James Carville To Obama On Oil Spill: 'Get Down Here And Take Control... We're About To Die'

[laughingliberal]

Democratic strategist and New Orleans resident James Carville is not relenting from his frenzied plea for President Obama to take a more direct and active role in addressing the Gulf oil blowout.

"The President of the United States could've come down here, he could've been involved with the families of these 11 people" who died on the rig after an explosion, Carville said on ABC's Good Morning America. "He could be commandeering tankers and making BP bring tankers in and clean this up. They could be deploying people to the coast right now. He could be with the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard...doing something about these regulations. These people are crying, they're begging for something down here, and it just looks like he's not involved in this."

His voice rising, Carville cried out, "Man, you got to get down here and take control of this! Put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving! We're about to die down here!"

Later, Carville said the administration needs "to launch a criminal investigation -- the Attorney General needs to investigate criminal negligence on the part of BP and what went on at MMS (the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling). There's a thousand things that he could do. He just needs to get down here and start doing something,

Video at link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/26/james-carville-to-obama-o_n_590000.html

That's been my question. Where is the fleet of tankers we should be seeing there?

[Bluebear]

1. Cue unrelated James Carville insults

[laughingliberal]

6. No doubt. Not my favorite person by any means but it sounds as if things are dire

Carville's statements coupled with Nunsegger's sound as if panic is starting to set in. The lack of media access is unnerving, also.

[Bluebear]

9. It reminds me of Katrina when the sheriff from Jefferson parish got on TV

The panic part...I don't know if you remember it, but here was a grown man and head of law enforcement literally sobbing for somebody to PLEASE come help these people.

[laughingliberal]

18. I remember.

It was horrible :cry:

[walldude]

52. I remember Shepard Smith doing the same thing...

I remember him crying on TV and when some talking head back in FoxLand tried to make it political Smith freaked on the dude. It was the only time I ever had any respect for a Fox news anchor.

[Captain Hilts]

13. I'm not a fan, but I completely understand folks from Louisiana being very upset. nt

[Phoonzang]

35. You mean something about him looking like a human-reptile hybrid?

I hear he's great in Splice. *rimshot*

[HughMoran]

44. huh?

I've always thought he was a hoot - not to be taken too seriously, it's the anti-establishment Dems who normally criticize him.

Ironic

[KamaAina]

103. He looks like a bald mutant! He's married to a repuke!

:sarcasm:

[JuniperLea]

2. We don't need no damn government! We need LESS government...

Where the hell is the government when you need them? GODDAMMIT! Where the hell is he?

[Autumn]

3. One thing I got to say, I don't think he's

lying.

[KatyaR]

46. Eleventy-thousand recs for you.

I think Louisiana's a mess, and no one seems to want to do anything to help them. It's disgusting.

[laughingliberal]

4. delete-wrong place. nt

[datasuspect]

5. no, we need the unseen hand of the free market to clean up the oil

[undeterred]

7. Is Mary Matalin finally driving him crazy?

Imagine having an oil spill in your back yard and having to listen to HER.

[laughingliberal]

10. ROFL!! Very good gallows humor! eom

[aquart]

12. She was right there begging for help as well.

Funny how big government suddenly looks so much better than private enterprise.

[laughingliberal]

19. Indeed. nt

[tallahasseedem]

29. +1

Amazing isn't it?

[glitch]

59. No shit. Suddenly the nine scariest words in the English language aren't quite so scary anymore...

fucking idiots.

[Tansy_Gold]

8. Yes, and where's my pony? :sarcasm:

I'm with Carville. People have died, and more will die, and the dying will go on for a long time.

Katrina was a one-time event. It happened, and then it was over, and the clean up that could have happened could have begun. That was under a different administration.

Now we're supposed to have change, and things should be happening but they aren't. It is like Katrina and it's going to be worse than Katrina because the effect is going to be wider and the resentment is going to be deeper.

Perceptions matter. Remember how Giuliani stepped in and "did things" on 9/11? And how booooosh got up there with the bullhorn and the bullshit, and he even had Dan Rather ready to get in line behind him (along with some DUers who will remain nameless).

