Kerry: criticism of Obama on oil spill 'ridiculous'

[ProSense]

Kerry: criticism of Obama on oil spill 'ridiculous'

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – Senator John Kerry this morning aggressively defended President Obama’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, and said the spill illustrated the need for Congress to act on the Massachusetts Democrat’s signature climate change bill.

“This is ridiculous folks,” Kerry said this morning at an hourlong breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “From day one, this administration has had its top personnel all over this issue. They don’t drill wells, companies do. And the oil companies are the people who are supposed to have the technology to shut it down.”

“We’ve had this lack of oversight for years,” Kerry added. “The president’s been in office for a year and a half and suddenly a well blows out and everybody says, ‘Why can’t you plug it?’”

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“Clearly the rules have been laxly applied,” Kerry said of the regulations over offshore drilling. “But as I’ve said before, for better or worse, we’re stuck with having to drill for the next 20, 30 years unless there is some extraordinary breakthrough with a new fuel mechanism that will (change) where we are today.”

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Video: Sen. John Kerry: Halt to offshore oil drilling 'not going to happen'

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“Now we are not going to stop drilling in the Gulf tomorrow, folks. Let’s be realistic. There are 48,000 wells out there. One of them went sour. About 30 percent of our transportation fuel comes from the Gulf. You think Americans are going to suddenly stop driving to work tomorrow? Do you think people are going to stop driving the trucks to deliver the goods to the department stores? Not going to happen,” said the Massachusetts Democrat.

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[Cha]

1. Kerry knows what he's talking about too..

Thank you, Senator Kerry..I Rec but it remains at ZERO.

[O is 44]

17. +1 it would be so nice if many more Dems in

congress were more vocal in support of this President and his administration. I gotta disagree with the second part though in light of the situation we should hold off.

[tekisui]

2. I agree with the first point. Strongly disagree with second.

This is the 'wake the fuck up, America' teachable moment for radical change in our energy sources.

Obama and Kerry should take up the mantle and demand no new offshore rigs.

[Unvanguard]

3. I don't think Kerry is calling for more drilling.

I think he's just saying we can't stop what's happening now.

[tekisui]

5. Fair enough.

But will he stand opposed to new offshore wells? Will Obama?

[karynnj]

14. He has historically always been agaisnt offshore drilling

The only context he ever was open to it was as a way to get the 60 votes to pass the climate change bill that ultimately weans America off oil. In 2008, he was the only politician who credited voters with enough intelligence to explain that the small amount of US oil could not change the price for oil, an international commodity.

He clearly spoke of needing to know exactly what happened here and how to insure it won't happen again before more wells are drilled.

The entire interview is well worth watching, but is on a site where you have to pay. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2010/0526/Sen.-John-Kerry-Halt-to-offshore-oil-drilling-not-going-to-happen I tried to write it up as well as I could here - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=273&topic_id=165580&mesg_id=165584 (I apologize for any distortion or error -if any - I was trying to be accurate.)

[politicasista]

42. Facts never get in the way of Kerry/Obama bashing n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

20. That radical change isn't right around the corner though.

It should be a wake up call for a long term solution. But in the short term, we're stuck.

[tekisui]

27. Then, it isn't radical.

We will be destined to do this oil spill dance again.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

28. No, not if we make a concerted, long-term effort.

That's been the problem all along, really. We need to invest heavily NOW so that we can be free of this dance 20 years from now. (Actually, we need to start in the 70's, but unless someone invents a time machine...)

[depakid]

4. “Clearly the rules have been laxly applied,”

Gee Senator, do ya think?

And who bears responsibility for that?

hint: as a Senator who ought to have seen the September GAO report- YOU, right alongside the President.

[karynnj]

15. He is not on the committee with oversight

[dionysus]

31. reality and facts don't , matter anymore, apparently...

[Chulanowa]

51. Are you stupid?

Seriously, are you? You'd have to be, to believe what you just said, so do you regard yourself as a stupid person? or are you just trying to bullshit the rest of us?

