Just Words? - Chris Horner

Planet Gore on National Review Online

When it comes to actions by the executive, you can claim all you want the talking points that Bush refused to sign Kyoto (he couldn't sign it), or withdrew from Kyoto (he couldn't, the Senate never ratified it, and he surely never unsigned it, which is the one thing he could have done in the negative); ultimately you'd have to admit that Bush's rhetoric was all that changed and he merely continued the Clinton-Gore policy of declining to pursue ratification unless and until China, India, and the like signed on to similar promises.
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...So think about this in the giddy early days of December and particularly the post-Poznan, pre-Copenhagen period commencing in January. And here is one other reminder: we are the only country that can have the terms of such a pact, non-binding on its face, enforced against us domestically by our own courts.

Just words? Nope. They have consequences.