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by Mark Silva
The Bush White House, which has taken some time in coming around to the concession that the acts of mankind have played a contributing role in global warming but still opposes any mandatory international caps on greenhouse gas emissions, today acknowledged Al Gore's Nobel prize for his advocacy in the campaign against climate change.
"The president learned about it this morning,'' said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman aboard Air Force One, as the president flew to Florida -- of all places, on this day that has invoked many reminders of the 2000 election in which Bush prevailed over Gore with a court-settled dispute over the Sunshine State's presidential vote.
Today, the president is raising money for the Republican Party in Pinellas Park and speaking about free trade in Miami before heading to his Texas ranch for the weekend. Karl Rove, departed political guru, says Bush is rasing money at the home of Brent Sembler, son of Mel Sembler, a major Republican fundraiser who has been rewarded with an ambassadorship. Bush plans to raise money for the Tennessee GOP in Memphis on Monday.
"Of course, he's happy for Vice President Gore, happy for the International Panel on Climate Change scientists, who also shared the Peace Prize,'' Fratto said. "Obviously, it's an important recognition and we're sure the vice president is thrilled.''
Is Bush planning to call Gore?
"I don't know of any plans to make calls to any of the winners at this point,'' Fratto said.
"Obviously Vice President Gore has helped to bring attention to climate change,'' Fratto said, with a similar nod to the United Nations organization that shared the prize today. "The IPCC scientists have done remarkable work to bring scientific rigor to the questions surrounding climate change.
"And obviously the next step for -- and really the most difficult step -- is implementing climate change strategies that are effective and practical, and that allow for continued economic development and for countries to do the work that they need to do to lift people out of poverty,'' the White House spokesman said. "That's a challenging task.''
He noted the international summit that Bush recently held at the State Department, as the president calls on the Group of Eight industrial nations and other major polluters -- including China, India and Brazil -- to agree to voluntary standards on their own by the end of next year in an attempt to rein in emissions that contribute to global warming. The Bush administration has adamantly refused to take part in the Kyoto Protocols, which called for mandatory emissions -- insisting that these would impose unwanted restrictions on economic growth in the U.S.
"The announcement he had prior to the G8 and then the summit meeting last week -- I guess it was two weeks ago now -- to discuss a strategy for climate change... that's the next step and that's an important step,'' Fratto said.
Given the Bush's approach is so different from Gore's, the spokesman was asked, does the president feel that the Nobel Prize is sending a message of any sort about his own policy?
"No,'' he said, "I don't see it that way at all.''
Will this place any pressure on Bush to do more quickly, and to maybe fall into line with what other countries want, which are mandatory caps on emissions, he was asked.
"No,'' Fratto said.
Comments
Any sitting President should make a personal phone call to any American who wins a Nobel prize.
Posted by: Tom | October 12, 2007 11:27 AM
"And obviously the next step for -- and really the most difficult step -- is implementing climate change strategies that are effective and practical"
What? The administration is agreeing that climate change is occurring!?!?! This can't be so. Please tell me this is a joke. Bruce??? John D??? Terry??
Posted by: Marko | October 12, 2007 11:36 AM
Posted by: Marko | October 12, 2007 11:36 AM
Oh they don't really mean it...it's just politics.
Posted by: bill r. | October 12, 2007 11:47 AM
Who really care if Bush calls him, or not? You guys make the biggest deal out of nothing. let's go find a story that's worth commenting on.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 11:53 AM
You know Bush won't rest until he too wins a Nobel. Once his term is over he will travel the world, urging foreign leaders to attack their neighbors thereby insuring peace.
Posted by: nisleib | October 12, 2007 11:58 AM
I can't help but think where we would be right now had the Supreme court not handed W the White House.
Certainly not mired in an occupation in Iraq.
Posted by: athena | October 12, 2007 12:16 PM
You know Bush won't rest until he too wins a Nobel. Once his term is over he will travel the world, urging foreign leaders to attack their neighbors thereby insuring peace.