I hate to tell you this, chuckles, but Senator Kerry nor President Obama can be out there patrolling the gulf and enforcing regulations singlehandedly like motherfucking superheroes. If you want to blame, then blame the people who's job it IS to do that. Blame the comittees who set the regulations. Or hey, blame the company that knowingly and willingly violated the regulations.

What? Blame BP? THE THOUGHT!

[Inuca]

62. Can I vote?

I vote for "trying to bullshit".

[politicasista]

64. Or call Senators/Congress critters who

actually have oversight on various committees over this issue.

[jenmito]

6. K&R. I look forward to Mika reading this on Morning Joe tomorrow.

:sarcasm: Not gonna happen, I bet.

[GeorgeGist]

7. "... we're stuck ..."

is an excuse, not a solution.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

21. So what's your solution for the next 10-20 years while we shore up technology? (nt)

[Chulanowa]

53. It's also the reality

Maybe we could hook some wires up to your hand? I bet we could get a joule or two out of all that masturbatory self-righteousness.

[Inuca]

61. No, it's fact

Simply wanting for something to be different does not make it so.

[Mass]

8. He is right and it is sad. This clearly shows the lack of leadership among Democrats and Republicans

alike. We need to push for people to change their habits, but how many people, even here, will argue they cant live without their SUV.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. John Kerry has been in the Senate for many years

The Senate is 100 out of over 300 million people, and yet he speaks as if it is some other people aside from the US Senate, that allowed for all the various excuses he now lists. He's not been howling for better regulation, MMS is a government agency, if they are corrupt, where has the over sight been, John? Really, the dismissive tone and self serving passivity of his verbiage is almost a parody of political wanking at its finest.

[ProSense]

11. John Kerry and Al Gore held the first climate change hearing in Congress in 1988.

He has been fighting for a climate bill for years, and he has the authority to speak on this issue.

[politicasista]

46. Acording to the poster. A.B.K does

:sarcasm:

[FrenchieCat]

12. Yeah....John Kerry should have changed everything.

Why couldn't he? :grr:

[Jennicut]

13. Yeah, he was in charge of MMS when Bush was President.

Sorry, but when you are President, you get to make the regulations or take them away. There was an investigation by Earl Devaney in 2008 (he was the inspector general of the Interior at the time). This whole issue of getting off the dependence of oil also requires more then a few Senators and really goes back to after the oil crisis of the 70's when people had cheap gas and forgot about all the problems with energy. The public had no pressure on the govt. and the Reagan Revolution came in. HW Bush, Clinton, W. Bush did very little with renewables. Now the problem is in Obama's lap. I do agree it is up to him to act.

[karynnj]

16. He has often called for environmental regulations being better inforced

What do you think was one of the many themes of This Moment on earth, the book he wrote with Teresa. He has been the leading environmentalist in the Senate.

[phleshdef]

18. Utter BS. John Kerry has been a warrior for our side of the energy debate.

FactCheck: No, Kerry never voted for a 50-cent gas tax hike. (Oct 2004)
Led effort to try to raise fuel efficiency standards. (May 2003)
Voted NO on protecting middle-income taxpayers from a national energy tax. (Apr 2009)
Voted NO on requiring full Senate debate and vote on cap-and-trade. (Apr 2009)
Voted YES on tax incentives for energy production and conservation. (Jun 2008)
Voted YES on addressing CO2 emissions without considering India & China. (May 2008)
Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jun 2007)
Voted YES on making oil-producing and exporting cartels illegal. (Jun 2007)
Voted YES on factoring global warming into federal project planning. (May 2007)
Voted YES on disallowing an oil leasing program in Alaska's ANWR. (Nov 2005)
Voted YES on $3.1B for emergency oil assistance for hurricane-hit areas. (Oct 2005)
Voted YES on reducing oil usage by 40% by 2025 (instead of 5%). (Jun 2005)
Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
Voted NO on Bush Administration Energy Policy. (Jul 2003)
Voted YES on targeting 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles by 2010. (Jun 2003)
Voted YES on removing consideration of drilling ANWR from budget bill. (Mar 2003)
Voted NO on drilling ANWR on national security grounds. (Apr 2002)
Voted NO on terminating CAFE standards within 15 months. (Mar 2002)
Voted NO on preserving budget for ANWR oil drilling. (Apr 2000)
Voted YES on ending discussion of CAFE fuel efficiency standards. (Sep 1999)
Voted NO on defunding renewable and solar energy. (Jun 1999)
Voted NO on approving a nuclear waste repository. (Apr 1997)
Voted NO on do not require ethanol in gasoline. (Aug 1994)
Supports tradable emissions permits for greenhouse gases. (Aug 2000)
Keep climate change in EPA "State of the Environment" report. (Jun 2003)
Keep efficient air conditioner rule to conserve energy. (Mar 2004)
Establish greenhouse gas tradeable allowances. (Feb 2005)
Rated 100% by the CAF, indicating support for energy independence. (Dec 2006)
Sign on to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. (Jan 2007)
Designate sensitive ANWR area as protected wilderness. (Nov 2007)
Set goal of 25% renewable energy by 2025. (Jan 2007)
Let states define stricter-than-federal emission standards. (Jan 2008)