But the perceptions we've had of Obama over the past 16, 17 months or whatever it's been, have not been the kind that have inspired a willingness to follow him into hell and back. All the issues his administration has faced have been political ones -- everything from the car company bailout to the bank bailouts to the TARP to the AIG to the GS to the whatever. And we've gotten the measured, academic response and the watered down result that mostly benefited the corporations and the wealthy.

Now he's got a real catastrophe on his hands. It's not one that can be handled with slick (pun intended) rhetoric and bipartisan maneuvering. This is the real world, not the theoretical world, not the ivory tower world, not the Wall Street world. This is the real world, and I haven't seen Mr. Obama willing to get in and get his lily white (pun intended) hands very dirty. It's time to get out of the HartMarx suits and put on some dungarees and CHANGE THINGS.



Tansy Gold

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. Obama has already visited the Gulf, and is scheduled to visit again soon.

Oh, and I don't think the president actually can commandeer ships.

Not that Carville doesn't already know all this.

[Big Blue Marble]

16. Funny, I thought he was the Commander-in-Chief.

Does that not include ships?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Naval ships, yes. Civilian ships no.

I didn't think that was complicated.

[Big Blue Marble]

31. Have a hard time with sarcasm?

Actually, I think he can commandeer which ever ships he needs to protect our national security.

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. Aren't all American flagged ships subject to the Merchant Marine Act?

I thought they were, and could be called to duty during times of war or national emergency.

[William Z. Foster]

80. buy 'em

Borrow 'em. Rent 'em.

I can't quite get my head around this - Democrats (!!!!) saying that the government can't do anything, arguing against the government doing anything.

The "shrink it down to where we can drown it in a bathtub" libertarians have won. They have Democrats aggressively promoting their doctrine for them now.

Government can do nothing, has nothing, is without authority, has no power, knows nothing, is good for nothing EXCEPT - exercising police and military force. Lots of money for that, lots of power and authority there, lots of speed and determination with those.

That, and working in "partnerships" with corporations - acting as handmaidens to them, greasing the skids for them, settling their disputes with each other.

[laughingliberal]

23. I'd be damned surprised if anyone refused his request. Damned surprised. nt

[tularetom]

14. I could be wrong but I don't recall Mr. Carville getting near so excited

when a bunch of black citizens were drowning during Katrina.

I think he needs to take a chill pill. He's a little too emotional to think straight.

[Bluebear]

17. 'I think he needs to take a chill pill.' - Seriously?

[Skittles]

21. I'm about done, PT

I swear I have heard it all :puke:

[Binka]

58. Me Too Skittles

Barfy thingywhatyadoodle icon. :puke:

[Bluebear]

75. :nodding:

[Captain Hilts]

24. Agree. And it's one of the worst attempts to play the race card on DU I've read. nt

[MissDeeds]

Agree with Captain Hilts

:kick:

[tularetom]

26. Yeah, seriously

I watched, he sounded borderline irrational.

It's a big problem and the government should probably play a larger role but Carville acted like a jackass.

Seriously, commandeering ships? Gimme a break.

Maybe he'd like Obama to drop a nuke on BPO's corporate HQ.

[Catherina]

43. And yet boats have been comandeered... Go figure

Commandeered BP boats at work off Grand Isle

Don Ames Reporting

Jefferson Parish Emergency managers commandeered all of BP's hired boats in Grand Isle yesterday.

http://www.wwl.com/Commandeered-BP-boats-at-work-off-Grand-Isle/7161352

Go figure :shrug:

[glitch]

63. I know I would.

Oh wait, did I type that out loud? Sorry.

[Captain Hilts]

69. I was over the top, but it's his 'hood. And it's the 2nd go round for his 'hood. nt

[tularetom]

72. OK truce - and if it's true confessions time

My response may have been colored by my dislike of carville.

Believe me the last thing I intend to do is convey the impression that I think this is anything less than an environmental disaster.

