March 04, 2013 04:54 PM UTC

At Least He's Not Your Legislator

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• by: Colorado Pols

In another edition of "At Least He's Not Your Legislator," we visit Washington State for another Republican comment reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's infamous statement that "trees cause more pollution than automobiles." From The Associated Press:

A Washington state lawmaker has apologized for saying that bicyclists contribute to climate change with their heavy breathing.

Republican Rep. Ed Orcutt, of Kalama, is the ranking minority member of the state's House Transportation Committee. He apologized Monday for writing in an email last week that "the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider."

Rep. Orcutt tried to explain that his comment was a poorly-worded attempt to say that bicyclists don't have a zero carbon footprint, which would seem to be an effort to associate breathing with industrialization on some ridiculous level. No, this was a poorly-worded attempt at trying to say something halfway intelligent in general, and it failed.