Marvelous Gail Collins editorial on Bush's greenhouse 2025 goal

Gail Collins channels the spirit of Molly Ivins...

The Fat Bush Theory - New York Times

...Suppose that two years after taking office, George W. Bush discovered that because of the stress of his job, he had gained 40 pounds and was tipping the scales at 220.

The real-world Bush would immediately barricade himself in the White House gym, refusing all human contact or nourishment until the issue was resolved. But imagine that he regarded getting fat as seriously as he regards melting glaciers, rising oceans and drought and starvation around the planet. In that case, he would set a serious, management-type goal — of, say, an 18 percent reduction in the rate at which he was gaining weight, to be reached within the next decade...

Gail reminds us that Bush's 2002 "goal" was a voluntary 18% reduction in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 (we won't achieve this). His 2008 "goal" is a voluntary 100% reduction in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. This "goal" is not to achieved by “raise taxes, duplicate mandates or demand sudden and drastic emissions cuts.”

So Bush's reach goal is that the US stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at an level consistent with the complete melting of Greenland's ice cap. This goal will be achieved by technology alone. (Bush does not rule out tax reductions to support technology development.)

John McCain would be not any better.