We didn't expect President Bush's climate change speech to win him any new friends in Europe, but yesterday's Rose Garden address is going over even worse than we imagined at the Major Economies Meeting in Paris.

How bad is it? Well, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel issued a statement with the headline "Bush's Neanderthal Speech." It didn't get much better, with Gabriel saying that the speech "showed not leadership but losership." And based on the reaction of other officials, it appears that all niceties are off the table at the U.S.-led ministerial-level meeting of the world's major carbon emitters:

• South African Environment and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk: "There is no way whatsoever that we can agree to what the US is proposing."
• Anonymous European official: "This is disappointing, but Bush will be leaving office soon. What he says doesn't matter so much any more."
• France's chief climate negotiator, Brice Lalonde: "The current American administration is just beginning to wake up, a bit late," to the dangers of global warming.
• More from Gabriel: "We are glad that there are also other voices in the United States."

In fact, the only non-critical response that we could find from Paris came from chief U.N. climate change official Yvo de Boer, who kind of has to be diplomatic. "I see it as an offer on the table," he said. Ouch.

Specifically, officials in Paris did not react well to Bush's plan to continue emitting greenhouse gases at current (or higher) levels for the next 17 years, especially after he once promised that the U.S. would try to halt emissions growth by 2012. Most delegates at the 17-nation climate talks said far faster action is necessary to stem the effects of climate change.

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