The Fiasco at Rio

“Any time environmentalism is a big issue in the news, it’s not to our benefit.” So revealed a Bush campaign strategist to the Wall Street Journal at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero last June.

During the conference, third world and European nations alike criticized the isolated Bush administration’s refusal to sign a treaty that would better conserve the world’s diminishing animal and plant species. Germany, filling the leadership vacuum, pressed...