Why am I labeling the GOP with this? Let me remind you that the regulations that could have prevented this had already been formulated at MMI. Then Dick ‘Horny for Halliburton’ Cheney held secret meetings in which the giant energy corporations wrote our nation’s energy policy. The GOP nixed the new regulations, forced out the serious regulators, and replaced them with political hacks whose qualification was willingness to take a loyalty oath to the Bush/GOP Regime. Had this regulation been in place, different blowout prevention equipment would have been in use, and this tragedy would not have occurred.
Now the Dingbat of Drilling wants to blame Obama.
Reporting from Washington
Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate who helped popularize "Drill, baby, drill" as a slogan, suggested Sunday that President Obama’s campaign ties to the oil industry were impeding cleanup of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded that Palin should better inform herself about oil politics and policy.
Speaking on " Fox News Sunday," the former Alaska governor said she remained a "big supporter" of oil drilling but believed "these oil companies have got to be held accountable."
Pointing to what she termed the White House’s relationship with "the oil companies who have so supported President Obama in his campaign and are supportive of him now," Palin questioned whether "there’s any connection there to President Obama taking so doggone long to get in there, to dive in there, and grasp the complexity and the potential tragedy that we are seeing here in the Gulf of Mexico."
Gibbs, on CBS News’ "Face the Nation," suggested Palin do some homework.
"I’m almost sure that the oil companies don’t consider the Obama administration a huge ally," Gibbs said. "We proposed a windfall profits tax when they jacked their oil prices up to charge more for gasoline."
Gibbs said, "My suggestion to Sarah Palin would be to get slightly more informed as to what’s going on in and around oil drilling in this country."
The oil and gas industry donated $2.4 million to Palin’s running mate, Republican John McCain, in the 2008 election cycle, and nearly $900,000 to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ opensecrets.org website.
One month after the BP rig exploded and sank in the gulf, thousands of barrels of oil a day continue spilling as experts struggle to devise a way to cap the break and contain the crude. A live webcam shows the oil spewing underwater in graphic detail.
Criticism has been mounting over the inability of the White House and BP to stem the flow that is threatening the economic livelihood of gulf coast communities and wreaking environmental destruction.
Gibbs said the government "is doing everything humanly and technologically possible to plug the hole."
"Every bit of government has been activated," Gibbs said. "The president has told the team to spare nothing in trying to cap this well."
Asked whether there would be a criminal investigation of the spill, Gibbs said Justice Department lawyers have been to the gulf "to gather information on this."
Republicans popularized "Drill, baby, drill" as a campaign slogan in 2008 as gasoline prices were on the rise and Democrats promoted alternative energy sources. The slogan gained prominence during the Republican National Convention, and Palin often was greeted by chanting supporters on the campaign trail.
Palin said Sunday that she remained "a strong supporter of domestic energy supplies being extracted," and she said onshore drilling can be safer than in ocean waters… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <LA Times>
To quote Keith Olbermann, “That woman is an idiot.” I’ll be quite surprised if he does not say so this evening in response.
But does she, and the others who keep saying that Obama should do more, have a case? In my opinion, the most honest official we have on the scene is Admiral Thad Allen.
The U.S. official leading the response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill said Sunday that only BP had the expertise to plug the gaping hole in its deepwater well and that he trusted the oil company was doing its best.
The comments by Adm. Thad Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard, signaled that the U.S. government wouldn’t take a larger role in stopping the five-week-old spill even as frustration in the Gulf coast grows over the Obama administration’s policy of letting BP run the cleanup… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <McClatchy DC>
The US Navy has our best expertise in underwater operations, but the operating depth of an Ohio Class SSBN is only 1,600 feet. That’s not even one third deep enough. The problem is that the MMS under GOP control did not ask BP to prove their claim that they had the ability to prevent such a disaster and contain it in the event of an accident. Instead they just rubber stamped BP’s lies.
Now, I know you’re already angry, but prepare to become even angrier.
BP has rebuffed demands from government officials and environmentalists to use a less-toxic dispersant to break up the oil from its massive offshore spill, saying that the chemical product it is now using continues to be "the best option for subsea application."
On Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the London-based company 72 hours to replace the dispersant Corexit 9500 or to describe in detail why other dispersants fail to meet environmental standards.
The agency on Saturday released a 12-page document from BP, representing only a portion of the company’s full response. Along with several dispersant manufacturers, BP claimed that releasing its full evaluation of alternatives would violate its legal right to keep confidential business information private.
But in a strongly worded retort, the EPA said that it was "evaluating all legal options" to force BP to release the remaining information "so Americans can get a full picture of the potential environmental impact of these alternative dispersants."… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
Do you even believe their arrogance? Where do they get off claiming confidentiality given the magnitude of the human, animal, and economic suffering they have caused due to their unmitigated greed?!!? My solution is this. Over and above damages, we should charge BP $1 billion per day until the gusher is stopped, starting today.
Off topic: I have a commitment that may prevent me from posting tomorrow. If I post at all, it will be much later than usual. I know you expect my normal regularity, and I don’t want you to think that I’m not OK or have an emergency.
