BLAME AMERICA FIRST: Check out this bogus Associated Press story. Key bit:

The United States is no longer bound by Kyoto, which the Bush administration rejected after taking office in 2001.

Er, no. The truth is as close as this entry from the not especially Bush-friendly Wikipedia:

On July 25, 1997, before the Kyoto Protocol was finalized (although it had been fully negotiated, and a penultimate draft was finished), the U.S. Senate unanimously passed by a 95–0 vote the Byrd-Hagel Resolution (S. Res. 98),[40] which stated the sense of the Senate was that the United States should not be a signatory to any protocol that did not include binding targets and timetables for developing as well as industrialized nations or “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States”. On November 12, 1998, Vice President Al Gore symbolically signed the protocol. Both Gore and Senator Joseph Lieberman indicated that the protocol would not be acted upon in the Senate until there was participation by the developing nations.[41] The Clinton Administration never submitted the protocol to the Senate for ratification.

Hmm. No Bush Administration rejection there. There is this bit, later on:

The current President, George W. Bush, has indicated that he does not intend to submit the treaty for ratification, not because he does not support the Kyoto principles, but because of the exemption granted to China (the world’s second largest emitter of carbon dioxide[42]). . . . Despite its refusal to submit the protocol to Congress for ratification, the Bush Administration has taken some actions towards mitigation of climate change.

Read the whole thing, and note: The United States was never bound by Kyoto, and it was not “rejected” by the Bush Administration. Once again, a webpage by unpaid amateurs is more accurate and nuanced than an effort by the Associated Press. Anyone can make a mistake, but the AP’s seem to lean heavily in an anti-Bush direction. (Thanks to reader Ronald Vogt for the AP story link.)

UPDATE: Ed Driscoll emails: “No wonder AP is trying to tie Kyoto in with Bush—because then the circle would be complete.”

MORE: Greg Barto emails: “This is another example of why the AP can’t keep relying on environmentalist stringers!” It was vouched for by Asst. Secretary of State Jamil Hussein . . . .