Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) compared those mounting the efforts to address climate change to Joseph Stalin and Hugo Chavez, while claiming that it has been “proven scientifically” that the climate is not in fact warming. He suggested in a radio appearance that progressives’ concern about climate change was driven by their desire for government control of Americans lives.

“The whole climate change debate gives, and there are all kinds of quotes from adherents of and promoters of climate change, the reason they’re doing it is it’s such a great opportunity to control, you know, pretty much, government, and control your lives,” Johnson said Monday, on the Glenn Klein Show on the WRJN radio show. “There’s an arrogance of power there that they’re utopians, that they really think they can create heaven on earth, and where it’s failed in the past, those people like Stalin and Chavez and the Castros, the nutcases in North Korea–by the way, if you want equal results, go to North Korea, you have equal misery.”

Johnson is facing a tough re-election fight against ex-Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI). The comments were flagged for TPM by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Johnson also suggested that the shift in use of the term climate change over global warming was because the climate was not actually getting warmer

“First of all, the climate hasn’t warmed in quite a few years. I mean, that is proven scientifically. So, that’s why they’ve changed the terminology from global warming to climate change–that covers everything,” Johnson said.

Last year was the warmest year in recorded history, scientists said,