(An on we go, in a series on the WaPo piece so bad it required numerous separate gripes.)
Tom Carper would like you to know that he’s a) committed on global warming, and b) tight with the president:
People find all sorts of ways to lobby President Bush. Sometimes it comes in the form of a handwritten note slipped into his palm during a bill-signing ceremony.
Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) tried that last week when Bush signed energy legislation that will curb greenhouse gases. “Congratulations and good work,” Carper recalled writing. “By the way, Joe Lieberman and John Warner have a very good global warming bill that needs your support and you ought to support it.”
Bush tucked the note into his pocket and promised to read it later. Carper hoped he would find it at the end of the day when he slipped his suit off.
Really committed. Really tight:
Sen. Tom Carper is among those who have used every passing encounter to lobby Bush for stronger action to stop climate change. A former Delaware governor, he has known Bush since their days at National Governors Association meetings together. In February 2006, Bush invited Carper and his wife to a small dinner with the visiting king of Jordan at the White House. During a break, Carper got Bush alone.
“That was the first time I sensed a shift in his view of warming, less inclined to be dismissive,” Carper recalled. “I said, ‘Mr. President, the science is irrefutable. There’s a way to reduce this threat that carbon dioxide poses that doesn’t put us in a tailspin, that harnesses economic forces and is fair to consumers, and we ought to do it.’ The thing that I was struck by is not anything that he said, but that he listened.”
So damn tight, so damn committed:
The next morning, Bush visited a DuPont research center in Delaware, bringing along Carper, who used the flight back to press again. "There’s a parade that’s forming here to address climate change," he recalled telling Bush. "You have the opportunity to watch the parade or lead the parade, and with all due respect, Mr. President, you need to lead the parade."
We get it.
Seven years in, we’ve made it to "less inclined to be dismissive." Whatever Carper’s doing, apparently every time Bush turns around, doesn’t seem to be working.
