The Republicans want to score political points by entering familiar territory, Alice’s Wonderland. By their topsy turvy logic all ill that has and will come from the B.P. oil disaster is President Obama’s fault.
Put aside the fact we can count the number of offshore rigs built during President Bush’s administration, who can forget the “drill baby drill” mantra of the presidential campaign.
Let’s not forget the cozy relationship Republicans have had with big oil for years either.
Now, as Huffington Post headlines “Bad news is good news for GOP: Republicans jubilant about Gulf coverage: ‘You can’t beg for a better package’ ”
The Republican’s hope to rally their base of blue collar workers by blaming President Obama’s moratorium on the kind of drilling that produced the worse oil spill ever for their losing jobs. By their reasoning desperate workers losing jobs dependent on off shore drilling won’t be able to buy Pop-tarts for the kids breakfasts.
Of course there’s no mention of the jobs that will not just be lost, but eliminated for years, in the towns where pristine beaches attract tourists and locals alike. They will be fouled by big oil’s goop. As the scientists keep telling us, nobody can predict with certainty where the goop will go. There’s speculation it could cover the Gulf beaches of Florida and then move up the east coast.
Big oil, do you remember them and their cozy bedfellows for decades in the Republican Party which is responsible for giving them carte blanche to do anything they pleased with years of deregulation? Remember all the Republican efforts to gut every health and environmental safety bill?
Obama is calling for a moratorium to allow engineers and scientists to fast track methods to both prevent future offshore oil disasters, and to deal with them if they occur. Somehow in GOP Wonderland, this in un-American.
Back to the Pop-tart Party.
Pop-tarts Poptarts have 210 calories, 5g of fat from hydrogenated cottonseed oil, only 2g protein, less than 1g of fiber, contain 20g sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors and no antioxidants.
Unlike Pop-tarts, the oil the GOP loves doesn’t come from cotton seeds.
Their ideas about offshore drilling make as much sense as the Madd Hatter. Their ideas about drilling are about as good for the health of American people as a diet of Pop-tarts.
19 thoughts on “The GOP, goop, and political Pop-tarts”
Someday, we will run out of oil. I feel bad for whichever party’s in office when that happens, because it will definitely be their fault.
We got ’em already, just too stoopid and lazy to use ’em.
Conservation and “cold” fusion (93 million miles cold).
Buy less. Use less. Stay home more. Relax, have a home brew.
Well, other than the fact that it just isn’t true it is significant.
This is what I found in a search:
“Shortly after Obama’s happy inaugural, eyebrows rose slightly upon word that, as a House member, Emanuel had lived the last five years rent-free in a D.C. apartment of Democratic colleague Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and her husband, Stanley Greenberg.
“For an ordinary American, that would likely raise some obvious tax liability questions. But like Emanuel, the guy overseeing the IRS now is another Obama insider, Tim Geithner, who had his own outstanding tax problems but skated through confirmation anyway by the Democratic-controlled Congress. …
“Greenberg’s consulting firm was a prime architect of BP’s recent rebranding drive as a green petroleum company, down to green signs and the slogan ‘Beyond Petroleum.'”
To say that the apartment was “BP-sponsored” is a stretch beyond the limits of credulity.
Not to mention that if you look at Greenburg’s corporate website you will find a list of clients at https://www.greenbergresearch.com/index.php?ID=109
It would be just as logical to say that the Chicago Cubs, the NBA, or Tony Blair “sponsored” that apartment.
I think you’re correct. In fact, were anything to go wrong with any of the entities on Greenburg’s client list, a minimalist WH response is already in the works.
Kinda gives new meaning to the big O’s declaration that lobbyists would hold no sway in his administration.
“To say that the apartment was “BP-sponsored” is a stretch beyond the limits of credulity.”
Much like the worn out implication that only Republicans are to “blame” for “promoting” big oil, an idea which is – and always has been – clearly bogus:
https://thedemocraticdaily.com/2010/06/16/22-dems-join-gop-to-save-big-oils-federal-tax-breaks/
Glad you’re back at work, Hal, but the issue cannot be boiled down to those rapacious Repubs versus those principled Dems, nor merely simplified to economy versus environment. Crack the nut on a better, more cost-effective energy source that will allow both the planet and its people to thrive and you will have something to really crow about.
“Let’s not forget the cozy relationship Republicans have had with big oil for years either”
Is it significant that Rahm Emanuel has been living rent-free in a BP-sponsored townhouse for quite some time?
“Obama is calling for a moratorium to allow engineers and scientists to fast track methods to both prevent future offshore oil disasters, and to deal with them if they occur. Somehow in GOP Wonderland, this in un-American”…
Actually, thinking that in a mere 6 months (or 6 years) anyone can prevent accidents, or deal with them effectively, when drilling a pressurized hole a mile below the surface of the ocean seems pretty naive, not un-American. The problem with such drilling is the physics and forces that a mile-high column of water-weight produces, i.e., over 2100 psi. The margin for error is woefully thin at that depth and in such circumstances, and we wouldn’t even be in this pickle had more reasonable drilling at lesser depths along the coasts not been made anathema by the environmental lobby. It’s not about partisan politics… unless you consider the Sierra Club, et al, politicians.
