The Las Vegas Sun slapped Gov. Jim Gibbons around a bit yesterday over what the paper perceives is his lack of commitment to battling global warming. “While in Congress, Gibbons spoke against the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that the United States refuses to sign,” the editorial laments.
Which is fine. It’s an attack on a position on a public policy issue. Fair game. But why didn’t the Sun point out that as a congressman, then-Rep. Gibbons never had an opportunity to vote on Kyoto - since ratifying treaties is the sole province of the SENATE, not the House? On the other hand, back in 1997, a resolution WAS put before the United States Senate which read:
“Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that–the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol to, or other agreement regarding, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992, at negotiations in Kyoto in December 1997, or thereafter, which would–mandate new commitments to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions…”
That resolution opposing Kyoto passed 95-0. You could look it up. Note that Democrat Sen. Harry Reid did not vote in support of Kyoto, nor did then-Democrat Sen. Richard Bryan. And Democrat then-President Bill Clinton didn’t support it either.
That kind of omission is called “editorial discretion.” It’s also what many conservatives refer to as “liberal bias.” Thank goodness I’m here to “right” such wrongs, right?
Posted on April 16th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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