Rep Earl Blumenauer did on the floor of the House what a number of writers and bloggers have done online: exposed a lie by Republican Congressional leaders. Here’s the video, which begins with a bit of back-and-forth as Earl tries to get the Californian Representative to give an actual citation of the number that is the heart of this particular GOP lie (and thanks to Carla at BlueOregon for posting this originally):

Pretty simple stuff. Republican staffers call the researcher, John Rielly of MIT, they learn their information is off — by 4000% — and so they do what they always do: jettison the facts and keep the lie, the better to sell their ideology. Earl, like many others with a concern for the fate of the planet, has had enough and comes as close to calling his GOP colleagues liars as one is allowed to do without facing censure. He uses the word “canard” - an unfounded rumor or story, as the Apple dictionary puts it. He does not call Boehner, McConnell, et al liars, just the purveyors of an “unfounded” story.

He’s not the only one, as I said. Here’s ThinkProgress calling out the liars — but they can call it a lie, which Rep Blumenauer is not able to do on the House floor:

Conservatives in Congress are resting their objections to effective green economy legislation on a bogus stat. Conservative leaders like Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are attacking the cap-and-trade proposal before Congress by claiming that it would “cost every American family up to $3,100 per year in higher energy prices.”

This is a deliberate lie.
…

When conservatives tell you you’d see your energy bills go up $3,100 every year, it’s not distortion or spin, it’s just a lie.

Ok, great. The liars have been called such, publically, and in clear, uncertain terms. Now what? The good guys have spoken the truth; now what?

The first what is the one that won’t happen: the mainstream media is not going to call Boehner et al on their lies. You will not see Brian Williams or Wolf Blitzer lead their broadcasts with “GOP uses false info to attack cap-and-trade”. Not gonna happen. For all kinds of reasons, not the least of which is that the corporations that own the MSM have a vested interest in continuing the status quo. Cap-and-trade, along with the other measures we need to put in place immediately to have a chance to avert disaster, will cut into profits of corporations with heavy investments in oil and related industries. So most Americans will not get the message that what the Republicans are doing is not politics-as-usual — arguing over interpretations or values — but is outright, bald-faced, undeniable dishonesty.

So if there is going to be an effective next, it has to come from a different source. I would love to see Earl continue his mini-rant on as many news talk shows as possible. He’s revealed the lie on the House floor; now he needs to get on Olbermann, Maddow, Morning Joe, Thom Hartmann — anywhere, everywhere. Get on Jon Stewart. He’s got a bit of name for the chimp legislation; he can grab that and use it for a much better cause (although protecting captive animals is always a good cause).

But that’s just one person, albeit a Member of Congress. That’s not enough. Once again, we come down to the political organization that is the key to this nation’s future. This organization put Barack Obama into the White House, they elected a huge number of Democrats over two election cycles, and they hold the power to shape what the Congress and the government do. No, not MoveOn or the unions or even the pinko terrorists that fill Dick Cheney’s nights with fear. The organization that can make all the difference is “we the people”. No other group can do what needs to be done, and it’s time for people to step up.

Obama has begun this process by seeking to activate his supporters on behalf of the budget and economic recovery. This is a great place to start, but it’s only a start. Millions of Americans, ordinary citizens with little if any previous experience, helped change the world. But Election Day 2008 was, as candidate Obama tried to warn repeatedly, only the beginning. Unless the same people continue to work for the policies he represented as the nominee, his presidency will fall short of goals not merely lofty but vital.

If those who believed “Yes we can” and got him elected president don’t maintain that effort, the world, to be blunt, is up the creek.

That’s “what now”. People have to speak up and act up. Those of us in Earl’s district have to call him and thank him for kicking ass. We need to encourage him to do it more. Then we need to write Sen Wyden and Sen Merkley and have them speak up. We need to do the simple stuff: letters to the editor, blog posts, talk shows, etc. We need to talk to friends, family, neighbors. We need to let Congress know that we know the truth cap-and-trade may be confusing to us, but lying about what an MIT professor said is not — and that we won’t settle for them going wet on us (a great English term: it has to do with schoolboys’ reaction to bullies threatening them).

The fight to save the planet is going on right now. There are fools who, for a variety of reasons, will push for policies that will make the survival of life on this planet questionable. If we want a future that has some hope for the human race, among others, we have to be the ones who step up and call out the liars, smack them upside the head, and give support to leaders like Barack Obama and Earl Blumenauer who will do the right thing — if not undermined by liars who think they can get away with it.

Let’s show them they won’t.