He opened his statement at a congressional hearing yesterday as follows: “Today’s hearing is about adaptation. Adapting is a common natural way for people to adapt to their environment.”

Can’t argue with that. More questionable is his assessment of global warming in the same hearing:

“I think that it’s inevitable that humanity will adapt to global warming. I also believe the longer we postpone finding ways to do it successfully, the more expensive and unpalatable the adjustment will become. Adaptation to shifts in temperature is not that difficult. What will be difficult is the adaptation to rampant unemployment — enormous, spontaneous and avoidable changes to our economy — if we adopt such a reckless policy as cap-and-tax or cap-and-trade.”

If that seems dubious to you, here’s his solid evidence that adaptation has worked in the past: “During the Little Ice Age, both the Vikings and the British adapted to the cold by changing. I suppose that one possible adaptation response of Viking retrenchment and British expansion is that we’re conducting the hearing today in English instead of Norwegian.”

Irrefutable logic. Remember, this guy used to be chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee. The future of our planet was basically in his hands.

But I can’t do him justice. Watch the full clip below:

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We’re speechless. Please follow TWI on Twitter here.

Mike Duncan – 48
Michael Steele – 48
Katon Dawson – 29
Saul Anuzis – 24
Ken Blackwell – 19

Duncan and Blackwell drop, Dawson and Anuzis gain, everyone else holds. Of course, Duncan’s drop was the biggest, but the worry for his people was that they could drop below 40 as Steele rose above 50. That won’t happen until someone drops out.

Some spin I was hearing just now, that Duncan might drop out and endorse the Steele, seems … well, no longer correct. The general consensus is that Anuzis is faltering (”the truck’s run over him”) and Blackwell is trying to make deals to stay in. The strength of Dawson worries some people.

“Can you imagine the narrative if it’s Dawson versus Steele?” asks Patrick Ruffini, the GOP web guru behind RebuildtheParty.com.

“It’s funny that this is Superbowl weekend, you know,” Jones said. “Ken Blackwell has a 13-3 record of winning elections. Leadership matters. Nobody thought the Cardinals could make it to the Superbowl, and then they picked Kurt Warner.”

Former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele’s nominating team call him a “quality man” and a “natural leader” who understands the media.

“He’s prepared to be on the Chris Wallace Show this Sunday,” says a Florida Republican. “He’s ready to take on Bob Beckel.”

Unless, of course, he wants voters to think George W. Bush is still president.

Al Franken’s outrageous attempt to seat himself in the U.S. Senate without an election certificate is an insult to Minnesotans and all those who believe in the rule of law.  While Franken has unfairly been the beneficiary of double-counted votes, ‘missing’ ballots, and inconsistent standards regarding absentee ballots, he’s clearly concerned he will lose his artificial lead as this process moves forward.

I’m less shocked than I should be at a party chairman lying about the facts of an election — if Duncan stops spinning for his party, he’ll definitely (instead of almost definitely) get Anuzis’d or Steele’d or Dawson’d when the RNC chooses a new leader. I’m more surprised to see a political party’s leader accusing Minnesota election officials of fraud and more or less accusing a likely senator (trading at 95/100 on Intrade) of election theft.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe also engaged in similar behavior during his tenure at the top of the DNC, telling Democrats that Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000. But how’d that work out for his party?

Ask President John Kerry and Speaker of the House Dick Gephardt.

GOP tech guru Patrick Ruffini tried to enter right after giving a presentation on his organization, Rebuild the Party. He tweeted:

Entered RNC meeting then they closed the room to nonmembers. Entering again so on supposedly

Then:

Wow… No quorum and they’re closing the forum to nonmembers = FAIL

Conservative blogger Adam Schmidt:

After losing an election to a candidate running on a platform of transparency the RNC needs to open up the process not bar press

Conservative blogger Jason Tolbert:

Where that welcome mat go?

RNC member Tom Wilson tweeted to cryptically explain that they “opted not to” make the forum public. Saul Anuzis, a candidate for RNC chairman and the party’s tweeter-in-chief, electronically reported on the meeting anyway. Doesn’t seem like the hoi polloi missed much.