Climate Report Editor Resigns (no scientific training,from Petroleum Inst)

[DeepModem Mom]

New York Times:
Editor of Climate Reports Resigns
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: June 10, 2005

Philip A. Cooney, the chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental Quality, resigned yesterday, White House officials said.

Mr. Cooney’s resignation came two days after documents revealed that he had repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that cast doubt on the link between building greenhouse-gas emissions and rising temperatures.

Mr. Cooney has no scientific training. Dana Perino, a deputy White House press secretary, said Mr. Cooney “had long been considering his options following four years of service in the administration.” Ms. Perino said the decision was unrelated to revelations about the documents. Mr. Cooney did not return e-mails messages or phone messages left at his home....

***

Before moving to the White House in 2001, Mr. Cooney, 45, was a lawyer for the American Petroleum Institute, the main lobby for the oil industry and held the position of “climate team leader,” in which he fought restrictions on greenhouse gases.

The documents, first described on Wednesday in The New York Times , stirred reactions ranging from defenses of Mr. Cooney by oil lobbyists to strident criticism by environmental groups and satire from Jon Stewart on his comedy-news program “The Daily Show.”...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/11cooney.long.html

[prole_for_peace]

1. resignation "unrelated to revelations about the documents"

bullsh*t.

[whistle]

2. How does a chief of staff to President Bush’s Council on Environmental

...Quality do that without the people who wrote the reports or documented the figures fail to see or blow the whistle on this guy the moment it happens?

[xray s]

3. as he drives away in his Hummer to his summer place on the shore

Gawd I hate these pigs

[quaoar]

4. This story must be false

Because no one in the Bush Administration ever resigns for fucking up. I'll bet Cooney is resigning to take a bigger and better job at the White House. Maybe they'll put him in charge of editing reports on all the jobs Bush has created.

[MaineDem]

9. To spend more time with his family...

I bet that's the story. Isn't that what they all say?

And it has nothing to do with the recent news. Right! :eyes:

[tanyev]

5. It is completely unnecessary to be knowledgeable in any

given field when the administration's policy decisions are guided entirely by politics. But good riddance anyway, Mr. Cooney.

[TahitiNut]

6. The "satire from Jon Stewart" is noted by the NYTimes.

Fascinating. Maybe they'll some day learn that the word is "fraud" not "faulty intelligence."

[dbt]

7. Kick for the Friday News Dump.

[Mairead]

8. I think a fitting punishment for such people

would be to be forced to live in a tiny, dingy rattrap in the hottest part of the nation without air conditioning, good air circulation, or good refrigeration, as many poor people must. Say about 20 years under such conditions, no parole or release.

[ChrisK]

10. So they fired a cheerleader for the oil industery....

who re-writes what scientists in the field of Greenhouse gases have been saying and wonder why we call for more transparency?

And the folks on the right wonder why so many people on the left have pushed for Cheney to release his energy policy?

Hmm..last time I checked a lawyer is not a scientist but when up is down...:crazy:

I have to wonder...what would our country be like if Bush wasn't a "Steward of the Land"?

[SpiralHawk]

11. One less Republican propagandist on the public payroll

The rest of the corrupt and lying Bush administration is next

[gristy]

12. This is a surprise

I read most of that article on Wednesday and was thinking that this is just business as usual. Never imagined anything would come of the report. I suspect that Cooney's resignation is not the end of the story...

[truthisfreedom]

13. bushco must have sensed something else in the works.

otherwise they would never have gotten cold feet over this guy.

[MGKrebs]

14. He may just have too high a profile now.

They prefer this stuff be done with nobody looking. They can replace him at some point when no one is paying attention with somebody who no one has ever heard of.

[Moderator]

15. kick to combine

[Career Prole]

16. Former Lobbyist Leaves White House Post (yup...THAT lobbyist!)

WASHINGTON - A former oil industry lobbyist who changed government reports on global warming has resigned in a long-planned departure, the White House said Saturday.

Philip Cooney, who was chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, left Friday, two days after it was revealed that he had edited administration reports on climate change in 2002 and 2003.

His departure was "completely unrelated" to the disclosure, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

"Mr. Cooney has long been considering his options following four years of service to the administration," she said. "He'd accumulated many weeks of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."

http://tinyurl.com/acsvj

Ah, yes..."off to spend time with his family". :sarcasm:

Byebye Mr. "no comment...he's not an authorized spokesman" Cooney.

[Not_Giving_Up]

17. I love it

Are we really supposed to believe that his departure is unrelated to news that he changed climate change reports?

[acmejack]

18. By now, they figure we are dumb enough to believe anything!

They have long showed a patrician disdain for the intellect of the common folk.

[WatchWhatISay]

19. So thats what they mean by family values!

"He'd accumulated many weeks of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."

It means, when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, it is VALUABLE to have a family on whom you can blame the need to resign on.

[BillZBubb]

20. Hey, his work is done.

They've propagandized the sheeple enough to block any meaningful climate change action.

Time to move back to the private sector for the payoff.

