A Republican with nothing to lose sounds off

Bob Inglis' committee meeting lecture on climate change is exactly what the lame duck session is supposed to be about.

Fri, Nov 19 2010 at 2:52 PM EST

PARTING SHOTS: Outgoing South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis had a few thing to get off his chest before leaving Washington. (Photo: Richard Shiro/AP)

With his time limited in Washington, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) took a few shots (see video below) at his Republican counterparts during an environmental subcommittee meeting this week. The South Carolina Republican hit fellow conservatives with a one-two punch by attacking their denial of climate change and their economic hypocrisy.

Inglis tried to strike a chord with his fellow congressmen by putting a family connection to dismissing the science supporting climate change. “Here's a deal: Your child is sick,” Inglis began, “98 doctors say treat him this way. Two say no, this other way is the way to go. I'll go with the two. You're taking a big risk with those kids. Because 98 of the doctors say, ‘Do this thing,’ [and] two say, ‘Do the other.’ ”

On the economic front, Inglis connected what we aren’t doing with what China is planning to do. “I would also suggest to my free enterprise colleagues, especially conservatives here, whether you think it's all a bunch of hooey, what we've talked about in this committee — the Chinese don't. And they plan on eating our lunch in this next century. They plan on innovating around these problems, and selling to us, and the rest of the world, the technology that'll lead the 21st century.”

Inglis' comments come in the lame duck session of Congress, and that is exactly what he is right now. Inglis will soon be leaving the House’s Environment Subcommittee after losing a primary earlier in the year to incoming Rep. Trey Gowdy. Gowdy beat Inglis by attacking his conservative roots.

So much for the lame duck session being lame. This is what it is supposed to be all about.