Granted, the competition for the title of "World's Worst Climate Change Denier" is pretty stiff. But Louisiana Representative Lenar Whitney, the "Palin of the South," easily vaults into the top ranks with her jaw-dropping video, subtly entitled "GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX."  

Whitney's central contention is this: "Quite inconveniently for Al Gore and the rest of the politicians who continue to advance this delusion, any 10-year old can invalidate their thesis with one of the simplest scientific devices known to man--a thermometer. The earth has done nothing but get colder each year since the film [An Inconvenient Truth]'s release."

Any 10-year old could debunk that in two minutes, right? For the record, An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006. Five of the years from 2006 to present have ranked among the top ten warmest years since 1880. May and June of 2014 have been the hottest May and June on record. Should an El Niño condition develop this winter, 2014 could well turn out to be the hottest year in recorded history. 

So how does Whitney justify her contention that the world is getting colder? Cook Political Report House editor David Wasserman had an opportunity to ask her that recently, and gives a highly entertaining report in today's Washington Post, in which he calls her "the most frightening candidate I've met in seven years interviewing congressional hopefuls." 

Whitney’s brand of rhetoric obviously resonates with some very conservative Louisiana voters who view President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency as big-city elitists directly attacking the state’s energy industry and their own way of life. And she would hardly be the first “climate denier” elected to Congress. But it’s not unreasonable to expect candidates to explain how they arrived at their positions, and when I pressed Whitney repeatedly for the source of her claim that the earth is getting colder, she froze and was unable to cite a single scientist, journal or news source to back up her beliefs.

To change the subject, I asked whether she believed Obama was born in the United States. When she replied that it was a matter of some controversy, her two campaign consultants quickly whisked her out of the room, accusing me of conducting a “Palin-style interview.” It was the first time in hundreds of Cook Political Report meetings that a candidate has fled the room.

 Know a worse denier? Nominations are now open in the comments.