Amy, if it was only the mainstream press that consistently gets things wrong, I personally might only laugh---when the facts are misused to pick my pocket, I tend to get upset--as THIS quote did (although it's provided via the press..)
"With widespread acceptance of the findings of the National Academy of Sciences that global warming is in fact a reality, the Nation has focused its attention on the development of solutions to the accumulating greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere. The U.S. Government is now funding robust R&D investments in a diverse portfolio of energy supply technologies deemed crucial to strengthening our ability to meet the climate change challenge. Coordinated through the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program (CCTP), the funding is targeted to reach $ 2.3 billion in FY 2005 alone. A central goal of the funding is to position the U.S. as a world leader in energy supply technologies that can dramatically improve our global 21st century energy system, and significantly reduced GHG emissions"
http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5126761

The implied premise (beyond the 'issue' of reduced GHG emissions) is that the US somehow needs to 're-establish' itself as the world leader in technology...'course we are that and have always been so, regardless of the metric

Yes, I agree, we have always been so.

On a related point, I have observed that nations that are very willing to criticize the U.S. for CO2 emissions tend not to praise us for spending far more per capita on climate research than most (all? I'm not sure) others do.