Axelrod on Carville

[ProSense]

"James has always been a very passionate person, and this is obviously a very emotional issue for him," said David Axelrod, a White House senior adviser. "What I haven't heard is exactly what he thinks we should do that we aren't doing. We're just looking for constructive ideas, and we're not turning any away."

White House officials said Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen called Carville last week to discuss the government response but Carville had not called him back.

"No one doubts James's motivations here -- he is a resident of a great city that is at terrible risk right now," one senior White House official said. "We just wish he would let us help him get his facts right."

Officials said Donna Brazile, another Louisiana Democrat who had been on television criticizing the cleanup, had softened her remarks after getting a briefing from the administration.

link

[FrenchieCat]

1. Carville, your phone was ringing. Did you check your "Missed Calls"?

"Thad Allen called Carville last week to discuss the government response but Carville had not called him back. "

[Clio the Leo]

6. Ouch.

That not good.

[blm]

11. Proof positive that Carville's interest in attacking Obama comes from somewhere OTHER than his

flaunted 'concern' for the gulf.

He's a political operative of the fascist machine and that trumps any quaint ties he may have once had to the Democratic party.

[Cha]

29. Just as I thought then.. once a mediawhore always a mediawhore..

This way he could yell and scream at Pres Obama on mediawhoredom and get the haters riled.

[Cant trust em]

2. What about getting loads of tankers to suck the water up?

That seemed like a pretty good idea.

Has the White House done that to the greatest extent that they can? The gulf should be fill of ships.

[babylonsister]

12. Part of the problem is the gulf IS full of ships, so full

of ships that everyone would have to move to accommodate tankers. Per Thad Allen. He said they'd be looking into that. He also is/was concerned about the depth of the water and whether tankers could get in there w/o running aground or running aground after they were loaded.

[Cant trust em]

13. That's great. I really hope they can pull that off.

[RoyGBiv]

15. There are at least 1300 ships in the area of the spill ...

...the vast majority of which are tasked with cleanup.

[Clio the Leo]

3. And that's been my complaint all along. I dont hear very many specifics offered...

... other than "he should be down there making speeches!" They're not saying that EXACTLY, but essentially.

I dont know nuthin' about nuthin, but I'm fairly certain you cant stop and clean an oil slick disaster by talking about it.

[Cant trust em]

5. and he should marshall all available resources

There's the other vague claim thrown out there.

[Political Tiger]

4. Axelrod is a lot more charitable toward Carville than I would be

And I do doubt Carville's motivations. He's a publicity junkie.

If Carville is so passionate about this, when's he gonna step away from the cameras and go down to the effected area and get his hands dirty by volunteering to help in the cleanup effort? It's easy to go from one nice, air conditioned TV studio to another nice, air conditioned TV studio, sitting in a cozy chair while people apply makeup on you and rant and rave, but not so easy to actually get down in the dirt with the thousands of people who are actually busting their asses trying to help clean up this mess.

[Whisp]

20. him and his fucking miserable wife make me sick.

[Cha]

31. There will be no great sucking sound of carville

getting pulled away from the cameras.

[Pirate Smile]

7. Allen took the time to call him and he can't bother to call him back. That's pathetic.

F#@k you, Carville.

[Cha]

32. Too busy prepping for the great rage on tv.

[besdayz]

8. a

tankers, more boom, larger ships.....

point is none of it is being done.....people don't trust bp to do any of this (they're still in denial).

its not enough to say we're in charge, we're doing all we can...you actually have to do all you can . while it may sound good to people elsewhere, to those down here it rings hollow.....

how can you not get one tanker for shore cleanup in 40 days? what the fuck kind of bureacracy is that?

[boppers]

9. Tankers for shore cleanup? What?

Tankers are not shallow water boats, let alone shore boats. Last I read we had over 1,100 boats and 20,000 people involved in capture, containment, and cleanup, so the "not one" thing is a total myth.

[RoyGBiv]

14. What does a tanker do on the shore?

Have you ever seen a tanker below the water line?

Furthermore, do you know what it takes to rig a tanker just to suck up a water-oil mixture? Do you believe they come off the assembly line like that?

None of it is being done?

By the Numbers to Date:

* Personnel were quickly deployed and more than 20,000 are currently responding to protect the shoreline and wildlife.
* Approximately 1,300 vessels are responding on site, including skimmers, tugs, barges, and recovery vessels to assist in containment and cleanup efforts—in addition to dozens of aircraft, remotely operated vehicles, and multiple mobile offshore drilling units.
* More than 1.85 million feet of containment boom and 1.25 million feet of sorbent boom have been deployed to contain the spill—and approximately 300,000 feet of containment boom and 1 million feet of sorbent boom are available.
* Approximately 11 million gallons of an oil-water mix have been recovered.
* Approximately 840,000 gallons of total dispersant have been deployed—700,000 on the surface and 140,000 subsea. More than 380,000 gallons are available.
* 17 staging areas are in place and ready to protect sensitive shorelines, including: Dauphin Island, Ala., Orange Beach, Ala., Theodore, Ala., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla., Port St. Joe, Fla., St. Marks, Fla., Amelia, La., Cocodrie, La., Grand Isle, La., Shell Beach, La., Slidell, La., St. Mary, La.; Venice, La., Biloxi, Miss., Pascagoula, Miss., and Pass Christian, Miss.