[Captain Hilts]

85. I meant He's over the top but I appreciate your comment In my years in polling, I learned that folks

like Carville are pretty typical, so I'm numbed to folks like that. Dick Morris, Karl Rove - yes, I've met Karl Rove - they're all tools. Hell, a couple from Obama's campaign team - Anita Dunn included - helped Cameron oust Brown in Britain.

They all suck to varying degrees. You are right to be suspicious of them.

[Captain Hilts]

20. He certainly was. I remember hearing him on radio in DC. Playing the 'race' card won't work. nt

[laughingliberal]

25. Thank you. nt

[ShortnFiery]

28. My God! Do you have any idea how long it will take those wildlife refuges and marshlands to be

restored? An entire GENERATION of children will never know them other than a dead zone.

If we could have mobilized the NATION and THE WORLD oil tankers to start skimming the excess spill, THOSE affected lands could have been spared.

You have no idea the devastation - entire families who have owned fishing franchise for generations - GONE!

You DAMN right we're mad as HELL! My in laws, my husband's entire extended family live in the New Orlean's area for three generations back.

[tularetom]

32. Yes I do and it pisses me off just thinking about it

But I don't accept the premise that Obama has to jump backwards through his own asshole just because some loon comes on TV and starts waving his arms around.

Everybody cheered when the president said it was BP's responsibility to clean this up. The taxpayers shouldn't be responsible we all agreed.

Now I hear lots of emotional advice for Obama but I've yet to hear a practical suggestion as to exactly what he is supposed to do.

Maybe he can make a few symbolic gestures which apparently will placate people but I'm not sure there really is a lot the federal government can do in this instance.

The last thing I want to do is to minimize the seriousness of this situation, but some rational thinking would go a long way here.

The president is doing just fine as far as I'm concerned.

[kiva]

36. After playiing the race card you have the nerve

to complain about someone else being emotional? Really?

[tularetom]

40. You want to tell me how I "played the race card"?

I simply made a statement that I didn't recall hearing something. Others said they did in fact hear it. Fine. Maybe I missed it.

Whatever, but I'm not the one running around screaming "Obama has to do something right now or his presidency is over". I support him and I think he's doing just fine.

You can accuse me of a lot of things but being emotional ain't one of them.

[kiva]

55. How?

"I could be wrong but I don't recall Mr. Carville getting near so excited when a bunch of black citizens were drowning during Katrina. I think he needs to take a chill pill. He's a little too emotional to think straight."

If blacks had been the only victims of Katrina, your complaint might be valid - I haven't looked up Carville's statements - but that isn't true. A bunch a white citizen also died. And a bunch of poor people of a variety of races. And a whole bunch of older citizens died. So did James Carville get upset about all of the other Katrina victims but not blacks? If not, then yes, you played the race card.

[tularetom]

57. "sigh"

I don't know who I didn't hear him get upset about.

But I didn't hear him get upset.

Today I heard him screeching about all the crap Obama should, in his opinion, do. He sounded unhinged.

He needs a nap.

[kiva]

60. So, you prefer to assume he's a racist.

You think he's wrong to "screech" about his home, Louisiana, being massively damaged by this spill.

And frankly, I think he was enormously careful about his comments about Obama. I watched the segment on CNN, and Carville did not take the bait offered him to bash Obama, instead choosing to say that perhaps the president was not being well advised about the situation - which is pretty mild.

[tularetom]

66. I'm not assuming diddly

I did not hear him ranting and raving as much about the bush administration's non response to Katrina (during which, a lot of African Americans died) as I have about the response of the Obama administration to this situation.

And by the way, 11 people were killed during the initial explosion on the platform. Do we know that there is no investigation ongoing into affixing responsibility for that. Obama doesn't have to tell James fucking Carville what he's doing.

