Monday, September 26, 2005
Flip flop
The Bush administration on energy and fuel conservation:
Dick Cheney, 1999:
Ari Fleischer, 5/7/01:
Bush today:
OK, I suppose it's unfair to call this a "flip flop." What it actually is, is Bush showing his patented bold leadership by: 1) Spending years doing nothing to seriously encourage conservation as part of a systematic plan to address a highly foreseeable, imminent problem; 2) Sneering at attempts by others to address the problem; and 3) When a crisis strikes, belatedly scrambling about, impotently trying to look like he's handling it.
(cross-posted at Distance Blog)
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The Bush administration on energy and fuel conservation:
Dick Cheney, 1999:
“The American way of life is non-negotiable.”
Ari Fleischer, 5/7/01:
Q Is one of the problems with this, and the entire energy field, American lifestyles? Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?
MR. FLEISCHER: That's a big no. The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one. And we have a bounty of resources in this country.
Bush today:
"We can all pitch in by being better conservers."
OK, I suppose it's unfair to call this a "flip flop." What it actually is, is Bush showing his patented bold leadership by: 1) Spending years doing nothing to seriously encourage conservation as part of a systematic plan to address a highly foreseeable, imminent problem; 2) Sneering at attempts by others to address the problem; and 3) When a crisis strikes, belatedly scrambling about, impotently trying to look like he's handling it.
(cross-posted at Distance Blog)
