About 80% of the callers on CSPAN's Washington Journal are blaming the government for the spill

[Orrex]

"Why hasn't the government stepped in?" they ask. "Where is the Federal government during all of this?"

"Why have they wasted time on minutiae and regulations instead of really protecting us?" they lament.

The guest was from the Wall Street Journal, with most of the calls coming from Gulf Coast states. The great majority of the callers seemed to be reading their questions direct from a Hannity/Limbaugh cheat-sheet.

[PDJane]

1. Oh, ferchrissake..........

It was the government stepping out that caused the problems......

[Demeter]

2. As Long As It's The Bush Govt., Okay

and as long as it keeps Obama from opening the continental shelf to more exploitation....

[SpiralHawk]

3. Coordinated black-ops mindf*ckery from corporate republicon HQ ?

I'd not be surprised...would be typical...

[Fire1]

18. Got to be! n/t

[SoCalDem]

4. Right wingers with speed dial & lots of time, have taken over the call-in feature

This happened during the Bush admin when they had to be vigilant and clog up the call in lines to "protect" the image of their beloved dunce-king.

I had to give up watching WJ..it was just too damned aggravating a way to start my day :)

[Kalyke]

5. Your graphic needs to show the smilie being suffocated by oil.

That's far scarier than being chased by a shark.

[Orrex]

8. Yesterday they had Wolfowitz on, and to my surprise...

a number of callers really blasted him, calling him a lying war criminal and specifically blaming him for the disaster in Iraq and disastrous trillion-dollar effect upon our economy and nation as a whole.

Wolfie's response?

"Let's not forget that we were attacked, and Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who needed to be taken out. A large majority voted in favor of the war, including John Kerry, and the world is better off without Hussein in power."

In short, he deployed the same old tactics to lie and misdirect, all without actually engaging the issue in any way, as he's done for many years.


But it was nice, at least, to hear some callers really giving it to him.

[janet118]

23. I believe the calls are their jobs . . .

The corporations pay for their "grassroots." Most comments after online news articles are from rabid right wingers that are probably paid per post. This is what all those right wing non-profits do with their money.

[lpbk2713]

6. It's Tuesday.

The Shittoheads had to wait until OxyRush came on the air yesterday to tell them how to think.

[Orrex]

10. I wouldn't mind it so much if they actually DID think.

Instead, they simply recite.


And I hate you for posting that picture.

[OHdem10]

7. Rush's DittoHeads in action.

[HughBeaumont]

9. I wonder if they have their Talking Point note cards at the ready.

Their statements sound more and more rehearsed, rehashed and redundant with each passing day. I mean, my GOD, HOW many times can you say the same damned thing OVER and OVER again?

[City Lights]

11. Psychos.

They hate the government until they want the government to help them. :crazy:

It's really sickening.

[Orrex]

19. You're exactly correct, but the thing that sickens me most...

is that none of these people are calling for the liability cap to be waived, or to put BP on the hook for the catastrophic destruction they've wrought through negligence or culpable error.

Instead, they blame the guvmint again and again and again.


Also, the news media keep reminding us that this isn't the worst oil disaster of all time, as though that makes it better some how. It's not as though there's a gold medal for being the "best" disaster!

[peekaloo]

12. "The President is a Demmy-Crat!!!"

Abe Simpson caller from Springfield.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Tell 'em it's because the Tea Party/conservatives have gotten their wish and government isn't big

enough to step in.

[FBI_Un_Sub]

14. The Bush-Cheney-Rove deregulation of "Big Oil" and the "Big Oil" seat in the White House

was a factor. "Big Oil" fights every regulation (e.g., double hulls on super tankers as the Exxon Valdez), and personally attacked the climatologists who published "global warming" studies......

Added on edit: And "Big Oil's" lobbyists protect and broaden their tax breaks. (And "Big Oil" has one heck of a lot of tax breaks --- that we pay for).

[high density]

15. I knew this was coming when Bushco Whore Matt Dowd was sounding the "where's the government" alarm

on Sunday's "This Week."

All of these "free unfettered markets and small government are what we want" people are suddenly for tons of new regulations and taking on huge costs to fix the problem.

[eShirl]

16. Mom's Basement Brigade needs something to do while World Of Warcraft has its weekly maintenance.

For me, it's Shower Day (whether I need it or not).

[DBoon]

17. paid trolls

I would be this is a well financed PR action

[Orrex]

20. Well, they got their money's worth out of these assholes

Every one of them sounded like an honest to goodness anti-guvmint dolt. If these are paid actors, they all deserve Oscars!

[HughMoran]

21. True, Bushco really did let them have their way...

Looks like Obama will have to put more regulations on you regulation hating Republicans.

Be careful what you ask for when trying to blame Democrats for everything :D

[Deep13]

22. How many blamed themselves for a gluttonous sense of entitlement ...

...to cheap energy?

[bridgit]

24. I think that's a bright showing when 95% of Americans are too stupid to find their own ass