Demagogue

Since President Bush isn't terribly fond of working with other nations to tackle global environmental issues (cough, Kyoto, cough), some states are taking a Do-it-Yourself approach.

Officials in Connecticut and eight other Northeastern states have reached a preliminary agreement on an initiative led by New York Gov. George Pataki to freeze power plant emissions at current levels and reduce them by 10 percent by 2020, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
(snip)

Such an agreement would be the first of its kind in the nation and comes after the Bush administration decided not to regulate the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and rejected joining more than 150 other nations on the Kyoto anti-emissions treaty.

Pataki, a Republican who is eyeing a 2008 presidential run, has opposed the Bush administration's actions and said states should go their own way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if the federal government would not act.

Once a final agreement is reached by negotiators, it would be subject to approval by the legislatures of the nine states.

(snip)

Pataki, a Republican who is eyeing a 2008 presidential run, has opposed the Bush administration's actions and said states should go their own way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions if the federal government would not act.

Once a final agreement is reached by negotiators, it would be subject to approval by the legislatures of the nine states.

See? That wasn't so hard. Republicans can understand the benefit of working together to protect the planet and preserve the health of its inhabitants. Rumor has it that states in the west are considering a similar pact.

Apparently Bush missed that day in kindergarten where they talked about cooperation and playing well with others. (Ok, ok, that's probably not the only day he missed.)

As far as I can see the only thing the coalition is missing is a catchy name.