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Washington Scene:
BUSH on the RUN Angry Bush Walks Out on Media, Refuses to Answer Questions
"What's his accomplishment? That he's no longer an obnoxious drunk?" Ronald Reagan Jr. about George W. Bush in 2000 "Within
the scientific community the effects of the administration's The American President is clearly on the defensive these days. At every turn it seems not only his policies are being challenged, but his veracity, his intelligence, his integrity, his very person. And then there is his choice of friends and associates -- the most intense assortment of ideologues, neocon extremists, and right-wing evangelicals ever to collectively hold power in Washington. At a think-tank meeting in downtown Washington this week, with one of the leading lights from the Council on Foreign Relations speaking, someone in the audience spoke up to say: "Getting people in the Middle East to now think positively about George Bush would be like getting Americans to think positively about Osama bin Laden." Indeed, the damage the Bush Administration has done to relations with other countries and peoples worldwide is likely to be very long-lasting in impact, 'generational' in fact. And so much harm is being done to the American scientific and intellectual communities that is not usually talked about so candidly as in the Scriptts Howard article that follows. At an unprecedented early stage in the political campaign George Bush has in effect been forced to become his own attack dog. That's because his Vice-President and his Secretary of Defense are already damaged goods; while his Secretary of State -- already burned badly by the rest of them -- is trying to stay above it all and is quite possibly on his way out anyway. And yet George W. Bush is still in the running for a second term and depending on how effective the huge propaganda machine he has assembled, and the powers a sitting President has at his command, he just might squeak through. Now what does that say about contemporary America? |
Capitol Hill Blue - 9 July 2004: A clearly-rattled President George W. Bush walked out of a media briefing Thursday, refusing to answer questions about his close relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth Lay, a campaign benefactor Bush nicknamed "Kenny Boy" when the two were up-and-comers in Texas. The President, visibly upset, stomped off the stage when reporters pressed him about his relationship with Lay and left White House press secretary Scott McClellan to deal with the questions.
"He was a supporter in the past and he's someone that I would also point out has certainly supported Democrats and Republicans in the past," McClellan said. Lay clearly favored the GOP. He and his wife, Linda, donated $882,580 to federal candidates from 1989-2001, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All but $86,470 went to Republicans. McClellan declined to discuss the federal indictment charging Lay with a wide-ranging scheme to deceive the public, company shareholders and government regulators about the energy company that he founded and led to industry prominence before its collapse. Instead, McClellan answered questions about Lay by talking about Bush's desire to curb corporate fraud. "This president has worked to go after those wrongdoers and directed his administration to pursue those who are dishonest in the boardroom," McClellan said. "The president has made it very clear that we will not tolerate dishonesty in the boardroom. This administration worked to uncover abuses and scandals in the corporate arena. And certainly the president's concern is with those workers and other people who have been harmed by corporate wrongdoing," McClellan said. Democrat John Kerry's campaign had a different view, accusing the administration of dragging its feet on Enron. "It was three years too late," Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said of the Lay indictment. Lay's relationship with the Bush family dates from at least 1990 when he was co-chairman of former President Bush's economic summit for industrialized nations, which was held in Houston. Lay also was co-chairman of the host committee for the Republican National Convention when it was held in Houston in 1992. The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit group, said the Lays had given $139,500 to George W. Bush's political campaigns over the years. Those donations were part of $602,000 that Enron employees gave to Bush's various campaigns, making Enron the leading political patron for Bush at the time of the company's bankruptcy in 2001. In addition to Lay's political campaign donations, he and his wife
contributed $100,000 to Bush's 2001 inauguration. Lay also was a
fund-raiser for Bush, bringing in at least $100,000 for the president's
2002 campaign. That put Lay in "Pioneer" status as one of the
president's top money-raisers.
Scripps Howard News Service -13 July 2004: The Bush administration is using a variety of methods to suppress scientific research, information and viewpoints that are unfavorable to industry, speakers at a national conference on scientific integrity said Monday. Scientific research and regulation related to the environment and public health is also being undermined by an aggressive effort by corporate interests to challenge scientific information, even when that information represents a clear consensus of scientific opinion, scientists and public health advocates said. "Within the scientific community the effects of the administration's (actions) have been chilling and demoralizing," Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., a clinical psychologist and former university professor, told the conference, sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public advocacy group. "Researchers are practicing self-censorship or avoiding government careers entirely," Baird said. "Lifetimes of study are being abandoned, international collaborations are being curtailed, studies and data that could lead to valuable life-saving information are being neglected or blocked ... and some of the best scientific talent in the world is starting to leave our country." Eric Schaeffer, who resigned two years ago as chief of enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency in protest over the administration's air pollution policies, said the agency recently decided to exempt two-thirds of plywood manufacturing plants from an air pollution regulation after determining that the health benefits would be outweighed by the costs of complying with the regulation. The EPA based its decision in part on a new industry study that concludes the risk of contracting nose and throat cancer from formaldehyde, widely used by the industry, is much less than the government had previously assumed, Schaeffer said. At the same time, the EPA ignored two new studies by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health showing formaldehyde exposure greatly increases the risk of leukemia, Schaeffer said. "EPA has made some vague promises to study the leukemia studies," Schaeffer said. White House science adviser John Marburger said administration critics are making "sweeping generalizations" based on "disjointed facts." "This administration values and supports science, both as a vital necessity for national security and economic strength and as an indispensable source of guidance for national policy," Marburger said in a statement. Some other recent controversies cited at the conference:
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