Of course, our politician in charge is trying to make this the start of solar- and windmill-powered automobiles, which of necessity will be heavily dependent on pedal back-up systems… our having failed yet to invent the flux capacitor.
Woody
I have a baseball site and one of the posters worked on rigs for years. He mentioned how so much of the operations are geared towards bonus money so I’m sure that usually translates to cutting corners. He said if rig has to be evacuated it is up to the “Boss Man” on the rig to make a call. The big issue is always weather and evacuation is almost mandatory. Be interesting to see if that call was ever made by supervisors? This will take years of investigation as BP and the feds try to develop a scenario in which they both look good.
Anyone else hear the rumor about Schlumberger’s head on the Deepwater Horizon rig saying it was kicking too much, told the head of BP on the rig, and called the Schlumberger HQ to get a helicopter to get their employees off the rig after BP refused to do so just 6 hours before the rig blew?
Starting to look like gross negligence caused the thing to blow in the first place.
Obama dropped the ball on where his attentions should have been directed and that is instituting a massive response immediately when this mess happened. He relied on what for his information? His regulators? BP? Political polls? Campaign contributors lists? Cheney? Maybe if the well was off the Haitian coast we would have had action. Simply put – he blew it and damage control is now in full swing.
I read a comment by someone in Louisiana regarding stopping drilling and to paraphrase “It is like grounding all aircraft after one accident.” They realize the track record on off shore drilling is not perfect but certainly does not warrant the typical knee jerk response. In fact it has been both productive and safe.
Someone posted a week or so ago the connection between lobby money/contributions that oil companies gave out. Obama seemed to do rather well…they all seemed to do rather well.
The well blew up and the pipe burst. Simple. What was in place did not work so now the engineers take over and arm chair “experts” like myself can wait for their conclusions. Technology safeguards usually come after engineering disasters.
What changes will be made and what was learned from the mine disaster a few months ago? Eerie similarity between the two with compliance issues, lack of regulation/inspection and the ever present trail of contributions. Did anyone ever hear a “Mine baby mine” statement?
Nice to see Obama took some time off to finally attend a service for those who died. From what I understand he missed the first one to attend a fund raising activity.
Yup, that’s why BP and the White House conspired to keep images from the public concerning the Deepwater Horizon rig for 3 weeks, because Republicans are cozy with Big Oil. Get a clue. Republican or Democrat, both are cozy with Big Oil. Nothing ever changes because both major parties are two sides to the same coin. Vote for the lesser of two evils, and you still are voting for evil.
It seems that this disaster is just another example of the whose-to-blame game. To point fingers at our current presidential administration makes sense to those scurrying for some excuses for the lack of stronger federal regulations when off-shore drilling started. I would rather not point fingers to boost one’s political stance, since I’m being diplomatic. I will, however, share a quote form Hal’s excellent choice of classic literature spoken by the doorknob: “Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.” It seems that if there were directions on how to handle the cap situation, they should have been established from the beginning to avoid all of this. The bottom line is that we are all scared and just as mad about this as the Cheshire Cat is that this bloody nightmare could have been prevented with forethought!
I always welcome new commenters, especially those who know their Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Yeah, and the Democrats are in bed with the environmental wackos that make drilling on land nearly impossible. Someday we may be able to tap our heels and magically fulfill our energy needs, but in the meantime the oil has to come from some where. It takes two to tango.
Hey, I are a envirowacko and they only one Democrat in my bed. It ain’t me cuz I a wackocratlican, should I ask her to leave?
Ain’t sure if you be talking needs or greeds. Wat choo gonna do when dey ain’t no more crood? Line-dance? Tap-dance? Fer-de-lance?
It’s the addicts way, don’t stop until you hit bottom. If you still don’t care, you die. If you do care, then you wisht yooda stopped a lot sooner.
Yeah I’m an addict because I have to drive all day for work and heat my home. There’s a difference between being responsible and conservative and wasteful and wanton.
I happen to be very conscious and respectful of the environment, but the extremists take it too far in making safer land-based operations impossible.
And by the way, there’s plenty of oil, much of it under our feet that doesn’t require risky drilling in sensitive areas like 50 miles out in the gulf.
But hey, I guess only idiots believe the Peak Oil profiteering, fear-mongering bullshit that leads to this kind of disastrous fiasco.
Thank you for the sobering comeuppance, sir genius. Perhaps we can have dinner in Hell soon?
In yer debt, senor Idjit
Fergot ta mention, since ya did me a kindliness… git yerself a hot Democrat an ya can turn the heat down some ten degrees. Mebbee ya shouldn’t live so far frum work?
Comments are closed.