You've got to get on the Internet to post here. Whitehouse.gov is just a click away. There you can find daily updates summarizing this information besides getting detailed information about all sorts of aspects of the current effort if you choose to read it.

[JI7]

10. Carville didn't call back ?

[besdayz]

16. yeah

cleanup on the open seas is underway...you're right...that's where those thousands of ships are....

however, in the marshes, bayou wetlands, barrier islands, barataria bay, atchafylaya bay nothing...point is once the oil gets siphoned into the interior wetlands. and since its too shallow, you decimate the entire ecosystem no matter how much dispersant you use....

the prez will go down to grand isle tom and give a speech and take pictures...good. hopefully though he'll also take time to get local reports from fishing industry and see the extent of the damage and what can be done....

[babylonsister]

17. Do you have any solutions? What can be done to clean out

the mess?

[ProSense]

19. Along the shore

PHOTO GALLERY | Gulf oil spill: Louisiana National Guard


Alabama:


The Alabama National Guard erects barriers against a growing oil slick that could reach the state's shores.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / May 3, 2010)

[phleshdef]

21. Pulling in a bunch of equipment to clean up those marshes would likely KILL those marshes.

[jenmito]

18. Jeez. So he's not even interested in the facts. I'm sure Thad Allen doesn't just call ANYONE...

he's obviously just interested in starting trouble, getting JOY out of it!

[Cha]

33. Egged on by his complicit wife.

[volvoblue]

22. why should carville answer the call....

It would destroy his chance to grandstand and play self righteous.

[ShortnFiery]

24. Yes, never mind the beloved area he was born and raised at is being TRASHED.

:eyes:

[FrenchieCat]

25. Never mind that we are talking about him returning a phone call.

You'd think he'd be concerned enough to do that.

[Lilyeye]

35. Then you would think he would pick up the damn phone if he cared that much.

[ampad]

36. Roll the eye smiley, how appropriate for you

If he is so concern about the beloved area that he resides in then why in the hell did he not pick up the phone? Why has he not called back the coast guard? Oh wait I get it! Because it is more constructive to get on the tele bot and rant and rave. You see it is the tele bot that is going to give him the answers not the coast guard personally giving his sorry ass a call. FAIL!

[Pisces]

23. He and Mary are opportunistic blood suckers who deal with the highest bidder.

[besdayz]

26. c'mon

don't insult everyones intelligence by posting a few pictures of people doing work and then conclude that its happening everywhere and efficiently....those efforts are akin to a drop of oil in the gulf....

there are a couple tangible things that have been delayed.

1. underestimation of budget led to a drastically low supplies apparently, judging from teh constant stops and starts....its getting better but you have to ask could it have been handled much better if more money was appropriated as requested?

2. national guard is there but some navy is probably required

3. clearly, bp had no emergency plan in place...so....our response was hey lets just be patient as they come up with one on the fly.

4. what will they do when bp announces this top soil shit has failed as we all expect it to....

the overarching concern is there have been 40 days since it happened and we are no closer to resolution. at that point why didn't someone say bring in the navy or the biggest gun we have to fight this thing instead of a gradualistic approach reliant on private industry? i have no doubt these questions were asked and i don't question that the adminstration went over their options, i just question the option they chose...ie reliance on a liability minded entity. the fact is bp's initial goal was asset recovery for the first week or so. yeah thats right. they were looking to salvage and scoop up the oil. wtf is right.



i'm a bleeding heart liberal in all aspects really but i gotta jive with reality on this one......sadly both parties are corporatists and no one outside of kucinich really represents me.....

[catgirl]

38. Yah, Kucinich gets so much done

If he was the president, he'd be saying "I vote to do nothing, because it doesn't go far enough".
What a joke. It figures, he's the only one who represents you. Two flaim-baiters sitting in a tub....

[butterfly77]

27. K&R!

[Jennicut]

28. He wouldn't call back? F*ck him. Does anyone not get why he

is doing this now? He has always disliked Obama. It is not about the oil spill.

[Phx_Dem]

30. Mary erased the message.

}(

Or he's just a dick.

:shrug:

[Cha]

34. Look what the little fucker had to say..

"He seemed, in fact, to delight in hearing he had gotten under the president's skin, noting that Obama had been defensive about criticism of his response during an East Room news conference.

"If he had one bullet and James Carville and Tony Hayward were sitting there, who would he shoot? I wouldn't take my chances," Carville said."

Major fucking asshole..nobody wants to waste a bullet on you carville..you're going to dry up and blow away all on your own.

Stupid carville thinks it's all about him.

[Colobo]

37. His heart is still broken because Obama trounced Hillary back in 08.