Bush ripe for green revolt ;article worth reading

[jerryster]

Bush ripe for green revolt

November 21, 2003

BY STEVE NEAL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the nation's more prominent environmentalists, has some compelling arguments against President Bush's environmental policies.

Kennedy, 49, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, is an idealist and champion of the public interest in the tradition of his late father. Just as his father battled for civil rights and fought the mob, he has won notable victories over polluters of the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. Kennedy also teaches law and runs an environmental litigation clinic at Pace University in White Plains, N.Y.

In "Crimes Against Nature," an article for Rolling Stone that hits newsstands today, RFK Jr. ranks Bush as "America's worst environmental president" and accuses the GOP administration of waging "a ferocious three-year attack" on laws that protect that nation's air, water, public lands and wildlife.

Kennedy notes that for the first time in three decades, water pollution levels are rising and that more than 200 million Americans now live within 10 miles of a polluted water body. He is also troubled that the Bush administration is sabotaging the Clean Air Act and is seeking to allow twice as much sulfur dioxide and three times more mercury emissions.

"I am angry both as a citizen and a father," Kennedy writes. "Three of my sons have asthma, and I watch them struggle to breathe on bad-air days. And they're comparatively lucky: One in four African-American children in New York shares this affliction; their suffering is often unrelieved because they lack the insurance and high-quality health care that keep my sons alive."

Republican strategists are aware that this issue could hurt Bush. "The environment is probably the single issue on which Republicans in general and President Bush in particular are most vulnerable," GOP pollster Frank Luntz confided to party leaders in a strategy memorandum.

Luntz bluntly advised them that the public viewed their party as being "in the pockets of corporate fat cats who rub their hands together and chuckle maniacally as they plot to pollute America for fun and profit."

He warned: "Not only do we risk losing the swing vote, but our suburban female base could abandon us as well."

According to the CBS News/ New York Times poll, 62 percent of the voting public thinks that the federal government should be doing more to protect the environment.

This same poll indicated that 68 percent of the voters believe that Bush is more interested in producing energy than protecting the environment.

At the urging of the Bush administration, the House approved an energy bill this week that exempts energy companies from the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and opens up public lands for exploitation by oil and gas companies.

A new Zogby Poll, conducted for the Wilderness Society, indicated that 55 percent of likely voters and two-thirds of independents oppose this legislation.

In a telephone interview, Kennedy said that the environmental movement has strong bipartisan support. He cited brother-in-law California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Gov. George Pataki as pro-environmental Republicans.

"Within the Senate and the House," Kennedy said, "it is the western Republicans who have dominated the anti-environmental agenda." Of this group, Kennedy is most troubled by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who dismisses global warming as a "hoax," and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who refers to the Environmental Protection Agency as "the Gestapo."

"The environmental movement is not about protecting fishes and birds for their own sake," Kennedy said. "It's about protecting the interests of future generations and the national treasures that we are holding in trust for them.

"Too many politicians have short horizons, and industrial leaders seldom look beyond the next dividend," he said. "But we ignore the environment at our peril."


http://www.suntimes.com/output/neal/cst-edt-neal21.html

[Wickerman]

1. Kennedy gave a great speech yesterday at the NPC

http://news.mpr.org/programs/midday/

Hear it at MPR -

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addresses the National Press Club to launch a national tour discussing the Bush administration's record on the environment. Kennedy is well known for his environmental advocacy work for the Natural Resources Defense Council and Hudson Riverkeeper. He argues that the Bush administration consistently puts polluters ahead of America's health and environment.

[DrFunkenstein]

2. Has RFKJR Endorsed Anybody?

Kerry endorsed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

(AP) New York - Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry on Thursday received an endorsement for his presidential bid from environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who slammed the Bush administration while lauding Kerry's environmental efforts.

"There is certainly nobody who is running for president today who has a better environmental record than John Kerry," Kennedy said, citing the Democratic senator's work against acid rain and for higher fuel efficiency standards.

Kerry traced his interest in the environment to his mother, who started taking him for walks when he was a child. He decried those who said environmental protection came at the expense of jobs and economic prosperity.

"I intend to be a president who makes it clear to Americans that protecting the environment is jobs and it is the future of our country and most importantly the legacy of our generation," he said. "We are the stewards, and we are at risk of being the first generation in American history to pass this place off in worse shape than we were handed it by our parents."

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/clips/news_2003_0920.html

[sandnsea]

3. Kerry's Bush the Polluter Ad

This is very good against Bush and the special interests with his proposals for energy independence and how that'll create 500,000 jobs as well. Have you seen it? It's the 6th one down.

http://johnkerry.com/videos/index.html