And still able to wreck the earth:
Last week, the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs sent an e-mail to mayors reminding them that time was running out if they wanted to comment on the proposal the administration issued in July, which laid out how the government might curb greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. A 2007 Supreme Court decision required the Environmental Protection Agency to issue such a ruling, but the White House made it clear in its e-mail that it does not think that is a good idea."At the time, President Bush warned that this was the wrong way to regulate emissions. [House Energy and Commerce Committee] Chairman John D. Dingell called it 'a glorious mess,' " Jeremy J. Broggi, the office's associate director, wrote in the e-mail, obtained by The Washington Post. "And many of you contacted us to let us know how harmful this rule would be to the economies of the cities and counties you serve."The e-mail notes in bold, underlined text that the comment period for the rulemaking "closes on November 28" and provides a link to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog post that warns that a federal cap on greenhouse gases "will operate as a de facto moratorium on major construction and infrastructure projects."
I've never quite understood these eleventh hour stabs at villainy. What's the incentive? For my own sanity, I've generally used a mental model of the Bush administration that is deeply corrupt and mainly interested in enriching its friends and assuring its own survival, but we're past all that now. The administration is on its way out, it has no successor, and no need for campaign contribution. So this sort of thing suggests something closer to an ideological commitment to heat the earth and destroy the world. (Via Karen Tumulty)
