CyberAlert -- 04/25/2001 -- "Rocky Record on the Environment"

"Rocky Record on the Environment"; Bush's "Camouflage for His True Conservative Colors"; Time's Global Warming Hysteria Undermined

1) President George W. Bush has a "sometimes rocky record on the environment," Tom Brokaw declared as a fact on Tuesday night before he showed Matt Lauer demanding of Bush: "So you can look me in the eye and say that you are a President committed to cleaning up the environment."

2) Reviewing Bush's first 100 days after 93, NBC's David Gregory focused on how "critics call" his "compassionate conservative" message "camouflage for his true colors as a conservative Republican." Gregory claimed the Ashcroft pick "sours any spirit of bi-partisanship." Andrea Mitchell evaluated Bush from the left on health, complaining: "Still no patients' bill of rights, legislation to make HMOs more accountable."

3) CBS used Earth Day to allow unlabeled liberals to bash Bush's environmental record. Jane Clayson insisted that for "many environmentalists" Bush's claim to protect the environment "does not ring true." Randall Pinkston focused on how Bush's attempt to take economic factors into account is "outraging environmentalists."

4) Geraldo Rivera tried to get Jesse Ventura to denounce President Bush for "undoing some of the good work done by the Democrats or the other progressives over the years."

5) A letter writer to Time magazine pointed out how about 99 percent of greenhouse gasses are produced by nature, a fact which undermined Time's hyperbolic cover story from a few weeks ago which blamed mankind and demanded President Bush take action to reduce industrial output.

>>> Job opening at the MRC for a News Analyst: The Media Research Center (MRC), a non-profit foundation in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia which is the leading conservative group documenting liberal media bias, has an opening for a News Analyst in its News Division. News analysts review magazines and newspapers for biased stories and monitor television network news, entering summaries of news stories into a computerized database. News analysts also perform research tasks and contribute writing to the MRC's publications, including a weekly fax report and daily e-mail dispatch.
Candidates must have a thorough knowledge of current events, display a solid understanding of conservative reasoning on political issues, have an interest in the news media and demonstrate an ability to write clearly and concisely. A current events and news media personality identification quiz will be given to candidates at the time of an interview.
Candidates must work at the MRC's Alexandria, Virginia offices which are eight blocks from the King Street Metro stop on the Yellow and Blue lines. This is an entry-level position. Salary: Low $20s.
To apply, fax resume to the attention of Brent Baker, the MRC's Vice President: (703) 683-9736. Or, e-mail your resume to: bbaker@mediaresearch.org <<<

1

Tom Brokaw declared as a fact Tuesday night that President Bush has a "sometimes rocky record on the environment." His liberal assessment came as he set up a question and answer clip from Matt Lauer's interview with Bush set to air Wednesday morning on Today in which Lauer demanded of Bush: "So you can look me in the eye and say that you are a President committed to cleaning up the environment."

Brokaw announced on the April 24 NBC Nightly News: "In an interview with NBC's Matt Lauer, President Bush today talked about his own sometimes rocky record on the environment so far."
Lauer: "So you can look me in the eye and say that you are a President committed to cleaning up the environment."
Bush replied: "Of course I am. But I'm also a President who's going to bring sound science to the process. There are some extremists in our country that just will never agree with what I try to do because I also happen to believe that economic growth and the environment are compatible. I also believe we can find more energy without destroying the environment and there are some just simply, who don't agree with that statement."

2

President Bush's first hundred days in office, as seen by NBC News: He revealed his true conservative side, which contradicts his "compassionate conservative" campaign theme, and people are dying because his tax credit plan "would still leave 37 million people" without health insurance and he's done nothing to enact HMO reform.

NBC Nightly News decided to evaluate President Bush's first 100 days after just 93 days as the show on Monday and Tuesday nights became the first broadcast network evening show to review Bush's record.

On Monday, David Gregory focused on how "critics call" his "compassionate conservative" message "camouflage for his true colors as a conservative Republican." In addition to his tax cut plan, Gregory asserted, Bush appealed to conservatives by naming John Ashcroft, a move which "sours any spirit of bi-partisanship" and he broke "a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants." That's right, Bush destroyed bi-partisanship and broke a promise no one remembered until he broke it in order to please conservatives.

The next night, Andrea Mitchell evaluated Bush from the left on health care. She complained that for uninsured Americans "Bush promised tax credits so six million people can buy coverage, but even that would still leave 37 million people with no coverage at all. And still no patients' bill of rights, legislation to make HMOs more accountable." Mitchell warned: "Even some Republicans, like John McCain, are joining Democrats opposing Bush."

Tom Brokaw introduced the April 23 piece: "So how is the President doing on other fronts as he approaches his 100th day in office? NBC's White House correspondent David Gregory tonight taking a look at George Bush's true colors."