[laughingliberal]

89. Again, Making BP responsible does not mean letting BP do or not do whatever they want

It means they pay the bill and provide whatever expertise they may have. I do not think it means you don't call in any experts in cleanup and BP gets to limit the amount of help called in. I do think the President needs to do just what Carville said and get a fleet of tankers there whether it is by comandeering them or contracting them. BP is avoiding this, IMO, to save money. No doubt, BP is making every effort to find a way to cap the gusher but I believe their efforts at cleanup are directed at covering up as much of the destruction as possible (the reason for dumping so much Corexit) in order to avoid spending the amount of money required to make a credible effort at cleanup. I lay this at their feet but President Obama allowing them to continue calling the shots does not appear to be working to produce the best results for the area.

[Catherina]

30. Even you can not possibly believe that.

You're categorically wrong and your comment about taking a chill pill is as messed up as it gets.

[tammywammy]

33. You should be embarrassed for posting that. n/t

[Individualist]

48. What a shameful post!

[madmax]

102. +1

[AllentownJake]

15. Wonder if he'll come out of retirement from US politics on this nt.

[ShortnFiery]

22. I don't think Obama will be more than a one term President if he doesn't shag his

butt down to New Orleans tomorrow!

He has no idea how he's trashing his Presidency. :(

[BlueIris]

97. I'll go you one better and post

that I sincerely doubt anything can secure him a second term at this point. Which I regret.

[ProSense]

37. "He could be commandeering tankers and making BP bring tankers in and clean this up"

Maybe the fleet of tankers could replace the ongoing efforts:

The following is a synopsis of our daily response efforts:

Total response vessels: 1300

Containment Boom deployed: more than 1.85 million feet

Containment boom available: more than 300,000 feet

Sorbent boom deployed: more than 1.25 million feet

Sorbent boom available: more than 1.02 million feet

Total boom deployed: more than 3.1 million feet (regular plus sorbent boom)

Total boom available: more than 1.3 million feet (regular plus sorbent boom)

Oily water recovered: more than 11.1 million gallons

Surface dispersant used: approximately 700,000 gallons

Subsea dispersant used: approximately 140,000

Total dispersant used: approximately 840,000

Dispersant available: more than 380,000 gallons

Overall personnel responding: more than 20,000

Carville apparently isn't aware the President already visited the Gulf and that the Coast Guard is already deployed.

[Smashcut]

39. Please stop listing the hundreds of thousands of gallons of TOXIC dispersant as a valid "response"

When they can't even get BP to switch dispersants, and, let's face it, the main purpose of the dispersant from BP's point of view is to help cover up their crimes.

[ProSense]

41. Sorry

to interfere with the disingenuous posturing that Carville and some people are engaged in.

[Raster]

45. I can hardly wait until this toxic mess hits New Jersey.

[ProSense]

49. Glad to know that will make your day. n/t

[cherokeeprogressive]

47. Obama visited on May 2nd and didn't see a drop of oil.

Carville made the point today, and I think it's valid, that when Obama comes again on Friday, he'll have a different take than he did almost a month ago.

[Raster]

54. Please, don't confuse the issue with reality. Obama visited, did not see oil, and that's that.

Carville is clearly wrong.:sarcasm: I mean, after all, he probably has to smell it 24 hours a day. And usually things like this tend to hit home when they are in your own back yard.

[ProSense]

56. What does that mean?

He flew over the Gulf to see the boats preparing for the recovery and containment efforts.

"when Obama comes again on Friday, he'll have a different take than he did almost a month ago."

Carville is more interested in the President doing photo ops.

[laughingliberal]

90. Not replace all the current efforts but exponentially increase them.

BP, IMO, is opposing the idea of the fleet of tankers due to expense. We are talking about a company that has risked the entire Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 people to avoid spending a half million dollars on a safety valve. It is time for them to realize cheaping out won't work.

And, btw, that 700,000 gallons of Corexit dumped is not a good thing.

[Smashcut]

38. Relax, Obama's got this! He's got a bipartisan commission that will lay down the bipartisan law!

Criminal investigation?! Why are you so focused on the PAST?! Obama's all about the FUTURE, man. It does no one any good to get mired in these old squabbles. Tony Hayward and BP are people too. And change is hard work!

[marshall]

42. Obama is NOT going to respond to out of control rants and demands

Carville would do better to speak with more circumspection.

