The Rollback Machine

"Democrats and moderate Republicans alike are accusing Bush of having the worst environmental record in history -- of surreptitiously tearing down the regulatory framework that yielded vast improvements in the nation's air and water quality and land conservation over the last 30 years," writes Amanda Griscom. In response to growing criticism of its environmental policies, the administration has "made every effort to finesse its public-relations strategy, but none whatsoever to change its approach to environmental policies themselves. ... The same high-level image-makers who had Bush somersaulting onto an aircraft carrier on its way home from the Persian Gulf have also been meticulously controlling the public image of Bush's environmental agenda."