David Gregory began by assuming Bush utilized subterfuge during the campaign: "Well Tom, top advisers to the President, even as they dismiss the legitimacy of 100 days as a marker of accomplishment, they are, nevertheless, taking great pains to counter criticism that he has not lived up to his pledge to be a moderate, compassionate conservative. Bush's strategy was evident as far back as the night he secured the presidency. Declaring victory after the long recount, Bush's rhetoric aimed at the political center, even as he prepared to govern from the right."
Bush, December 13: "Whether you voted for me or not, I will do my best to serve your interests and I will work to earn your respect, so help me God."
Gregory: "Critics call such sentiment camouflage for his true colors as a conservative Republican."
Marshall Wittman, Hudson Institute: "The conservatives are what gave his father so much trouble in 1992. President Bush learned from that experience. The first rule in the Republican Party is, 'Do not alienate the conservative base.'"
Gregory maintained: "Bush has appealed to that base in three key areas. John Ashcroft, the darling of the right, his nomination for Attorney General immediately sours any spirit of bi-partisanship. The environment: Bush breaks a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and rolls back a Clinton administration order to reduce the levels of arsenic in drinking water. Above all, the tax cut, the administration's most important objective of the first year. Advisers believe if he gets, as it appears he will, most of the $1.6 trillion cut, the party's success in next year's mid-term election, and indeed his prospects in 2004, may be assured. That's why the White House has essentially rammed the tax cut through Congress without negotiating on the size. Party strategists say no one should be surprised Bush tapped to the right early on, and point out he's now circling back to the middle, most recently with an attempt to appear more environmentally friendly."
David Keene, American Conservative Union: "He's pragmatic. He responds to threats. He responds to the environment in which he finds himself and he maneuvers."
Gregory: "The question now: whether such maneuvering is enough to overcome Democrats and seek political gold in Bush's true colors."
Paul Begala, former Clinton aide: "I've never seen Democrats more energized than they are right now. They believe that in a 100 days, they've been given a 100 issues while Bush has given 100 favors to 100 special interests."
Gregory concluded: "But Bush's top advisers counter that the first 100 days will show that the President is in effect a good political juggler. And later this week he'll hit the road to tout some of his top accomplishments, like the tax-relief package that has made its way through the House, and his plans for education reform."

The next night, April 24, NBC Nightly News condemned Bush's lack of support for liberal solutions to supposed health care problems. Andrea Mitchell looked at the plight of a man whose wife died after she got the best treatment for her breast cancer, but which their HMO refused to cover. Mitchell intoned: "That's when the insurance nightmare begins."
Steve Nelson, husband of Jody Nelson who died: "My wife is fighting for her life, and these insurance bureaucrats are giving me a hard time and denying treatment."
Mitchell tied the problem to Bush, as transcribed by MRC analyst Brad Wilmouth: "She gets the treatment she wants, but the HMO refuses to cover the bill: $76,000. Out of control medical costs, a problem candidate Bush promised to solve. But almost 100 days later, gridlock in Washington. No progress on Medicare reform. Prescription drugs: As in the campaign, Bush still proposes covering only low income older Americans at first, a non-starter for Democrats. Uninsured Americans: Bush promised tax credits so six million people can buy coverage, but even that would still leave 37 million people with no coverage at all. And still no patients' bill of rights, legislation to make HMOs more accountable. The White House says that would drive up insurance costs, but today the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office says a patients' bill of rights would increase costs less than one percent a year. Even some Republicans, like John McCain, are joining Democrats opposing Bush."
Ted Kennedy: "We shouldn't have an industry that is completely above the law. That's wrong, and we want to make sure that there's going to be an accountability."
Mitchell: "But employers are adamantly opposed."
Paul Zurawski, Business Roundtable: "You can't sue your way to quality health care."
Mitchell: "Steve Nelson fought the HMO bureaucracy for a year. Finally, he won. They paid his bills. But his victory was too late for his wife. She lost her battle with cancer."
Nelson: "It's a double whammy. You're fighting for you life, and you're fighting the bureaucracy, and it's just not fair."
Mitchell concluded: "Tonight, politicians are no closer to a compromise. Patients may never win, and Steve, like millions of other Americans, is struggling to cope with his loss."

But if she got the treatment her doctors wanted, then lack of coverage by her HMO had nothing to do with her death.

3

CBS used the liberal PR gimmick of Earth Day on Sunday night as an opportunity to relay dissatisfaction with President Bush from left-wing environmentalists, though CBS was naturally not honest enough to apply the ideological label. To CBS, only liberals are in a position to pass judgment on Bush as the network ignored conservative environmental groups.

CBS Evening News anchor Jane Clayson introduced the April 22 story: "To commemorate the 32nd annual Earth Day, President Bush today asked Americans to join him in renewing a commitment to protecting the environment. But Randall Pinkston tells us for many environmentalists the appeal does not ring true."

