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Resigning in a cloud over rewriting of global warming reports, advisor hired by Exxon-Mobil

Cooney has no scientific background and prior to taking up the environmental post at the White House he served as a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, an association of oil and energy firms.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration's environmental record was "strong."

Asked about Cooney's case, McClellan told reporters: "That's a pretty absurd question that you just raised."

"And the president is the one who drives policy and makes the decisions. And look at our record and look at the facts, because it's a strong record when it comes to addressing climate change," McClellan said.

The White House has said Cooney's resignation was "completely unrelated" to the release of documents last week that showed Cooney had edited US government documents on global warming in what appeared to be an effort to water down climate change warnings.

Whew! Good thing all this us unrelated, eh? Otherwise thinking people might tend to mistrust what the White House says on the subject of global warming (or anything else for that matter).

Can't have that, now, can we?