Whitman: GOP foiled security efforts

[NJmaverick]

Whitman: GOP foiled security efforts
Book says legislators helped lobbyists defeat rules for chemical
plants
Friday, January 28, 2005
BY ALEXANDER LANE
Star-Ledger Staff
Industry lobbyists worked with key Republican lawmakers to
sabotage new security regulations for chemical plants after the 9/11
attacks, Christie Whitman alleges in her new book.

Many chemical plants -- including dozens in New Jersey -- could
release toxic clouds that could kill tens or even hundreds of
thousands of people in the case of an attack or a major malfunction.
Their security became a prime concern of experts after 9/11, but
proposed regulations requiring safety measures failed to pass in
Congress.


In her new book, "It's My Party Too," former New Jersey Gov.
Whitman -- who was head of the Environmental Protection Agency as
the debate raged in Congress and the Bush administration -- placed
the blame squarely at the feet of chemical-industry lobbyists and
congressional Republicans.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-
8/1106925338161590.xml

[theHandpuppet]

1. Is it possible?

Is it possible that Christine Todd Whitman actually has some shred of a conscience or is this a CYA move? I always wondered whther or not she would eventually spill the beans regarding the circumstances of her resignation.

[trogdor]

3. I'm inclined to believe the former.

She didn't last long at EPA, and that was because she was continually butting heads with the Bushies and couldn't take it anymore.

[The Backlash Cometh]

8. Yes. I'm beginning to wonder too. It sounds like she gets it.

I use to think that a Republican with a clue was also known as a Democrat.

[silvermachine]

2. Nice to hear you acknowledge this but...

...it's a little late in the game Crustie!

[NJmaverick]

5. Well she is a republican

This is about as good as it gets. Admit to wrong doing, but only AFTER the public can do nothing about it.

[no_to_war_economy]

17. screw her, why did she campaign for Bush

up until the election

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. Any reason this was NOT published prior to the election

One thing I can't stand is a GOP'er with a TARDY conscience

[theHandpuppet]

7. Yep, especially when lives were/are at stake

Still, this story needs to be pushed to the top of the news, lest it be hastily buried by our "liberal" media<snark>

BTW, love your description of the "tardy conscience" exhibited by former members of this misadministration. Of course, there exists an inverse reward system for Bushbots: fail and you get promoted, do your job and you're asked/forced to resign.

Do you think Colin Powell will ever rediscover his conscience, albeit a tardy one?

[grumpy old fart]

14. Powell will write a good dry historical treatment.....

20 years from now, just before he blows his brains out. But will his last thought be, "I love Big Brother"?

[JI7]

11. she wanted to profit off the Bush haters

that's why i recommend Democrats and others who did not support Bush not to buy anything that is anti Bush from those who supported him but only revealed after the elections the truth.

the ones we should support are people like Paul O'Neill and Richard Clarke who spoke out before .

[charlie]

13. Her plate was full

Too busy telling us the Chimp deserves a second term.

Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced yesterday, The Bush-Cheney '04 Washington Natural Resources Team. According to press materials, Whitman said, "President Bush's leadership on environmental issues has given us cleaner air, water and land...President Bush has achieved results by implementing sound environmental policies."

Whitman concluded, "President Bush is steadfast in his leadership and has made a promise to tackle the tough issues facing our nation. The president's policies towards the environment are further proof of that promise."

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. but that is as good as no conscience at all.

How would Whitless feel if a chemical catastrophe occurs due to this negligence?

[Kber]

25. She was waiting to see if NJ would go blue, and by what margin

so she could gage how far she was going to have to distance herself from Bush to win Corzine's senate seat.

Look - we aren't the audience for her book - she's writing for other republicans.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

30. Great point and probably true

[KittyWampus]

33. Wouldn't You Think Twice About Crossing The Bush Crime Family

before an election?

I mean really, they aren't shy about how they deal with enemies.

[struggle4progress]

37. It's the "Fascists can Oppose Bush, Too" gambit:

they pretend to be Repubs opposing the least popular of the President's policies. They won't actually vote against him, but they'll try not to show too much daylight between themselves and Dems who really oppose this nonsense. They're hoping the public will become and remain so confused that Repubs can run the whole poisonous Bushista agenda without being run out of town in 2006.

[gratuitous]

6. Day: Late; Dollar: Short

And here's all ye need to know:

"Whitman -- who was head of the Environmental Protection Agency as
the debate raged in Congress and the Bush administration -- placed
the blame squarely at the feet of chemical-industry lobbyists and
congressional Republicans."

Yup, she placed that blame squarely! Squarely, I tells ya! Okay, it was three years later and when she is no longer in a position to do anything about it. This is not a chapter for a latter-day Profiles in Courage.

[calimary]

28. That is, in effect, what she told Jon Stewart last night.

He, too, wondered - why NOW, gal? She said it was because she no longer had a career (wasn't considering running for office again) so she couldn't be hurt now.

