While most Washingtonians took cover during the Blizzard of 2010 (or Snowpocalypse, or Snowmaggedon — whatever you want to call it) Sen. James Inhofe’s family braved the storm to poke fun at former Vice President Al Gore.
The Oklahoma Republican’s daughter, Molly Rapert; her husband, Jimmy; and their four children built an igloo — roomy enough to fit several people inside — at Third Street and Independence Avenue Southeast.
They officially dedicated the humble abode in honor of global-warming crusader Gore, even posting a cardboard sign on the igloo’s roof reading “AL GORE’S NEW HOME” on one side and “HONK IF YOU [HEART] GLOBAL WARMING” on the other.
Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is famously one of Congress’ most vocal critics of global warming. And he told HOH that he found his family’s ironic tribute to Gore — which came during one of Washington’s snowiest winters on record — “really humorous.”
Inhofe was so proud of the construction effort, in fact, that he posted several pictures to his official Facebook page. Inhofe noted he wasn’t the only person who liked the igloo — several people honked to show support.
It took five hours Saturday and three hours Sunday to build the igloo. “The funny thing was seeing how many people would stop to pose in front of it,” Molly Rapert said.
And while this week’s expected snowy weather will ensure the igloo won’t melt, Inhofe did admit that he fears the structure might meet a premature demise by global-warming believers.
“I know that somebody is going to end up tearing it down,” Inhofe said. “Because there are a lot of people who can’t take a joke.”
Sherman's Army Expands. We don’t have to wait for the November elections — Rep. Brad Sherman might have just permanently lost the majority in his very own house. The California Democrat and his wife, State Department senior adviser Lisa Sherman, welcomed their second daughter on Saturday.
Little Naomi Claire joins 1-year-old Molly, making the female-to-male ratio in the Sherman household a daunting 3-to-1.
But in this case, the Congressman seems happy to be outnumbered.
“I am both proud and humbled by the fact that the women in my household now have a filibuster-proof majority,” he tells HOH. “I am beaming.”
Name That Senator. HOH’s call for nicknames for newly minted Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) did not go unheeded. Tipsters submitted a few more for our growing list: “Big Brown” (as in the derby-winning racehorse) and “Brownout.” Still others suggested simply reviving his high-school nickname, “Downtown Scotty Brown,” a moniker that in Washington parlance suggests a level of coziness with lobbyists (although Brown claims it came from his willingness to take long shots on the basketball court).
While creative, in HOH’s opinion those ideas still don’t top the reigning champion, “SenatorFold,” a reference to Brown’s revealing photo shoot for Cosmopolitan magazine when he was in law school.
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