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.

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.

Note: The most telling remark from the article is a quote from Frank Lutz: In a March 2003 memo to Republican leadership, pollster Frank Luntz frankly outlined the White House strategy on energy and the environment: "The environment is probably the single issue on which Republicans in general and President Bush in particular are most vulnerable," he wrote, cautioning that the public views Republicans 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." Luntz warned, "Not only do we risk losing the swing vote, but our suburban female base could abandon us as well." He recommended that Republicans don the sheep's clothing of environmental rhetoric while dismantling environmental laws.