Connections to Rove have certain benefits

June 13, 2006

Indictment or no indictment, Karl Rove’s stunts are pretty hard to defend.

A rule designed by the [tag]Environmental Protection Agency[/tag] to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened after White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that it was too restrictive and after a well-connected Texas oil executive appealed to [tag]White House[/tag] senior advisor Karl [tag]Rove[/tag].

The new rule, which took effect Monday, came after years of intense industry pressure, including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying. But environmentalists vowed Monday that the fight was not over, distributing internal White House documents that they said portrayed the new rule as a political payoff to an industry long aligned with the [tag]Republican Party[/tag] and President [tag]Bush[/tag].

The LAT story on this paints a rather ugly picture. EPA experts crafted a rule that prompted [tag]Ernest Angelo[/tag], a Republican activist and Bush backer, to write to Rove, explaining that the rule was causing many in the oil industry to “openly express doubt as to the merit of electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity.” Rove followed up, assured Angelo that the White House understood the industry’s concerns, and regulators gutted the rule.

It’s the kind of routine business that goes on in the Bush White House every day. Rove could have left the decision about clean groundwater to the [tag]EPA[/tag]’s scientists and career regulators, but a long-time hunting buddy, and major GOP ally, asked him to “help” out. The next thing you know, the “problem” is solved and Bush’s oilman buddy is happy again.

Is it me, or does the Bush White House only operate efficiently when it’s quietly doing favors for his wealthy benefactors?

Pelican Brief.. Erin Brockovich.. ACivil Action.. I know it’s fanciful, but doesn’t just one fact like this alone put the BWH so far outside legality and contitutionality to give all the evidence needed to zap them finally?

  • It’s a pay-to-play system. The oil industry has paid its financial tributes to the Bush machine and they get their way. These unaccountability moments are so much better than those times every for years when the damned voters expect to have their way. Voters don’t pay the big political royalties, though they do pay into that big tax slush fund that makes all the big payouts to industry possible. Maybe if voters hired lobbyists that lined the coffers of the election machine their views might count too.

  • “A dark day”? WTF?

    What exactly is dark about it? Another stupid Shrub photo-op, the usual Rove shenanigans, sounds like business as usual to me.

    A dark day would be December 12th, 2000. That truly was a day that will live forever in infamy, worst day in the history of this country, by far, no comparison.

  • ..Maybe if voters hired lobbyists that lined the coffers of the election machine their views might count too. – petorado #2. Is it just me or is there a hint of cynicism there? I mean is it all so corrupt and beyond repair that we might as well just put our feet up and laugh as the ship goes down? Was it always like this? Or am I missing something?

    Civilizations rise and fall. Everything is impermanent. Maybe the great American experiment is over and we just have to watch the inevitable putrifaction. You know, I’m not joking, and I’m not a pessimist at all. In my personal life I’m thoroughly optimistic. It’s just that when I look at the dire predicament that American culture has got itself into I feel a cold shiver of dismay. I think the clock is ticking and the chances are slim. I think the biggest danger is the loss of freedom and democracy. While your government is exporting it – imposing it – around the world, it is systematically eroding it at home.

    Large swaths of predominantly Democrat-voting citizenry have been intentionally disenfranchised; 1.4 million have been barred from voting under the HAVA provision; hundreds of thousands of spuriosly spoiled ballots are not counted; the list goes on. Seriously, you’ve got damn big problems there, and I don’t get the impression, WADR, that you’re entirely alert to the danger. I sincerely hope that you are, but I’d feel better if I saw more evidence of it. It’s huge, but I don’t believe it is yet intractable.

    Live cowed Diebold NOT

    • Comments are closed.