[Individualist]

51. Anyone affected by a catastrophe of this magnitude should speak with more circumspection.

:spank:

[Bluebear]

62. Off with your head, I say!

[Individualist]

65. I do hope you realize

that my post was a sarcastic reply to the previous post. That was such an ugly, callus statement!

[Bluebear]

70. And mine...

a sarcastic post to you for displaying such impertinence ;)

[laughingliberal]

91. +1000

So easy to urge circumspection when the oil isn't heading for your front lawn.

[Bluebear]

61. You make him sound regal, if not haughty. ("We will NOT respond to this tone!")

[marshall]

64. It's human nature not to want to be talked to like that

I'm sure Carvile never raged at Clinton like that.

[Bluebear]

71. 'I'm sure Carvile never raged at Clinton like that.' - I don't know that at all, truly.

[marshall]

73. I'm talking about raging in public

I realize we don't know what went on behind closed doors (though I can guess that it also wasn't anywhere near his current vitriole). But I really can't recall him taking Clinton to the woodshed like this (to use a folksy metaphor as Carville so often does).

[laughingliberal]

92. Panic tends to do that to a person. nt

[MadBadger]

50. "We're about to die down here!"

Somehow I doubt that.

[laughingliberal]

93. Then again, the oil isn't headed for your front lawn or the fumes for your lungs.

I'm seeing much the same message from a DUer who lives in the area.

[chill_wind]

99. The death of livelihoods, local economies

and an ecosystem that won't be made whole again for decades has already started to occur.
I'm pretty sure.

[marions ghost]

53. Not a Carville fan

but I think he's right on this.

It's a national disaster. There's already a lot of suffering. The president need to go public in a big way.

[Dinger]

67. Kick & Rec # 21

:fistbump:

[ProSense]

68. "Clutching a plastic bottle filled with oil from the wetlands, a visibly upset Matalin"

Joined by his wife and fellow CNN contributor Mary Matalin, an emotional Carville stressed the urgency of the situation. "We need some action here, and we need to get this thing moving very quickly," Carville said Wednesday on CNN's John King, USA.

Asked by King whether the disaster response has become a question of presidential accountability, Carville suggested that Washington lobbyists hired by BP were influencing the administration's response to the spill. "They've (BP) hired everything that walks in Washington," the Louisiana native said.

<...>

Clutching a plastic bottle filled with oil from the wetlands, a visibly upset Matalin said that during their tour of affected areas, "We sailed through these marshes for two hours. We didn't see one boat, not one rescue effort, not one skimmer, not one container."

"But before we get to accountability, America just help, just help," Matalin said. "If everybody could help, put pressure on those that can help, there will be plenty of time for accountability and criminality and all the rest of it. But now, get down here, clean it up, contain it, don't let it do any more damage."

link

Fuck you James Carville and wife.

[cherokeeprogressive]

74. What makes you angrier...

The fact that they sailed through the marshes for two hours and saw no containment or cleanup effort whatsoever, or that they had the unmitigated gall to tell the world about it?

[SaveOurDemocracy]

78. PS is in damage-control-spam mode. n/t

[Bluebear]

81. Oh are they still at it?

I had to put it on ignore a while back, the talking points were getting tiresome.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

86. With some it's a religion...or income producing...or love of

formatting links...


Yup 'talking points' galore. It's a full time job banging out the dents and polishing the smudges from our chessmaster's armor.

[Raster]

87. Isn't PS always in damage-control-spam mode?

Seriously. That's the only thing I ever see from this poster.

[unkachuck]

76. hey jimmie, you old chicken fucker....

"We're about to die down here!"

....Obama IS sucking big-time on this oil spill thingy but please jimmie, tone down your hysteria....Hillary's working for Obama now, the campaign is over, you're putting DNC/DLC corporate money at risk....

....think of it this way jimmie, you now get a free lube-job with every swim at the beach, compliments of BP....