19 Responses to “Latest on the GOP Gulf Gusher”
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It’s BS that BP won’t allow the government in to help and they should be following our rules, not theirs, since they’ve already proved that they are incompentent.
Lisa, I could not agree more.
You and I know BP and Sarah palin are full of crap TomCat. But yesterday I thought the righties claim that this would be Obama’s Katrina were hogwash.
These scumbags are experts at swaying just enough deluded fools into thinking they are the good guys. They will repeat lies over and over so just enough people think they’re true to win them elections. Remember Bush/2000 anyone?
We got troubles. Like it or not, this is close to being successfully spun into an “It’s Obama’s fault” meme. The right is on message and frankly, don’t, and never have cared for the truth and America as a whole. Just the corporate masters of which BP is charter member.
The irony is that I’ll profit from my owning some Exxon stock. Taxpayers will end up paying for this mess. Oil companies will use it as an excuse to raise prices and their stocks will shoot up 40%.
I’m still outraged.
Not only do I remember 2000, I remember 2004. A cowardly ChickenHawk attacked the military record of an authentic war hero and was successful in getting close enough to steal a second straight election by Dieboldizing Ohio’s voting machines.
“The Dingbat of Drilling” is classic.
Well, now I understand Obama’s rationale for leaving BP in charge of the effort to stop the gusher, but the government needs to be a lot tougher on the company’s general behavior than they have been so far. BP’s arrogance is indeed breathtaking. I worry that the public reaction to it might start to spill over into more general anti-British sentiment, just because it’s a British company.
The idea that a disaster caused by an under-regulated oil company could be pinned on Obama seems ludicrous, but I’m reminded of the teabagger I saw interviewed on video once, who said Obama was planning “a Communist take-over like Hitler did in Germany”, and the sign seen at one Tea Party saying that the Obama administration had “more czars than the USSR” (wouldn’t be difficult). Some of these people are easily confused. Still, most of those who would swallow the idea of blaming Obama for this disaster probably wouldn’t have voted Democratic anyway.
Infidel, I nade that one up this morning. Thou shalt steal, especially since your such a fine religious fellow. 😉
The criticism of the Obama response that worries me comes not from the right, but from the left. People just don’t seem to get that there is little expertise on conducting operations at that depth, except for those that do it for a living. And even they have been reduced to best guess experimentation.
Passing by to say hi, Tom
Hi Monique, and thanks!
Is a billion enough?
Now Saladbar says he’s gonna get real tough. Will a letter be the first thing before the knockout blow comes?
Any reporter would be writing about the arrangement made with the Bush’s. I guess they’re not reporters.
And they give this simple talking points women credibility. Pin it on Bama and the sheep believe it.
LTFO boys and girls. If this doesn’t get shut off real soon they may not be able to for some time if ever.
So if what they’re going to try next fails what’s next and after that what?
We should be sitting in on this strategy and know exactly what the plans are day to day.
All that is and will be destroyed is mine and yours!
It’s been a fucking lie from the beginning.
If the Bush bastards had been held accountable for taking this country to war on lies chances are good this wouldn’t be happening.
There must be accountability at this level of government else this is what you get.
I really believe these are the worst of times overall that my country has seen in my lifetime which is awhile.
This country is regressing and at faster rate than climate change.
There are many out there who are much more optimistic than I. We need that badly.
At this stage I’m doubtful we can get back all that has been lost in a decade and we will continue a rather steep decline and that’s with the oil getting shut off in the gulf starting right now.
Nicely done and said TC!
Thanks, Fly. Our grandchildren will be still be cleaning this up.
it is scary to watch the media (read tweety for one) start to fall lock and stock and oil barrel behind the gop meme of its obama’ katrina — the republicans have perfected the comibination of goebbels great lie and german precision (never veer off message) to the point where they actually believe their own shit.
trust me – the polls will soon show obama caused the leak.
meanwhile can someone serve Palin some Seaoil Bass.
i NEVER thought i could hate anymore than bush
i was wrong
DC, I agree. Matthews has been as bad s the GOPers. But Obama put my concerns about him to rest at this morning’s press conference.
I think BP, the Bush regime, and the Obama administration all share the blame for this.
I also have been reading critics of dispersants point out that they merely spread out the oil, dissolve toxins in it, and add to the toxicity of the ocean water.
Lib, to a large extent the Obama respons has been constrained by laws passed durinbg the GHW Bush administration.
I agree on the didpersants.
When this talking point came out about BP employee contributions, it was quickly debunked. Why is it coming back into the media because idiot Palin opens her mouth?
The attacks from the right are just getting more and more ridiculous… Rand Paul called the administration’s actions “un-American,” but as John Cole at Balloon Juice points out, BP is a British company, and I am sure that it is in the works to make BP pay dearly for the damage they have done…
Rand Paul might as well tattoo “For Sale” on his forehead.
Or carry a sign…
Wing-nut cheap to good asylum!
Correct, Kevin. McConJob got almost three times as much from BP as Obama did.