Folks, since they're sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing here.
Rush Limbaugh - On the Deep Water Horizon Blow Out, April 29, 2010
Almost from the moment of the catastrophic blow out of the Deep Water Horizon, the Republicans have been trying to brand this as “Obama’s Katrina.”
Now, the Republicans have long since come unmoored from reality, so this isn’t a surprise. But what continues to amaze, is their determination to deny Obama any support regardless of the situation.
They cannot seem to distinguish the difference between Public Option Health Care and a human disaster that could potentially put millions out of work in the middle of a recession, and that will have dire, long-term environmental consequences.
The slow Federal response to Katrina helped destroy the Bush presidency. People were moved and angered by the images of human suffering on roof tops and bridges, and the struggle for survival across the city.
Meanwhile Bush was having birthday cake with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), FEMA Director Michael Brown was worried about how his shirt appeared on TV, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff had no idea people were stranded at the Superdome.
America suffered along with the rest of New Orleans. We did not need flunkies from the DNC to show up on the news to tell us to that the government had failed - we could see it for ourselves.
The moment Deep Water Horizon blew up, the dark strain of the Republican party was on full display. Along with millions upon millions of barrels of oil, conspiracy theories poured out of the depths.
In addition to Limbaugh’s April 29, comments, Dana Perino, former Press Secretary for George W. Bush said on the May 3, 2010, edition of Fox and Friends "I'm not trying to introduce a conspiracy theory, but was this deliberate? You have to wonder...if there was sabotage involved."
Fox was also echoing an accusation made by Rush Limbaugh on his April 30 broadcast, that the Obama administration had waited 9 days before responding to the disaster.
Eric Bolling, the Fox Business corespondent did his part to keep this canard alive when he said on the same May 3 Fox and Friends “The question is ... why the delay in the response? You guys were pointing out, nine days before it was even addressed, 12 days before he made a formal comment. The question is, did they let this thing leak?”
Like the theories from the “Truthers” who are sure Bush staged 9/11 to have an excuse to invade Iraq, these theories don’t stand up to the facts. The problem for the Republicans, is while no mainstream Democrat ever stood up for the “Truthers,” mainstream Republicans have repeatedly stood up for these crackpot conspiracy theories.
Is this doing the Republicans any good? No.
On-going news stories about the cause of the explosion and spill highlight the complexity of an oil rig - making it unlikely that a SWAT team of ecco-saboteurs would have the skills to blow any rig up.
A simple review of the time line of the Federal government’s response to the spill is enough to expose the “nine day delay” lie. (Media Matters has an excellent timeline at http://mediamatters.org/research/201004300034).
As a result the Republicans look silly, which will hurt them in the long run.
First it will underscore the Democrat’s accusation that the Republicans will say or do anything to hurt Obama, no matter the facts. As long as the Republicans oppose and attack Obama on everything, they will not be taken seriously on anything.
No matter how legitimate the points are the Republicans are making, Americans will cease to listen. Whenever Republicans point out issues with a Democratic proposal Americans will simply think to themselves “There you go again” and tune them out.
Second these statements hurt the Republican’s chances in 2010. At the beginning of the year the mood of the country seemed to be running against Obama and the Democrats. With any skill the Republicans could have built on that mood in the same way the Democrats did in 2006 and 2008.
Instead the Republicans overplayed their hand. By standing in the way of everything, they morphed the anti-Democratic feeling into an anti-incumbent movement. The Republicans ceased to be seen as a potential solution and are now perceived as part of the problem.
Despite the Republican’s best efforts the country is not turning away from Obama over the Gulf oil spill like it did Bush over Katrina. A quick look at the summary of polls found on Pollster.com (http://www.pollster.com/) show that since the Deep Water Horizon spill, Obama’s approval rating have moved back over 50%. In the last week Democrats have overtaken Republicans in the 2010 National Congressional Ballot poll.
Republicans could have used this catastrophe to present solutions that showed vision and human compassion. But they failed to do so.
Like the last catastrophe in the Gulf this will damage their credibility in the months and years ahead.
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