RFK Jr.: Save the Earth -- dump Bush

[Feanorcurufinwe]

In a slashing interview, environmental leader Bobby Kennedy Jr. denounces the administration's "crimes against nature" and discusses the Democratic presidential pack, the dawn of Arnold's California reign -- and his own political future.

<snip>
You charge in your Rolling Stone article that Bush is the worst environmental president in American history.

Yes, that's true. And he's far worse than No. 2, who's Warren Harding. Based upon the fact that we have 30 major environmental laws that are now being eviscerated. All of the investment we have made in our environmental infrastructure since Earth Day 1970 is now being undermined in a three-year period of astonishing activity.

<snip>
What about the Democratic Party? Isn't it part of the problem too? Democratic politicians receive money from many of these same corporate polluters. And Al Gore certainly failed to make the environment a major issue in the last presidential race, even though he was supposedly Mr. Environment.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's because most of the candidates do not know how to explain these issues in a way that makes them relevant to the average voter. And in fact they have extraordinary relevance to average people. We're not protecting the environment for the sake of the fishes and the birds; we're doing it because it enriches us. It's the basis of our economy, and we ignore that at our peril. The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of our environment. It also enriches us aesthetically and recreationally and culturally and historically -- and spiritually. Human beings have other appetites besides money, and if we don't feed them, we're not going to become the beings that our Creator intended us to become.

When we destroy the environment, we are diminishing ourselves and we're impoverishing our children. And our obligation as a generation -- as Americans, as a civilization -- is to create communities that give our children the same opportunities for dignity and enrichment as the communities that our parents gave us. And we cannot do that if we don't protect our environmental infrastructure. And that's really what this is all about.

So why didn't Al Gore go near this issue in the 2000 race?

That was a great disappointment to me. I urged him to do it. And I believe he would be president if he had.

<snip>
You've endorsed John Kerry in the 2004 race. Do you think he'll champion the environment more boldly than Gore in his campaign?

I think he already is; he's already framed this as his issue. I like all of the Democratic candidates and they're all relatively good on the environment. Actually, I don't know anything about Wes Clark on this issue, I haven't talked to him. But I have good friends who have and they say he's expressed strong feelings on the environment. So I think all the Democratic candidates are in the right place.

But Kerry has the best record of any senator; he has a 96 percent lifetime rating with the League of Conservation Voters. This has been a passion for him since he got into public life. He was the Massachusetts organizer for Earth Day in 1970, and he has fought hard for fuel efficiency standards, which is now the holy grail of the environmental movement. He's been the one consistent champion on that issue.

I've known Kerry almost all my life and he's an outdoorsman, he loves being on the water, he loves fishing. I've spent a lot of time on Nantucket Sound with him. Last summer he called my brother Max and asked him to come to Wood's Hole to go windsurfing with him, and they ended up windsurfing all the way from Wood's Hole to Nantucket, which is 45 miles, over open ocean. And that's pretty good for a 56-year-old guy. And he wasn't calling a press conference or anything. He just did it because they got into the water. It's genuine.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/11/19/bobbykennedyjr/index.html

This is worth clicking through Salon's ad to read; Kennedy has a lot more to say than simply praise for Kerry (darn those copyright rules)...

[Punkingal]

1. I would love to see RFK Jr....

as head of the EPA!

[a_lil_wall_fly]

2. Awesome article

I wish he would throw his hat in the ring....great speaker and "fact-finder". But that is strong suit coming from his father's genes. No offense to his mother...I have not read that much about her family background.

[blm]

3. and Bobby Sr. was a go-getter.

.

[sandnsea]

4. Best article in years

Isn't anybody reading it? He talks about corporate fascism and calls logging, mining and corporate farmers "welfare cowboys". Talks about how he explains that deregulation isn't fair market capitalism because the people end up paying for the cost cutting economic damage caused by corporations. Talks about the corporate controlled media. It's superb. I'm really surprised nobody is commenting on this in almost any forum. It's the exact stuff most DUers have been wanting in print ever since I've been here.