Boehlert is delusional about GWBush and his feelings about the environment.  Bush never cared for it as Govornor of Texas and did everything he could to allow polluting industries to locate and build here.  Bush has done everything in his power to be the anti-environmentalist of all time as President, from destroying the Roadless Rules to mercury standards in water, to selling off our national forests, to drilling, mining, and clearcutting forests.....the list is seemingly endless...not to mention bending over for the oil and auto industries.  And, we are the ones who ultimately pay for this incredibly bad policy and behavior.  And, then there is Junk Science.  

Thanks, Amanda, this is a very interesting interview.  It adds to some context for deciding what to do with Lincoln Chafee.  Apparently Sherwood Boehlert's personal political ambitions were not too great recently, as proud as he is of his work of ten or more years ago.  Not so with Chafee.  As a Republican wanting to be returned to office in a blue Northeastern state, he is going to have to look not unfriendly to environmental causes.  How deep that commitment is, is not easy to tell.  I am willing to give Chafee the benefit of the doubt that he is sincere.  Same with NY GOP governor George Pataki, who enjoys a fair amount of support from environmental groups.  As for Boehlert, from the Adirondacks, I think we can be certain of his sincere love for NY forests.

But poor Chafee, wanting to retain influence in his party, unfortunately is prevented by the powers that be in the national party from appearing too bluish.  Hence, he may indeed have done a few things that caused Carl Pope to call him a "hero."  Still, he apparently could not risk what his party would do to him if he failed to support Bill Frist, and if he joined his friend George Voinevich of Ohio in blocking the confirmation of Sam Alito.  That last would certainly have won him a profile-in-courage badge.

Another interesting case is Mitt Romney, GOP governor of Massachusetts.  I am not quite sure how he won; certainly the Democrats ran against him an extremely weak candidate.  Nowadays of course he wants to run for president in 2008, so notice: he has apparently been very successful in torpedoing the Cape Wind project, and he has pulled MA out of the consortium of Northeastern governors united against polluting industries.

(On Cape Wind, Edward Kennedy and RFK Jr. are of course another story, best left for another time.)