After making kissy-face in front of the press corps at the White House today, Bush and Blair took a couple of questions. One reporter asked Bush whether he believes global warming is an anthropogenic problem (without using any big words, of course):
And, Mr. President, if I may, as well, on climate change — you didn’t talk about climate change — do you believe that climate change is manmade and that you, personally, as the leader of the richest country in the world, have a responsibility to reverse that change?
Naturally, Bush dodged the causation issue:
In terms of climate change, I’ve always said it’s a serious long-term issue that needs to be dealt with. And my administration isn’t waiting around to deal with the issue, we’re acting. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but we lead the world when it comes to dollars spent, millions of dollars spent on research about climate change. We want to know more about it. It’s easier to solve a problem when you know a lot about it. And if you look at the statistics, you’ll find the United States has taken the lead on this research.
[More blather ensued; check it out in the transcript, if you’re the masochistic sort.]
As it turns out, even as Bush was bragging about the millions the feds are spending on climate-change research, The New York Times was posting an article by Andy Revkin alleging that the administration is doctoring that very same research to jive with the oil industry’s preferred version of the “science”:
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.
Wouldn’t want those millions of taxpayer dollars to result in any too firm conclusions, now would we?
