Yesterday, at a Congressional hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar proved he ranks only second to Attorney General Eric Holder in embarrassing himself and the Obama administration.      

Two answers that Salazar gave provide an interesting view on his ever-deteriorating tenure at Interior.

The first was either an outright lie or displays an unbelievable ignorance about energy production in the United States. Salazar claimed that oil production in the Gulf remained at an all-time high throughout the tragic Deepwater Horizons disaster, despite the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration showing a reduction of 300,000 barrels per day.

The second answer Salazar gave is either a bigger lie or a peek into the dangerously naïve policy prescriptions the Obama administration has utilized to address energy prices.       

When Rep. Tipton asked him about how much the Interior Department has spent on renewable energy and the return it has shown, Salazar claimed they had not done a cost-benefit analysis on renewable energy. After spending untold billions on renewable energy, Salazar has not tried to figure out if it was worth it?

How many times does Salazar have to screw up before he is fired? After this many screwups, even Donald Rumsfeld would admit his shortcomings and step down.

Or to put it another way: Salazar’s failings are a known known. And we can and should deal with those.