[Just Me]

21. What is the strategy behind these quick exits?

Do they avoid liability or something? :shrug:

[Career Prole]

24. I dunno about the rest of them, but

they definitely didn't want this guy talking to the press.

From the original NYT report of the editing...

A White House spokeswoman, Michele St. Martin, said today that Mr. Cooney would not be made available to comment. "We don't put Phil Cooney on the record," she said. "He's not a cleared spokesman."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1530709&mesg_id=1530709

I can't speak to the 'why' of it, but they did not want Cooney running his mouth.

[DeepModem Mom]

25. Whoa, CP! What's the story behind this, I wonder???

Thanks for posting this from the original report.

[kevinmc]

22. Gone Into Hiding For The Summer n/t

[Career Prole]

23. Damn! I was off by a couple of days!

When I first posted the Cooney "editing" story in LBN I remarked at the time

"He's not a cleared spokesman....and besides, he's disappeared."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

Maxwell Smart, Agent 86: "Missed it by that much..."

[Mark E. Smith]

26. Ex-Oil Lobbyist Quits White House Job

MSNBC 6/11/05

WASHINGTON - A senior official at the White House Council on Environmental Quality has resigned, days after a newspaper reported he changed some government reports to downplay links between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming.

Philip Cooney, the council's chief of staff and a former energy industry lobbyist, resigned on Friday, two days after the New York Times reported he edited some descriptions of climate research in a way that cast doubt on links between greenhouse gas emissions and rising temperatures.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed Cooney had resigned from the council but said it was unrelated to the Times story.

"Mr. Cooney has long been considering his options following four years of service in the administration," she said. "He had accumulated four weeks of leave and decided to resign and take the summer off to spend time with his family."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8137646/

Medal of Freedom to follow. All the exposed liars get them in the Bush administration.

[acmavm]

27. Yep, another guy wanting to spend more time with his family.

Coincidentally immediately after he got caught being a scheming weasle.

Seems that happens a lot in the bush** administration.

[katsy]

28. in a better day and age...

he would have been hauled off in handcuffs.

[mcctatas]

29. Hey I finally figured it out...

Maybe Rummy doesn't have a happy home life, which would explain why he didn't resign to spend more time with them after his tragic performance in Iraq. Could also explain why he's such a flaming asshole, not getting enough affection can make you crazy.

[DeepModem Mom]

30. Does anyone know if this resignation has made TV news? nt

[Roland99]

31. Dunno...Probably won't.

[rodeodance]

32. White House official resigns after climate documents flap (ah ha)

hey this was in the most viewed articles on yahoo. People ARE interested in climate--contrary to what the WH says-or the news media who seldom has it on their radar screen!!
Article says WH is 'embarrassed" te he---staff starting to resign!! good news!!


White House official resigns after climate documents flap

AFP - 2 hours, 17 minutes ago Avg. Rating: 4.3
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/usclimatebush;_ylt=AsGY0_NvGjfp4FzPJmLgKXhhr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) - A senior White House official involved in a damaging controversy over his deleting of dire climate change warnings from US government reports has abruptly resigned, but the White House denies his departure had anything to do with the flap.

Philip Cooney, chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, stepped down Friday without disclosing his future employment plans, announced presidential spokeswoman Erin Healy.

"He has accumulated many weeks on leave, and so he decided to resign and take the summer off to spend some time with his family," Healy told AFP.

She added the resignation was "completely unrelated" to the release of documents this past week that show Cooney had given a thorough editing to US government documents on global warming -- in what appeared to be an effort to make them look less dramatic.

[indepat]

33. Just another loyalist doing what is expected?

[rodeodance]

39. yeah-falling on the sword--what a culture of life.

[jimshoes]

34. Do they have a waiting list

for who gets to tell the whopper of the day? Jeezzus.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

35. People can see climate change

they can feel it. Ask the folks in LA about the huge rainfall that came and caused their roofs to leak. Ask the mountain climbers or skiers who can tell you that glaciers have disappeared. Ask people where it is rainy why there is drought.

People may be hoodwinked about things happening far away, but it is hard to convince them lies are facts when the truth is staring them in the face.

[liberaliraqvet26]

36. it's funny....

i have hardly heard this story on the MSM. Its like a small blurb on page 13 and a one day 15 second report on headline news.

[Toots]

37. Is what he did illegal?

IMO it is the same as lying to Congress and the Admnistration. I am pretty sure he was only doing what he was instructed to do by this Administration but when you change words to change the meaning of official government reports to affect legislation it should be illegal. The way I read the first report was he would change words like "is" to "might be"

[xxqqqzme]

38. I wonder what else he has done

since no one and I mean absolutely NO ONE in the BFEE circle EVER resigns.

I am so cheered by the family dedication of the rethugs, it is truly touching. Maybe he'll love being around his family and abandon his high powered oil corp legal support and become a house husband. :sarcasm:

or maybe not!




Don't U love how Jon gets referenced in CMC these days. Hardly a day goes by that I don't see a reference to TDS, especially when the news is political.