Who needs oxygen when we've got carbon dioxide?

I was watching television this morning, and a commercial came on. "There's something in these pictures you can't see," a soothing female voice claimed. "Ooh, I know, it's air!" I responded, anticipating an anti-air pollution ad.

Boy was I wrong. It went on to tell me what a wonderful thing carbon dioxide is, how natural it is, that "the fuels that produce CO2 have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor." Then the music changes tone and the pictures turn to black and white, and the voice stated that there are evil environmentalists who want to call CO2 a pollutant. It finished with the wonderful tagline, "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life."

You can go see the ad I saw at Think Progress, and I imagine that if you're reading this blog, your reaction will be similar to mine: a mix of incredulity, disgust, and anger.

Global warming is happening, and to steal a line from The Princess Bride, anyone who says differently is selling something. And, indeed, this ad, as well as its follow-up in which they make the claim that glaciers are growing rather than shinking (and if you believe that one I've got a bridge you might like to buy), was put forth by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, "a front group funded by ExxonMobil and other big oil companies" (Think Progress).

Litbrit over at Shakespeare's Sister posted a link to a great potential counter-ad that I think is worth checking out.

Can someone please tell me that the American public is not stupid enough to buy this bullshit?