McCain cancels trip to oil rig after spill, blames weather

[meegbear]

Source: RawStory.com

Thursday, workers on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast will see clear skies, mild temperatures in the 80's and 90's, and feel only a slight breeze. However, John McCain's campaign says inclement weather caused the cancellation of his appearance there, aimed at promoting offshore drilling.

Perhaps a more likely cause is the 400,000 plus gallons of oil floating through the Mississippi, spilled yesterday after a barge collided with a tanker at New Orleans. As for inclement weather, at the time McCain would have been taking center-stage on the oil rig, Hurricane Dolly, a Category 2 storm, was making landfall at the Texas-Mexico border about 600 miles away.

John McCain's campaign is placing increasing importance on its emphasis of allowing offshore drilling and drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge as a means to reduce US dependence on foreign oil, and public support has been increasing, finds a recent Wall Street Journal/Washington Post poll.

Yet yesterday, when a barge on the Mississippi river at New Orleans, was 'T-boned' an oil tanker -- snapping the barge in half on impact and causing a 419,000 gallon oil spill -- the GOP candidate became a bit shy of the issue.

Read more: http://rawstory.com//news/2008/McCain_cancels_trip_to_oil_rig_0724.html

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Well at least he had the Schmidt's Fudge Haus for a photo op

[tridim]

1. Yet it doesn't even qualify as a minor news story on TV.

Has anyone seen anything about a "419,000 gallon oil spill" on our glorious MSM?

[KamaAina]

7. Since when has New Orleans ever been a major story in the M$M??

(note: link is to the BBC, though it's an AP photo!)

[polichick]

2. Not good to talk about more drilling while there's oil floating in the background.

[damntexdem]

3. He may have avoided an oil spill; but ...

slick he ain't.

[mikeytherat]

4. Most excellent campaign managing.

Flunkie #1: "Everyone is pissed at the oil companies; we need to get Mac on an oil rig! Really tie him to big oil!"

Flunkie #2: "Well, that one rig where we wanted to have his photo-op? There's a half-million gallons of oil floating around from a spill, and a hurricane headed straight for the rig."

Flunkie #3: "Perfect! Let's roll!"

mikey_the_rat

[blue sky at night]

5. maybe he can visit the "dead" zone...

he has a good fit there, it is right up his alley, he can identify with it, he represents it....hey it's a republican place, he belongs there.

[wordpix]

6. the whole country's a dead zone after 7 years of Bushit

[lonestarnot]

8. No shit! I was just going to add, go to anyplace USA motherfucker Lumpy and you'll

get the same photo op.

[AlbertCat]

9. Photo Op

Perhaps someone could set alight the oil spill behind McCain while he drones on about how we need to drill more.

[Supersedeas]

10. an oil spill coming to a coastline near you -- if McBush gets his way.