Ron Johnson, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin running to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold, has been on a tear lately, apparently trying to out-crazy himself at every turn.

Yesterday I read that he was pushing an absurd theory of global warming being caused by sun spots — part of his personal war on climate science. See, Johnson is a pro-corporate extremist who wants no regulation on polluters or protections for the environment that might get in the way of short-term profits for his corporate buddies. So, naturally, he has taken the view, "I absolutely do not believe in the science of man-caused climate change. It’s not proven by any stretch of the imagination."

In the same TPM post by Eric Kleefeld, Johnson is quoted downplaying global warming by saying, "There’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland, it was actually green at one point in time. And it’s been, since, it’s a whole lot whiter now." Ugh… *smacks forehead*

Now, Johnson’s jumping into the Cordoba House/Park51 fracas.

From Steve Singiser at DailyKos:

"Those folks are trying to poke a stick in our eye," Johnson said. "I just hope the zoning officials and the city, the state revisit that, rezone that piece of property."

The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate continued: "If they don’t do it I hope the construction workers in New York show their outrage and say we are not going to do that."

Pretty cheeky of a multi-millionaire to demand that an industry where unemployment is as high as 20 percent should voluntarily refuse work in order to buttress a right-wing talking point.

 

Right now the polls have Johnson running neck and neck with Sen. Feingold… One more example of just how real the threat is of right-wing extremism on the march in this year’s elections.