White House Downplays Climate Report Edits

[IbeaBonehead]

White House Downplays Climate Report Edits

By H. JOSEF HEBERT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 8, 2005; 7:07 PM

WASHINGTON -- The White House said Wednesday that changes in government reports on global warming by a former oil industry lobbyist were part of a normal review and did not violate a pledge to rely on sound science.

"The facts point out that our reports are based on the best scientific knowledge and they're based on the inputs of scientists," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/08/AR2005060802061.html

condt..................

Big Stinking Pile of

[hatrack]

1. And lots and lots of inputs of lobbyists

Fuck you, Scottie. Just FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Vyan]

22. Phillip Cooney IS a lobbyist..

or rather he was, before becoming chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and editing[/i>] these reports to remove direct connections between greenhouse gases and global warming effects.

Vyan

[MGKrebs]

2. Well of course if they have inputs of science, then it must be OK.

Can't really argue with that.

Sheesh.


:eyes: :crazy: :silly: :shrug:

[ananda]

3. inputs of scientists?

I thought the GOP was essentially anti-science, or rather the party of religionizing science.

Inputs of scientists... righteo.

Lol

Sue

[central scrutinizer]

10. They love the Tobacco Institute scientists and their ilk

you know - those "scientists" who collect data then discard any "outliers" that seem problematic to their hypotheses.

[acmejack]

4. Dobson said it looked good.

What more authority do you want?

[Triana]

5. scientists == Exxon (n/t)

[Supersedeas]

21. the best science the oil industry can buy

[struggle4progress]

6. Ex-oil lobbyist watered down US climate research (Guardian)

Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday June 9, 2005
The Guardian

A former oil industry lobbyist edited the Bush administration's official policy papers on climate change to play down the link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, it was reported yesterday.

Documents released by a watchdog group, the Government Accountability Project, show that as chief of staff for the White House council on environmental quality, Philip Cooney watered down government scientific papers on climate change and played up uncertainties in the scientific literature. Mr Cooney is a law graduate and has no scientific training.

The Bush aide had performed a similar role in his previous job for the American Petroleum Institute, a lobby group representing oil giants and focused on countering the virtual consensus among scientists that man-made emissions are rapidly heating the planet.
"Cooney's still doing his old job for the American Petroleum Institute," said Kert Davies, the US research director for Greenpeace. "It's the American Petroleum Institute working within the White House." <snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1502486,00.html

[Jack Rabbit]

7. Same story in the Guardian Unlimited

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Thursday June 9

Ex-oil lobbyist watered down US climate research
By Julian Borger in Washington

A former oil industry lobbyist edited the Bush administration's official policy papers on climate change to play down the link between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, it was reported yesterday.

Documents released by a watchdog group, the Government Accountability Project, show that as chief of staff for the White House council on environmental quality, Philip Cooney watered down government scientific papers on climate change and played up uncertainties in the scientific literature. Mr Cooney is a law graduate and has no scientific training.

The Bush aide had performed a similar role in his previous job for the American Petroleum Institute, a lobby group representing oil giants and focused on countering the virtual consensus among scientists that man-made emissions are rapidly heating the planet.
"Cooney's still doing his old job for the American Petroleum Institute," said Kert Davies, the US research director for Greenpeace. "It's the American Petroleum Institute working within the White House."

Read more.

[Supersedeas]

8. best talkingpoint spin a lobbyist can buy--do it with a straight face Mr.

McButterpants

[Jack Rabbit]

9. . . . and The New York Times (with photocopies of Cooney's edits)

From The New York Times
Dated Wednesday June 8

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming
By Andrew Revkin

A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents.

In handwritten notes on drafts of several reports issued in 2002 and 2003, the official, Philip A. Cooney, removed or adjusted descriptions of climate research that government scientists and their supervisors, including some senior Bush administration officials, had already approved. In many cases, the changes appeared in the final reports.

The dozens of changes, while sometimes as subtle as the insertion of the phrase "significant and fundamental" before the word "uncertainties," tend to produce an air of doubt about findings that most climate experts say are robust.

Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues.

Read more and view the incriminating evidence.

[Supersedeas]

18. Scotty McButterpants only reads Gannon flavored news and talkingpts

[Jack Rabbit]

20. I don't care what McClellan reads or what he says

Lying and dissembling is part of his job description.

I'm more concerned that when he lies and dissembles that people watching it on television see through it as easily as they saw through Ron Ziegler's silly This is the operative statement; the others are inoperative.

[DeepModem Mom]

11. kick

[rocktivity]

12. With apologies to the Stephanie Miller Show

You lying mound of crap!
You lying mound of crap!
You phony, scheming
low-down, steaming
lying mound of crap!

:headbang:
rocknation

[gtar100]

13. You can paint a turd any color you want....it's still a turd

Ugly metaphor but 100% appropriate for anything coming out of McClellan's mouth or the B*S* people.

[Kool Kitty]

14. No, Scott, you lying sack of shit.

The facts in this particular case show that your reports were based on the best knowledge of an oil lobbyist, who IS NOT A SCIENTIST, scumbag. What the hell is it going to take to get rid of these bastards? Please, somebody, for heaven's sake-GIVE W A BLOWJOB!!! I'm beggin' here....

[okoboji]

15. hmmmm, perhaps

this will be one of the bigger items that the current pResident will be remebered for .... or one of his legacies...

that the White House Downplays every mistake they make (whether the mistake was intional or not) instead of admiting they are wrong....


keep it up scottie the liar ... more will begin to see thru your crap

[6000eliot]

16. One lie after another

And the MSM just seems to eat it up.

[Placebo]

17. It's like letting the fox manage the hen house...

what a bunch of evil liars. :grr:

[canadianbeaver]

19. off topic.....where's your Bush flag for your pile of poop? n/t