From Holden:
Today’s gaggle leaves me wondering if Little Scottie is illiterate or just a compulsive liar.
I obsess, you decide.
Q Scott, is Tony Blair right when he says the U.S. has to get on board with the agenda of countries who see climate control as a major priority?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I’m not sure that that’s an accurate way to describe what he’s saying. First of all —
Q How do you interpret it?
MR. McCLELLAN: I mean, climate change is an issue we take very seriously. And in terms of discussing it at the G8, we welcome a discussion of climate change at the G8. For the past two years, the G8 has acted on concrete proposals to address the long-term challenge we face when it comes to climate change. And the President — the President looks forward to working with Prime Minister Blair and other G8 nations to continue to advance the science so that we have a better understanding of climate change, as well as to develop new, cleaner technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And so we have a number of multilateral and bilateral agreements that we are pursuing on climate change to advance the research and better understand the challenges that it poses. We are also working with a number of those countries to advance technologies, cleaner technologies. Carbon sequestration is something that we have been leading the way on. So —
Q Don’t you think Prime Minister Blair was telling the U.S. that it should change its approach —
MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think that there are many areas where we agree on how to move forward on climate change. In terms of the Kyoto Protocol, I mean, our position is very well-known, and it was also a position that was taken in a unanimous vote by the United States Senate, I might point out.
Now let’s see what Tony Blair actually said.
“Interdependence is no longer disputed,” said Blair, speaking to a forum of business and political leaders. “If America wants the rest of the world to be part of the agenda it has set, it must be part of their agenda too.”
“We need to send a clear signal that whilst we continue to analyze science … we are united in moving in the direction of greenhouse gas reductions,” said Blair.