Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Karl Rove attempted to defend the Bush administration’s energy record by falsely claiming that it had spent more on alternative energy research than “any administration in history”:

ROVE: This president and this administration put more into alternative energy research than any administration in history by a significant factor. And as a result, things like the lithium ion batteries which are needed for cars, plug-in cars, all kinds of cellulosic and other forms of ethanol, hydrogen, wind, solar, all of these with one exception saw a dramatic movement in terms of being able to come to market.

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O’Reilly questioned Rove’s assertion, saying “maybe that’s true and maybe it isn’t,” and called Bush’s actions on energy “invisible.” O’Reilly was right to be skeptical. Since 1980, federal spending on energy research has declined, and since the mid-1990s, “R&D spending has been stagnant for renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

In 2006, Bush stated that “America is addicted to oil.” However, his 2006 budget called for “significant cuts in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean air, and climate change related-programs.” In fact, Bush has continually slashed funding for renewables from the federal budget, while threatening to block legislation that would have funded renewable energy by transferring money from oil and gas industry tax breaks. In 2007, the administration attempted to completely “eliminate federal support for geothermal power.”

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) said that, though the President’s 2008 budget request included $2.7 billion for research, it “cuts 2007 spending for efficiency and renewables by 16%.”

The Wonk Room offers a further deconstruction of George Bush’s energy policies here.

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Today, during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) dismissed the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and other U.S. detention facilities. According to Issa, “we treated our hospital patients worse” than we treat al Qaeda detainees. Former attorney general John Ashcroft chimed in, joking that doctors “were poking needles into me”:

ISSA: It is sort of amazing that as a member of the permanent Select Intelligence Committee, I’ve never heard any allegation of any detainee being denied food or water for a week. It’s clear that we treated our hospital patients at times worse than al Qaeda.

ASCHROFT: What’s more, they were poking needles into me all the time time.

The torture tactics used in U.S. detention are far harsher than the “poking with needles” that Ashcroft underwent at the hospital. They include, as the Center for Constitutional Rights has observed, severe sleep deprivation, “forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, physical force, prolonged stress positions and prolonged sensory overstimulation, and threats with military dogs.” Some interrogations have resulted in “severe physical and mental pain and suffering.”

J Street has a very comprehensive look at American Jewish political opinions. You’ll see that Jews massively disapprove of George W. Bush in general, and his foreign policy in particular, and his approach to the Middle East in particular particular. Jews are overwhelmingly backing Barack Obama and Democratic congressional candidates. Jews overwhelmingly favor more aggressive US diplomatic involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, clearly believe that only a peace agreement can provide real security for Israel over the long run, and recognize the need for the United States to exert meaningful pressure on both sides to get a deal.

Earlier this week, the Dallas Morning News released an interview with former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who stated that former Attorney General John Ashcroft was “pushed out” of the Bush Administration because he “refused to sign off on the warrantless wiretaps.” Iglesias said that “had Ashcroft done the wrong thing, the unconstitutional thing, and signed off on it, he’d probably still be the AG.”

During a hearing today before the House Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft denied Iglesias’ account, telling Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), “My departure was a decision of my own. It was a decision I made. It was voluntary.”

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Ashcroft refused to answer further questions about his departure saying, “I’m not a book writer like so many other people are. I have written books, but they’re not very interesting,” a likely reference to Scott McClellan’s tell-all book about the administration.