Well, I agree with the Day: Late; Dollar: Short assessment. Where the fuck was she when this could have made a difference? Hiding?

Also - if she knew she wasn't going to run for anything again and her career was essentially over, why isn't she coming out swinging? If this was taking a stand, the gummy worms at the candy counter have more backbone. Hell, even some Democrats at this point have a little backbone.

You'll have to do a LOT better than this to impress someone like me, dearie. Another poster here, (Kber) said it well: she's not writing this book for people like us. She's appealing to other republi-CONS. Dogshit even sprinkled with gold glitter (and in a pretty pink jacket for her on-camera appearance) is still dogshit.

[zann725]

35. Would that be 'dogshit' with a flag in it?

n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

9. She was placed at EPA to kill her rise in the party

Then, the EPA was demoted from a cabinet position to a non-cabinet position.

Then, she was patted on the head and told to be quiet and do what was expected of her.

Then, she became frustrated and realized that her political career was halted in its tracks by her signing up with W.

Then, she quit.

Now, she is trying to regain her political independence and wants to make a name for herself as a new but old kind of Republican.

The Bushies did exactly what they wanted to do with her.

[xchrom]

10. NOW you tell us?

[grumpy old fart]

12. She's a lightweight.....fashions her points to suit the listener....

I caught her on Hannity last night, for the few minutes I could stand it, and she just cowered under his gaze the whole time....She's just hawking a book to make a buck....one more empty suit.....got used and spit out by the talibush, and now just whimpers like some discarded, disillusioned lover....

[wabeewoman]

20. Interesting

She was also on Jon Stewart and really slammed the neocons. I can't believe she campaigned for bush!!

[grumpy old fart]

29. like I said, just speaks to the listener...not a strong core....

eom

[Tempest]

15. Corrected link

http://tinyurl.com/3nzeb

[Cell Whitman]

18. Where was she when EPA was telling NY'ers the air was A-OK after 911?

She should have shit canned on the spot for that one....

[hatrack]

23. Thank you!

Christie the Clown talks about security? Yeah, right - maybe ten years from now she can parade her "courage" and "integrity" in front of New Yorkers dying of mesothelioma and asbestosis and lung cancer because of her SHITTY FUCKING LIES.

Time for a whole punchbowl of STFU for Ms. Profiles In Political Roadkill.

[Redstone]

19. North Jersey's a scary target...

If the 9/11 attackers had gone for the most economic damge to the US rather than the symbolism of the WTC and Pentagon, the four airplanes they had could have taken out the Port of Elizabeth, the NJ Turnpike, and Newark Airport all at once...the three are in a straight line, not more than two miles from the docks at the port, across the Pike, to the terminals at the airport.

That, and all the refineries and chamical plants, gives me a case of the willies every time I drove down there.

Redstone

[w4rma]

21. She campaigned for him. She put her Party over her country. (nt)

[fooj]

22. That's right!

[NJmaverick]

26. Isn't that the very definition of a republican

Party and personal interests first, Country and distant third and the world a very very distant fourth?

[DinahMoeHum]

24. Whitman should go poo-poo in her pity pool.

You go to bed with a gorilla, he gets to pick the position.

:nopity::nopity::nopity:

[CoffeeCat]

27. What I wanna know is...

...why are America's chemical plants free and open to savage terrorists--who could kill hundreds of thousands...

...but last month in the airport, I was searched, frisked and had chemical-trace tests done on my clothes and purse?

If the neocon trauma-bonding brigade wants to terrify Americans into a fetal position--they should at least be consistent!

[genieroze]

31. Whitman would never be anything important to * because she's a

pro choice Republican, that's a neocon no no.

[Shiraz]

32. listened to her on Al Franken on 1/27

She is a moderate , trying to save the party that's why she stumped for the shrub so she says

[genieroze]

34. She really need to stop drinking the Kool Aid and realize that this

is no longer the party of Goldwater or Eisenhower, that these people are fascists. Even Eisenhower's son supported Kerry.

[AuntiBush]

36. Making the News-waves!

Former Gov. of NJ Whiteman has been on every news channel tonight pushing this story... I have been under media blackout on my end, self-imposed, except for C-SPAN 1 & 2, Jon Stewart and fast checks at CNN and thus far, she's been hitting the book push.

Thinking of all of those that quietly left at the beginning of the Chimps "date" w/his "man" wondering hopefully, will there be more? And she's a "REPUBLICAN!"

:loveya: :pals: Could it be a trend?

[bling bling]

38. Hmphf. A regular hero.

People who stood idly by watching these thugs and doing nothing about it are an accessory to the crime in my opinion. Who's back are they watching, anyway? Thought it was supposed to be ours. Silly me. Thanks for nothing Captain-Enabler.