Pinkston began: "As environmentalists marked Earth Day 2001, leaders at the Quebec summit were grappling with how to spur economic growth in the Western Hemisphere without damaging its natural beauty. President Bush sent out mixed signals on his priorities."
President Bush: "Our commitment to open trade must be matched by a strong commitment to protecting our environment and improving labor standards."
Pinkston: "But when asked if environmental provisions must be part of future trade deals-"
Bush: "Oh, I understand there's a lot of discussion about labor codicils, environmental codicils. What I was signaling is that we should not allow those codicils to destroy the spirit of free trade."
Pinkston: "Statements like that are outraging environmentalists."
William Meadows, Wilderness Society: "The White House is the greatest threat to America's national parks, forests, monuments and other public lands."
Pinkston provided the usual litany as spun by liberals: "In his first months in office, the President has, among other things, put on hold a proposal to reduce arsenic in drinking water, saying it needs more study; backtracked on his own campaign pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants; and pushed for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic wilderness. Today the White House dispatched the top environmental official to defend the administration's record."

Of course, Bush campaigned on how he wanted to drill for oil in Alaska, so he's condemned both for promises he keeps and breaks.

Christine Todd Whitman, Environmental Protection Agency, on Face the Nation: "We have made a number of decisions that are very pro-environmental, but unfortunately they get overlooked when there's something that people can challenge."
Pinkston: "Even though this past week Mr. Bush tried to polish up his green credentials, supporting an agreement to restrict dangerous chemicals and cracking down on lead pollutants, critics aren't convinced."
Senator Joe Lieberman on Face the Nation: "So I think this is an administration for the most part that's headed in the wrong direction on the environment."
Pinkston concluded: "And that's what many voters think. A recent CBS News poll found only 40 percent of the public approve of the President's handling of the environment."

Nice how CBS News highlights their poll findings which they like but ignore ones that contradict their desires, such as the one back on March 1 which found 67 percent support for Bush's tax cut.

4
Geraldo Rivera on Monday night tried to get Minnesota Governor and XFL announcer Jesse Ventura to denounce President Bush for "undoing some of the good work done by the Democrats or the other progressives over the years." But Ventura wouldn't bite, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed.

On the April 23 Rivera Live on CNBC, Rivera pleaded after Ventura offered some kind words for Bush's performance in office:
"What about the rest of his performance? Aren't you concerned that some of these moves to erode some of the legislation designed to protect our environment, this stuff about arsenic and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, etcetera. Don't you think that some of that is excessive in terms of undoing some of the good work done by the Democrats or the other progressives over the years?"

5

A letter writer to Time magazine pointed out how about 99 percent of greenhouse gasses are produced by nature, a fact which undermined Time's hyperbolic cover story from a few weeks ago which blamed mankind and demanded President Bush take action to reduce industrial output.

The New York Post's "MediaWatch" column on Tuesday highlighted the letter and Time's confused response. A reprint of the April 24 "MediaWatch" column item:

Time's Warming Retreat

It took a reader to remind Time magazine of the basic flaw in "Feeling the Heat," its April 9 environmental manifesto on global warning -- and to win an important admission from the report's author.

The piece warned: "Except for nuclear war or a collision with an asteroid, no force has more potential to damage our planet's web of life than global warming. It's a 'serious' issue, the White House admits, but nonetheless George W. Bush has decided to abandon the 1997 Kyoto treaty to combat climate change..."

The point of that, and several companion pieces, was clear: Earth is in imminent danger, thanks to pollution and other man-made sources, but the new President is wearing blinders.

In case anyone missed the point, the magazine this week highlights a letter that thanks Time for its report and adds: "I hope someone reads it to George W. Bush."

But several readers disputed the magazine's basic argument. The lead graphic on April 9, spread out over two pages, charted the "world of offenders" on CO2 emissions, and another made suggestions on "How to Ward Off Disaster," yet Tom Peterson of Salt Lake City noted: "Nature emits about 95 percent of greenhouse gases, while humans are responsible for only 5 percent. Add a volcanic eruption here and there, and nature probably accounts for as much as 99 percent....With the rise of our industrial might, temperatures haven't risen at all."

How did Time counter this assault on its basic premise, that humans are destroying the environment? Associate Editor Michael Lemonick agreed that "nature is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases on Earth."

However, Lemonick insisted, "even the small percentage that is man-made...has been enough to start nudging temperatures upward." Which is not quite what Time argued in the first place, which is that humans are the prime culprit.

Said Time then: There is "powerful" evidence to support "the case of human-induced global warming" and it is no longer theoretical that "the planet is warming up as a result of human activity."

END Reprint

Indeed, in the April 9 article Lemonick insisted: "Like any other area of science, the case for human-induced global warming has uncertainties -- and like many pro-business lobbyists, President Bush has proclaimed those uncertainties a reason to study the problem further rather than act. But while the evidence is circumstantial, it is powerful, thanks to the IPCC's painstaking research. The U.N.-sponsored group was organized in the late 1980s."

For more on the April 9 Time hysteria, refer back to the MediaNomics article reprinted in the April 6 CyberAlert: Time magazine abandoned any pretense of balance in devoting 15 pages this week to denouncing Bush's decision on Kyoto and to advancing dire global warming forecasts: "Vast ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could melt, raising sea level more than 30 ft. Florida would be history, and every city on the U.S. Eastern seaboard would be inundated." Walter Cronkite was among the signers of a letter to Bush demanding he take action. Go to: http://www.mrc.org/news/cyberalert/2001/cyb20010406.asp.

-- Brent Baker

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