Marc Morano of “Climate Depot” responded to my criticism of his piece yesterday, both via email and in the comments:

You may want to fact check what you write next time though.

[ Update: 1:55 PM EST: A GOP House source told Climate Depot that the Democrats on the Committee said “absolutely not” to allowing Monckton to appear during today's Gore hearing. The GOP committee “pushed at multiple levels” to bring Monckton in to testify but the Democrats “refused,” according to the GOP source. Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich was called in to testify after Monckton was rejected by the committee Democrats, according to the Congressional source.]

First, I’m not sure why anyone would take Morano’s unnamed GOP house source seriously. Given Morano’s tendency to make things up, he would be wise to use publicly available sources in his reporting. Carrying water for industry by promoting foolish and dangerous policies isn’t easy, but Morano could at least make an attempt to come across as credible. Frankly, I’m embarrassed for the guy.

Second, this basically confirms my point from yesterday that Monckton was never scheduled to testify. As I pointed out pretty clearly, the hearing schedule was available on this site and elsewhere. If Monckton was confused about whether or not he was to testify Friday he has no one to blame but himself. Morano’s suggestion that I fact check before making a fool of him again is hilarious.

Fortunately, while jokers like Morano were peddling their industry sponsored lies, the big kids were taking care of business:

And honestly, that is what the American Clean Energy and Security Act is all about. We know that our current energy policies are unsustainable. They are a threat to our environment, our economy and our national security. As we transition to a sustainable energy economy there will be lots of pollution-funded naysayers like Mr. Morano trying to confuse the public. They will use fear tactics and lies to get their points across and they will say whatever their corporate funders want them to, but it doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t matter because nobody takes them seriously. It doesn’t matter because reality is on our side. It doesn’t matter because passing a climate policy that drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions isn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when.

When reality deniers like Morano stoop to desperate lows like yesterday’s sloppy piece it is a clear sign of the futility of their work. They know the gig is up, and being irrelevant sucks. So while Morano and his ilk can go on denying reality for the rest of their lives, it doesn’t really matter. Reality can’t be fooled by anonymous GOP sources and science won’t wait for it to be convenient for industry to reduce emissions. All of the Marc Moranos in the world can’t change that.

Blasted across the front of his anti-science “Climate Depot” website, Marc Morano has this headline today: Report: Democrats Refuse to Allow Skeptic to Testify Alongside Gore At Congressional Hearing. Here is the first paragraph of the comical piece:

UK’s Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. Monckton told Climate Depot that the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.

Apparently neither Monckton or Morano bothered to check the widely distributed and publicly available hearing schedule, which Monckton was not on at any point in time. Monckton should have, um, looked at the actual schedule before booking his trans-Atlantic flight. Morano could have taken a few minutes to check the hearing schedule himself, but that would have interfered with his strict anti-reality agenda.

Later in the piece, the idiocy continues:

“The Democrats have a lot to learn about the right of free speech under the US Constitution. Congress Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) refusal to expose Al Gore’s sci-fi comedy-horror testimony to proper, independent scrutiny by the House minority reeks of naked fear,” Monckton said from the airport Thursday evening.

This is rich. To be perfectly clear: the 1st amendment does not guarantee you the right to speak at a highly publicized panel at a Congressional hearing. That is just not how it works.

I know it must be difficult for Morano to fact-check while he is literally drowning in oil industry cash, but a quick look at the publicly available hearing schedule really isn’t asking for much.

Update: This is part of a much larger problem. Solve Climate documented a few weeks ago how deniers in Congress are able to take advantage of procedure to ensure that “climate change deniers without credentials in climate science testify alongside respected scientists.”

Update 2: Media Matters hits Drudge for hyping this BS story.