HuffPo - "Haley Barbour: Oil? What Oil? Press Should Stop Scaring Tourists"

[TomCADem]

First, we have Bobby Jindal demanding that the moratorium on deep ocean drilling be lifted even we still have not figured out a way to stop the current leak, and now we have Haley Barbour complaining that the oil spill is being blown out of proportion. You have to hand it to the right wing! They can simultaneously complain that the President is overreacting and not doing enough in the same interviews! Sadly, the corporate media gives them a free pass.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/06/haley-barbour-oil-what-oi_n_602088.html

The biggest problem facing Mississippi in the wake of a massive oil spill in the Gulf isn't tarred beaches or ecological waste, the state's governor Haley Barbour said on Sunday. It's the national press corps, which, he asserted, is inflating the disaster's current impact and, as a result, decimating the state's tourism industry.

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, the Mississippi Republican veered as close as any elected politician could to insisting that the biggest oil spill in the history of this country had been overblown -- at least when it comes to his state.

"The truth is," he said, "we have had virtually no oil. If you were on the Mississippi Gulf coast anytime in the last 48 days you didn't see any oil at all. We have had a few tar balls but we have had tar balls every year, as a natural product of the Gulf of Mexico. 250,000 to 750,000 barrels of oil seep into the Gulf of Mexico through the floor every year. So, tar balls are no big deal. In fact, I read that Pensacola or the Florida beaches when they have tar balls yesterday didn't even close. They just sent people out to pick them up and throw them in the bag."

"The biggest negative impact for us has been the news coverage," Barbour added. "There has been no distinction between Grand Isle and Venice and all the places in Louisiana that we feel so terrible for that have had oil washing up on them. But to the average viewer of this show thinks that the whole coast from Florida to Texas is ankle-deep in oil. And of course, it's very, very bad for our tourist season. That is the real economic damage. Our first closure of fisheries in Mississippi waters came just earlier this week after about 45 days. So it may be hard for the viewer to understand, but the worst thing for us has been how our tourist season has been hurt by the misperception of what is going on down here. The Mississippi gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down!"

[Andy823]

1. I have an idea.

Take them and every other right wing idiot who wants to deny the problem and put them in a pool of the goo that is covering the birds and killing them. Let them get covered from head to toe with the goo, and then don't let them out of the water. Keep them there till they come to their senses, if they ever do!

[wordpix]

2. +1 would like to see Barbour looking like that poor bird on the front page of WaPo

This bought-and-paid-for oil pol has got to go

[charlesg]

3. BP CEO agrees: "There is no oil"