Posted by: nisleib | October 12, 2007 11:58 AM
Thanks for a good laugh. Nice.
Posted by: kb | October 12, 2007 12:19 PM
I think the Nobel peace prize has gone the way of the "tony awards"
Who cares?
How does promoting left wing folk lore equate to peace?
This just shows how warped this institution is.
The UN won too? You guys actually believe that garbage?
Holy crap.
Posted by: JD | October 12, 2007 12:30 PM
Certainly not mired in an occupation in Iraq.
Probably dead! Gore would have done nothig in response to 911. He would probably try to have them over for tea, to discuss our surrender. Clinton left our military in such outdated disrepair, we would have no choice.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 12:33 PM
"The UN won too? You guys actually believe that garbage?"
You mean garbage like promoting peaceful resolutions to world conflicts, feeding the hungry, eradicating diseases?
Yeah I still believe in that stuff, don't you?
Posted by: AJF | October 12, 2007 12:44 PM
Bush could also win a Nobel Prize for Economics and for a breakthrough in time travel. Just give tax breaks entirely to the super-rich . Get rid of and Estate Tax thereby creating a permenantly entrenched wealthy class and before you know it you've gone back in time to Middle Age feudalism.
Posted by: janet | October 12, 2007 12:52 PM
I agree- it would be the right thing for GWB to telephone Al Gore and congratulate him on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. It would reinforce something positive for America- not for Dems or Republicans- but for the nation. I wonder how many communication pauses there would be in that conversation.
Posted by: Vivian | October 12, 2007 1:00 PM
I am delighted Al Gore was awarded the Nobel peace prize. He's a fitting successor to past peace prize winner Yasser Arafat.
Posted by: Bruce | October 12, 2007 1:32 PM
Congrats to Al Gore !!!
Whether or not you agree with his scientific research on global warming you still have to admit that he's trying to make the world a better place to live and there's never anything wrong with that.
Run Al, Run!
Posted by: John E | October 12, 2007 2:11 PM
I neither agree nor disagree with Al Gore's scientific research, since I had no idea that Al Gore was a scientist or had ever conducted scientific research of his own.
Posted by: JB | October 12, 2007 3:31 PM
You all say that Bush is a loser? who's the one in the oval offfice. It took Bush 3 months to disinfect the furniture in the white house.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 3:54 PM
I neither agree nor disagree with Al Gore's scientific research, since I had no idea that Al Gore was a scientist or had ever conducted scientific research of his own.
Posted by: JB | October 12, 2007 3:31 PM
I can not agree or disagree with you since you have no idea.
Posted by: bill r. | October 12, 2007 4:21 PM
"You all say that Bush is a loser? who's the one in the oval offfice. It took Bush 3 months to disinfect the furniture in the white house.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 12, 2007 3:54 PM"
Actually, Al Gore won the popular vote in '00. Due to our non-democratic EC the win was awarded to GWB with the help of the activist conservative Supreme Court.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 12, 2007 7:36 PM
"This just shows how warped this institution is."
Crazy John,
Or it just shows how warped you are.(?)
Posted by: C.Morris | October 12, 2007 7:38 PM
Yes, Arafat, Peres, and Rabin won the prize in 94 for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East. Other winners include Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Jimmy Carter, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, the U.N., the Red Cross, and many many more deserving people.
Posted by: Steve | October 13, 2007 1:35 AM
Actually, Al Gore won the popular vote in '00. Due to our non-democratic EC the win was awarded to GWB with the help of the activist conservative Supreme Court.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 12, 2007 7:36 PM
Too bad that pesky Constitution got in the way; the Constitution that says how the US electoral system works.
It's the same Constitution libs would have conveniently ignored to make Gore the President; the same one they whine and bitch about GWB destroying.
Posted by: Bush beat Gore, get over it | October 14, 2007 1:24 PM