Kerry has aired a handful of ads painting Bush as a corporate toady who wants to foul the air and water, outlaw abortion, and export U.S. jobs overseas. These spots, which also [like Bush’s] contain exaggerations...The interesting thing is one of the examples that Kurtz highlights. Kerry’s ads, says Kurtz, argue that Bush:
"Let corporate polluters rewrite our environmental laws. He wants to roll back the Clean Air and Clean Water acts."Yeah, and so what's your point?
Kurtz explains that
An administration task force met privately with energy industry executives, but there is no evidence they rewrote pollution laws. And while Bush's proposed changes in air and water laws have drawn criticism from environmentalists, they hardly amount to a rollback.Come again?
Oh really? I hardly know where to start. How about the January 1, 2004 Washington Post? Readers of Confined Space may remember this :
The Republicans may have stumbled upon an excellent way to cut government spending -- just eliminate the middleman -- e.g. bureaucrats, or maybe entire government agencies. The Washington Post reports today thatNo rollbacks, you say? What about this from the August 28, 2003 Washington Post?The Bush administration proposed new rules yesterday regulating power plants' mercury pollution, and some of the language is similar to recommendations from two memos sent to federal officials by a law firm representing the utility industry.
"Similar," hell:A side-by-side comparison of one of the three proposed rules and the memorandums prepared by Latham & Watkins -- one of Washington's premier corporate environmental law firms -- shows that at least a dozen paragraphs were lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions.
The Bush administration yesterday approved a major rollback of clean air enforcement rules for the nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants in a move hailed by industry leaders but bitterly criticized by environmentalists and some lawmakers.What an idiot.