[LLStarks]

77. Serpenthead likes to exaggerate.

He's smoking too much of that Cajun weed.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

79. Surrrrrrrrrrre, it's all an exaggeration. What are you smokin?

[Bluebear]

88. +

[Lucian]

82. I don't disagree with what Carville said.

I don't know why others do. :shrug:

[amborin]

83. darker, more polluting oil from the leak now (earlier today)

Gulf oil plume darker; not good news, expert says
By SETH BORENSTEIN - AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON --

Live video of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows the underwater plume getting significantly darker. A top oil engineering expert says that suggests heavier, more-polluting oil is spewing out.

The color of the oil gushing from the main pipe has changed in color from medium gray to black. Two scientists noticed the change, which oil company BP downplayed as a natural fluctuation that is not likely permanent.

But engineering professor Bob Bea at the University of California at Berkeley says the color change may indicate the BP leak has hit a reservoir of more oil and less gas. Gas is less polluting because it evaporates. Bea has spent more than 55 years working and studying oil rigs.
Published: Tuesday, May. 25, 2010 / Updated: Tuesday, May. 25, 2010 12:09 PM

[SargeUNN]

84. Ok I spent over 50 years in South Mississippi and still have a twin there

so let me tell you my feelings about this. I have lived in Arizona for now over 3 years but my family and many friends are still on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I was born in New Orleans so I have a love of New Orleans and lived within an hour of New Orleans most of my life. I talked to my twin sister and she told me that you can smell the oil, that people in Jackson County (not to be confused with the Capital city of Jackson) are worried and depressed. Carvel is right that is a major situation and something has to be done, but as I watch the people of the Gulf Coast blame Obama while Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi tells it isn't a problem, and remember his failures on Katrina but watched as the people of all 3 Coastal Counties voted to put the thug back in, saw them cry for smaller government and how Obama wants to be a dictator, I have to wonder why suddenly they want Obama to take over a corporation's failure. I certainly feel for my area and want the problem remedy not only for them, but for the harm it will do everywhere, but will the people who depend so much on offshore work and oil companies be willing to accept Obama controlling an oil company? No frankly they won't. No matter what Obama does these people are going to hate him. I just want him to do what is best to clear it up and don't envy the results he will get if he saves these people's hide.

[nadinbrzezinski]

94. Yea you are correct

and to a point I include both Carville and Matalin. (They are no longer on the inside with anybody).

But reality is when I watch Jindall scram I am going... he is using this to get points. So is Barber, and every other person of any political instinct down there.

And yes I expect them to get reelected, the libertarian, small guv'ment loving crowd.

As to your relatives it is serious. And as I have told people here, this, like any other disaster is a life changing event... alas the gulf, not necessarily the human populations, but the gulf will recover with enough time.

[lonestarnot]

95. I don't know if we want a fleet of tankers in there. What if something ignites?

[laughingliberal]

96. I know that at least one engineer who was instrumental in the massive Aramco spill ...

in the Arabian Gulf in 1993 which was successfully cleaned says that's how he did it. It really is not as if this hasn't been done before. Capping the gusher is one thing but cleanups of this magnitude have been done before. It does take some cash outlay which is, I believe, why BP is avoiding it.

[freddie mertz]

98. I don't generally care for Carville, but this was dead on the money.

I just cannot understand the incompetent way the WH team is managing their response to this.

They could have come out as heroes standing up for the people. But they chose to hold back and keep their distance from it. Reminds me of the early mis-management of the HCR process. I would have thought they learned their lesson after they finally took the reigns toward the end of last year.

Meanwhile, I do hope the president can begin to heal the damage today at his press conference.

Stop the drilling, improve regulations and enforcement on the ones we we still have, and please, send in the frakking tankers!

And even more than that, I really really hope this mud thing works!

[4_TN_TITANS]

100. Gee, I wonder if he would have been as critical

toward a President Hillary?

My feelings about Carville aside, the Gulf needs some serious help and now. The fear of being labeled 'Big Government' has restrained Obama's actions for too long.

[KonaKane]

101. What more would you like him to do, you useless baldheaded fart?

James, go back to undercutting the Democratic party. At least you were more honest about that.