to speak for an unlimited time on the House floor, Boehner spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted 219-212 to approve it. Eight Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill; 44 House Democrats voted against it.

Pelosi's office declined to comment on Boehner's jab. But one Democratic aide quipped, "What do you expect from a guy who thinks global warming is caused by cow manure?"

As did most Republicans, Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis also voted against the bill. In her description of the bill, she did not say "s--t" or "cow manure," although there is plenty of both items scattered across the state. Her response was much more gentile. She called it "the largest tax hike in history." And then:

"The national energy tax will lead to higher costs to create energy by American industries and will be passed directly onto the American consumers who use it, is proportionately impacting lower-income families and all working Americans. It will have a devastating impact on the price at the pump and utility bills, and will dramatically hinder the use of Wyoming coal. It will wreak havoc on family budgets, small businesses and family farms."

That's been the Republican party line, that the energy bill is a tax on us little people. Repubs are always so concerned with the little people -- and I don't think they're talking about leprechauns. That's you and me they're looking out for, folks. Not the lobbyists, of course. Not the bag men and women from Exxon and Peabody Coal and Cigna.

The Repubs feel our pain when we have to spend too much on energy or high-interest credit cards or student loans or health care or mental health care or groceries of a thousand and one other things. They feel our pain when our jobs are shipped overseas by one of their Republican pals. They feel our pain when we have to send our kids to fight wars that they or their kids or grandkids don't have to fight -- or won't. Their empathy knows no bounds.

Nor does their gall.