I was the split-screen bystander on Hardball last night when Chris Matthews exposed Kevin James as the quintessential right wing slandering bloviator.

James was of course pathetic but his -- and Bush's and McCain's -- strategies aren't so funny. Basically, when you've lost an argument because facts and history aren't on your side, resort to unprovable guilt-by-association or, as in appeasement, guilt-by-analogy.

It was bad enough when McCain tried to link Hamas and Obama because Hamas said it preferred Obama. And if the Klan endorsed McCain because he wasn't the black guy, would McCain have a problem if someone said that McCain and the Klan are one and the same?

Then Bush makes his instantly famous appeasement attack at the Knesset on Obama. We've seen this movie before. Whenever conservatives can't win an argument on the merits, they attack some real or perceived enemy as Hitler. So Ho Chi Mihn was Hitler. bin Ladin was Hitler. Ahmadinejad was Hitler. Of course Hussein was Hitler. And anyone who does something to try to resolve conflict short of more war is Neville Chamberlain.

Beyond the fact that Mr. President 28% has next-to-credibility on much of anything, least of all in the Middle East, the attack on Obama is ridiculous.

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio:

Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern

Economist and author Jeffrey Sachs will be here to tell us about his plan to wipe out global poverty. Jeffrey is the author of the new book “Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet.”

Congressman and chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Bart Stupak (D – MI) will be talking with us about the deceptive advertising being conducted by America’s pharmaceutical industry.

Air Americans, you'll be especially interested in our interview with
Bill Moyers, who, with Galbraith and Schlesinger, is one of the three
greatest progressive, public intellectuals of the modern era.

We talk about America's "story" of democracy, how Obama won't
be "Willie Horton-ized," how money in politics is the great issue not
part of the '08 campaign, and how he's only wanted to be a journalist
-- or, he'd rather write than be president.

When George Bush finally admitted that radical climate change is taking place and that man-made carbon dioxide is responsible, it was an embarrassment to the extreme fringe of the GOP. It had to be especially uncomfortable for all those letter-to-the-editor writers who used newspapers to tell us that global warming was a hoax. For years, we were overwhelmed by talking points borrowed from all their favorite conservative political radio talkers. Those letters tended to look alike because they were the product of a prepackaged political agenda.  But we can learn from those letters we’ve endured for the last seven years. We can learn to appreciate the dangers of being too committed to every policy and agenda that is handed down to us from the political party of our choice. 

Go back and look and you will see there is no difference in the science of climate change today and the science that existed seven years ago. Put another way, we have wasted seven years in our effort to solve the problem because a purely political agenda became more relevant than the well being of future generations. The concept of the global warming hoax made its way from leadership to the foot solider, unfiltered and unquestioned. It became a party line issue – an inflexible political ideology.  

EPA Official Ousted For Offending Dow Chemical

At the request of Dow Chemical, the Bush administration forced out one of its own hand-picked EPA regulators on May 1st because she naively attempted to do her job by enforcing the law against Dow. EPA officials told Mary Gade, the federal agency's top Midwest regulator to step down from her post or be fired by June 1. Bush appointed Gade in 2006, but Gade ran afoul of the White House when she pressured Dow Chemical to clean up dioxin pollution extending 50 miles downstream from the company's Michigan headquarters. Dow asked EPA headquarters to intervene. In response EPA chief Stephen Johnson's top deputies repeatedly grilled Gade about the case. When she refused to lay off Dow, they stripped her of her authority and told her to quit or be fired. "There is no question this is about Dow," Gade said. "I stand behind what I did and what my staff did. I'm proud of what we did."

Gade was formerly a loyal George W. Bush supporter and adviser. In 2000, she praised then-governor and candidate Bush for his "fresh approach" and "strong leadership." But her loyalty couldn't shield her from an administration bent on insulating its chemical industry cronies from public health laws.

Bush's Misleading Claims About the Arctic Refuge Denied by Federal Officials

This week’s Ring of Fire, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio:

Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern, rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern

Former political advisor to Richard Nixon, and now an economic populist, Kevin Philips will join us to talk about how corporate America’s greed has helped pushed this country into a recession.

Congressman and chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chris Van Hollen will be here to talk about the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act, which will close corporate tax loopholes.

Read more great enviromental and energy policy posts at EnergySmart