Agence France-Presse (AFP) Praises Bill Clinton on Kyoto While Trashing Bush

On Friday, talks ended in Canada in regard to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in rock-star fashion as former U.S. President Bill Clinton hit the podium--unofficially.

Still, one is hard-pressed not to imagine the press over at Agence France-Presse (AFP), the self-proclaimed "world's oldest news organization," wetting themselves as you read the breathless and unambiguous copy they wrote regarding Clinton's "show-stealing appearance."

AFP twice says within it story--and a "story" it is, how "irked" and "angry" the U.S. delegation was at Clinton's appearance. What was AFP's source for this? None -- just a rumor.

Further still, AFP even states that "Rumours spread among the conference that the US delegation was angry that Clinton had come, and that it had even tried to block his appearance."

At first glance, one may gloss over that statement, and not think twice. But this is an ex-president of the United States AFP is rumorizing about. Former U.S. presidents receive more honors and attention them most current rulers and presidents of other countrys.

Taken in this context, what AFP is saying regarding the U.S. delegation actually trying to "block" Clinton is incredibly specious, and almost certainly a ruse.

AFP says this in regard to Clinton and Kyoto: "Clinton stoutly defended the Kyoto Protocol, whose framework was approved by his administration in 1997, but which was ditched by Bush in March 2001, in one of his first acts in office."

"Ditched" by the Bush Administration? True, as Kyoto is an economic disaster-in-waiting for the U.S. But the sin here is AFP failing to report that it was the U.S. Congress, specifically the Senate, that essentially told Clinton that Kyoto was DOA, as depicted by NewsBusters own Brad Wilmouth on his blog.

Though the story is one day old, it merits repeating. The modern-day left that populates American politics, including the mainstream media, are products and/or ideological cousins of the great leftist societies that make up Europe today.

While I am personally not surprised to see such as the AFP bashing President Bush, I am nevertheless angered over it. Such misrepresentation of fact and the continued use of political fiction can only be described as agenda-orientated journalism.