Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher from Orange County has offered to take out the “white trash” on behalf of his conservative constituents who fear that its not only illegal immigrants, gays and radical leftists who are dragging the country down.

He made the offer on Twitter, in response to a woman who tweeted on August 5, “It’s ok for lazywhitetrash 2 live off food stamps but won't legalize my [people] who actually contribute to this country.” Rohrabacher responded that he “would defund white trash, but not our vets, seniors & other deserving Americans 2 provide benefits 2 those here illegally.”

Rohrabacher is an outspoken conservative from arguably the most conservative county in the state, and he has been saying weird, insulting stuff since long before Tea Party politicians entered the political theater, stage right. He has been in Congress since 1989.

Although he is probably best known for his intellectual contributions to the debate over global warming, he has a broad portfolio of off-the-cuff quips that have endeared him to his constituents. In June 2005, he told a C-SPAN audience, “There are many drugs that have many serious side effects and that are harmful to people. Marijuana is no different than that.”

In April 2007, at a congressional hearing on extraordinary rendition, Rohrabacher responded to observers who audibly groaned when he ripped witnesses from the European Parliament’s committee on human rights for not supporting U.S. policies by saying, “Well I hope it's your families, I hope it's your families that suffer the consequences.”

In February 2009, expressing antipathy for undocumented workers after he joined Republican House members in unanimously voting against a proposed financial stimulus package for the country, the congressman said, “The last thing in the world we need is an economic stimulus plan which will put Pedro and his friends back to work.”

In June 2011, at a news conference in Baghdad, he told an incredulous audience of Iraqis, “Once Iraq becomes a very rich and prosperous country . . . we would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the United States some of the mega-dollars that we have spent here in the last eight years.” That was money spent destroying the country and killing an estimated 100,000 Iraqis.

But it’s one thing to give an opinion on an issue or state of affairs, it’s quite another to posit as fact that which is not. And as a spokesman for global warming deniers, he’s an unparalleled, outspoken advocate for nonsense.

Here are 10 things that Rohrabacher knows about global warming that you probably don’t:

1. “We don’t know what those other cycles were caused by in the past. Could be dinosaur flatulence, you know, or who knows?” February 2007, at a congressional hearing.

2. “Carbon dioxide is, in fact, like the penguins and the Styrofoam ice caps. It’s being falsely pictured. It is being portrayed as a pollutant; in fact, it makes things grow, and it is not toxic to humans.” March 2009, in the Congressional Record, deriding Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth.” (pdf).

3. “There is no consensus. Yet, we are bombarded by radical environmentalists, and the media hype, with the common refrain ‘Case Closed: Global warming is real.’ ” March 2009, in the Congressional Record.  97% of climate science papers agree that not only does it exist, it is man-made.

4. “It is not only NOT getting warmer, hurricanes are at a 30-year low.” March 2009. Not exactly.

5. “I do not believe that CO2 is a cause of global warming.”  May 2011 press release, defending accusations that he advocated cutting down the rain forest to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. He maintained he wouldn’t say something that stupid.

What he actually said was . . .

6. . . . “Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rain forests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases? Or would people be supportive of cutting down older trees in order to plant younger trees as a means to prevent this disaster from happening?”

7. “Polar bears are not becoming extinct.” December 2011, on the floor of the House. Yes, they are.

8. “The much touted melting in the ice caps has now reversed itself the last few years.” December 2011, on the floor of the House. Polar sheets are melting faster than ever.

9. “The Earth quit warming and now may be in a cooling cycle.” December 2011, on the floor of the House. 2012 was the hottest year ever in the United States.

10. “Just so you'll know, global warming is a total fraud and it's being designed because what you’ve got is you’ve got liberals who get elected at the local level want state government to do the work and let them make the decisions. Then, at the state level, they want the federal government to do it. And at the federal government, they want to create global government to control all of our lives. August 2013, at a town hall meeting.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

Dana Rohrabacher: Toss “White Trash” Overboard To Aid War On Illegal Immigrants (by R. Scott Motley, OC Weekly)

Dana Rohrabacher “Would Defund White Trash” (by Ryan Rainey, Huffington Post)