George W. Bush Countdown Calendar - January 26

"Who Needs Scientists When You've Got Lobbyists?

In a radical change of policy, the EPA decided at the end of 2006 to effectively eliminate input from its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee in setting standards for dangerous pollutants like lead, ozone, and soot. The independent panel, which until then had provided key scientific recommendations early on in the standards review process, will now be allowed only to comment on proposed regulations after the public has been notified of them, in effect putting the scientific board on the same footing as industrial lobbyists and other special interest groups."

Soldiers love teh shootin' and killin', according to McCain

This is just too good to pass up.

John McCain accused Mitt Romney of wanting to withdraw troops from Iraq, drawing immediate protest from his Republican presidential rival who said: "That’s simply wrong and it's dishonest, and he should apologize."

[...]

Asked about the comment in Land O' Lakes, Romney balked. "That's dishonest, to say that I have a specific date. That's simply wrong," he said. "That is not the case. I've never said that."

"I know he's trying desperately to change the topic from the economy and trying to get back to Iraq, but to say something that's not accurate is simply wrong — and he knows better," the former Massachusetts governor said.

Campaigning later in Sun City, McCain took note of Romney's demand for an apology and said it is his GOP rival who should apologize to U.S. troops in Iraq "who are serving this nation in hard times and good" for his position.

McCain and Romney are arguing over who can keep our occupation of Iraq going the longest. But it's even better than that. McCain thinks our soldiers like being in Iraq and Romney should apologize to them for trying to ruin all their fun by bringing them home (even though Romney wants them there forever, just like McCain). It sounds like John McCain really enjoyed all that time he spent as a POW in Vietnam. The fact that Ron Paul, who wants the troops out of Iraq immediately, has received more campaign contributions from active military personnel than any other Republican is lost on these guys.

Republicans ecstatic that Americans must work 2 jobs

From ThinkProgress today:

Topping Congress’s agenda as it returns this week is a plan to “jump-start the economy and try to shorten the slowdown that many economists say has already begun to take hold.”

Today, Rep. Eric Cantor (VA), the chief deputy Republican whip in the House, unveiled his proposal to stimulate the economy. His legislation — the so-called Middle Class Job Protection Act — does nothing for the middle class. Instead, it reduces the corporate tax rate by 28 percent.

At a press conference today unveiling the stimulus proposal, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) justified the conservative plan to give tax breaks to corporations — instead of working Americans — by arguing that people actually like working long hours:

I am so proud to be from the state of Minnesota. We’re the workingest state in the country, and the reason why we are, we have more people that are working longer hours, we have people that are working two jobs.

Bachmann’s version of the American Dream is apparently working two full-time jobs and struggling to get by.

[...]

Bachmann may be taking her cues from her bosom buddy President Bush, who on Feb. 4, 2005, told a divorced mother of three: “You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.”