by Brent Baker
The Bush administration is “bought and paid by Big Oil in
America,” New York Times foreign policy correspondent and former
reporter Thomas Friedman declared in an interview with Rolling
Stone, adding: “They are going to do nothing that will in any way
go against the demands and interests of the big oil companies.”
Referring to oil company executives, Friedman disclosed his
anger at any who dare question the liberal mantra on how
industrialization is causing global warming: “I think this is a
real group of bad guys, considering that they have funded all the
anti-global-warming propaganda out there in the world. And Bush is
just not going to go against guys like that. They are bad, bad
guys — because of what they are doing in fighting the science of
global warming.”
Friedman predicted that because of global warming “Bush's
ranch is going to look like a moonscape in ten years if these
trends continue.” Scolding Bush for not trying to reduce global
warming, Friedman charged: “The fact that we haven't done a thing
— I mean, not a thing — shame on us, and shame on our leaders.
And Bush will answer to history for that.”
Though he urged a “Manhattan Project” to achieve independence
from Saudi oil, he didn't mention the oil available in the U.S. in
such places as Alaska and instead stressed conservation as he
boasted of buying a hybrid gas/electric Toyota Prius.
The interview in the October 17 Rolling Stone, conducted by
Assistant Managing Editor Will Dana, is not online and the
magazine is not in Nexis, so MRC analyst Patrick Gregory typed in
the portion of the interview in which Friedman, who also praises
Bush's anti-terrorism efforts, espoused left-wing thinking on the
environment and energy policy:
Rolling Stone: “Some people on the left have said that the war
on terrorism is actually about making sure the Middle East keeps
pumping oil on our terms. In your book, you refer to 'Mr. Bush and
his oil-industry paymasters.' What do you mean?” [Friedman's book,
Longitudes and Attitudes, is made up of columns published after 9-
11]
Friedman: “I think these guys are bought and paid by Big Oil
in America, and they are going to do nothing that will in any way
go against the demands and interests of the big oil companies. I
mean, let's face it. ExxonMobil — I think this is a real group of
bad guys, considering that they have funded all the anti-global-
warming propaganda out there in the world. And Bush is just not
going to go against guys like that. They are bad, bad guys —
because of what they are doing in fighting the science of global
warming. The Bush people are these big, 'we hunt, we fish' kinds
of guys. What kind of planet do they think is going to be left for
hunting and fishing? History is not going to treat them kindly on
that score. I mean, Bush's ranch is going to look like a moonscape
in ten years if these trends continue. And the indifference to it
enrages me. We're going to look back at these as the years the
locusts ate everything. It's in our power to deal with global
warming, and it's directly related to so many bad things that are
happening out there. The fact that we haven't done a thing — I
mean, not a thing — shame on us, and shame on our leaders. And
Bush will answer to history for that.”
Rolling Stone: “But we have done nothing to lessen our
dependence on Middle Eastern oil.”
Friedman: “The column I wrote last year that got the greatest
reaction was when I called for a Manhattan Project for energy
conservation and independence. And even if energy independence is
an illusion, as a goal it would have been a great, great
objective. My wife and I — our first act post-9/11 was to buy a
Toyota Prius, which gets fifty miles to the gallon. I am just not
going to continue to run my life where, through the car I drive, I
am creating a transfer payment of my dollars to the government of
Saudi Arabia that are then passed on to some radical sheik in a
Wahabi mosque. I'm sorry. If buying our little Prius will help
take money away from those guys, that's a good thing for me.”
Rolling Stone: “The Bush administration has all this rhetoric
about asking more from people. But it doesn't seem like it really
wants to ask anything from us as citizens.”
Friedman: “A friend of mine e-mailed me the other day. He
said, 'You know, you look at the Bush guys. Their whole philosophy
is: We're at war — let's party! We're at war — lower taxes.
We're at war — don't conserve anything! We're at war — go
shopping! Have they called on the administration, or the public,
to do anything hard?' These guys, of all people, are putting up
steel tariffs? I mean, at least you could count on them to be
good, decent, cruel Republicans and put the steel workers out of
their misery. But no — they even gave in to them.”
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
Letterman Endorses Bush Effort to Topple Saddam
David Letterman is aboard President Bush's effort to rid
the world of Saddam Hussein and baffled at why anyone is opposed
to ousting the dictator.
On Tuesday's Late Show on CBS, Letterman proposed to Senator
John McCain: “If you look at this medically, to me it seems like
this is cancer. We have a malignancy here. And in most cases if
it's a desperate kind of cancer it's excised, it's removed, it's
taken out. So what is the problem? Let's get the guy and why are
we kind of horsing around?”
That prompted the audience to applaud. When the clapping died
down, Letterman continued: “That's probably a naive reactionary
view, but what about it?”
McCain agreed with Letterman's reasoning: “I don't think there
is anything naive about it at all…”
That exchange with McCain is the “Big Show Highlight” now on the Late Show's Web page in RealPlayer format.
No wonder Letterman didn't end up at ABC. His view of Saddam
Hussein isn't an attitude much appreciated by ABC News.
