Endangered Logic

For those anti-conspiracy-theory conspiracy theorists in the audience, try this: compare the newspeak in this memo to the rhetoric used by California Republican Richard Pombo in his attempt to lobotomize the Endangered Species Act. (The memo, leaked to the press in early 2003, was penned by the same hand that brought us the 1994 "Contract With America", Frank Luntz.) This 17-page excerpt schools Bush Admin insiders on the verbal jujitsu required to outmaneuver wily Democrats hell bent on using science in combating the environment.

Now we have Pombo, whose House bill (pdf summary here) turns the Endangered Species Act into an entitlement program for wealthy landowners. And thanks to wording that--frankly--is just more American, there'll be no more pesky butterflies infesting crucial casino habitat!

[ESA available here.]