GOP Thwarting Gore's Global Warming Concert Plans

Harry Reid wanted unanimous consent to allow Al Gore's big global warming concert on July 7th to be held on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. So far, Mitch McConnell is saying no, but there's some concern that he may relent.

However, one Senator who is neither a fan of Gore or the global warming crowd is vowing to keep the concert off Capitol Hill:

Fresh from his face-to-face tussle with former Vice President Al Gore, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is vowing to stall Gore’s hotly anticipated Capitol concert to draw attention to global warming.

Inhofe’s belief that climate change is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” is common knowledge in the capitol, and environmental groups cheered the new prospects for carbon-capping legislation when he ceded the Environment and Public Works Committee gavel this session. But Inhofe’s parliamentary powers can block indefinitely the resolution that would permit Gore to choose the capitol’s West Front for the U.S. leg of his seven-continent Live Earth concert tour — a collaboration between Gore and promoter Kevin Wall, who masterminded previous blockbuster charity concerts Live Aid and Live 8.

“There has never been a partisan political event at the Capitol, and this is a partisan political event,” Inhofe said yesterday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) attempted late last week to pass the authorizing measure for Live Earth by unanimous consent. But Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) raised an objection on the floor, seeking more time for his side to look at the resolution.

Inhofe appeared to see little room for an accommodation that could allow the concert to go forward. “There’s no compromise. Either we change the rules or we don’t.”

Inhofe knows what the other GOP senators should know - this event will have political overtones, if not outright political defiance of President Bush and his opposition to global warming hysteria. He's right to keep the concert off Capitol Hill.