[dionysus]

33. this place gets more like FR by the day, doesn't it?

[politicasista]

45. Yep.

Crickets chirping real loud after that smackdown.

[dionysus]

32. jesus, are there any dems you don't loathe? this shit would fit right in at FR.

seriously.

[Political Tiger]

10. John Kerry, the voice of reason! n/t

[Number23]

19. Magnificent.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. Where are all of the other Democrats coming to the president's defense? All I hear

are liberals shouting and yelling at him. Again, we sure know how to do the wingnuts' job for them. Hell, they don't even need KKKarl Rove or Palin. We do a better job that they do.

[ShortnFiery]

23. Oh well, if a man who voted for the IWR says it, it must be TRUE.

:crazy:

[karynnj]

24. Kerry's 4 decades as an environmentalist give him plenty of credibility

Amazing that you can praise the loathsome Carville, but have a problem with a true environmentalist like Kerry here.

[Mass]

26. The notion of praising Carville nearly made me throw up.

I can understand that, as a person from LA, he is upset, but what I saw on GMA was the same rehearsed indignation we have seen so often, and that makes TV want to have him on TV. The same packaged yelling that Jon Stewart ridiculed in 2004.

[goclark]

56. Carville is not a tool ~ he is the entire Tool Box

He either "sleeps with the enemy" or he is "the enemy."

I don't trust anything he says.

[politicasista]

59. LOL

:rofl: :rofl:

He is an S&S (sham and slime).

[goclark]

75. Mr. and Mrs. Slime and Sham

LOL

A real piece of work that couple is ~

[politicasista]

76. Exactly n/t

[emulatorloo]

29. Wow, a Non Sequitur!. Myopic at best, troll-ish at the worst.

See JK record on environment above.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. This from a Bobby Jindal/Jan Brewer fanboy.

[dionysus]

34. CRUSIE MISSLERES!!!! PRIVATE SCHOOL LaTTEEE!!111

maybe jindal and your teabagging buddies should be in charge...

[Inuca]

37. Absurd & spiteful n/t

[Chulanowa]

54. What? I don't even... What?

Could you guys at least strive for coherence? If I wanted to read Little Green Footballs, I would fucking go to Little Green Footballs.

[WildEyedLiberal]

58. hahahahaha +1,000,000

[WildEyedLiberal]

57. And he used to play HOCKEY!!! WTF does a HOCKEY player know about anything?????

Because playing hockey is about as relevant to the topic of the oil spill as the IWR vote is. Seriously - do you try to be obtuse, or does it come naturally?

[shellgame26]

73. well...for you at least

in your world, one must agree with a person's entire suite of ideas instead of accepting some and rejecting others. Authoritarian much?

[certainot]

25. good on kerry, but he doesn't have 1000 radio stations

[politicasista]

40. True n/t

[Uzybone]

35. John Kerrys' "problem" is that he has always makes sense

and actually tries to explain issues. It doesn't make for sweet soundbites nor does it feed the fools hungry for knee jerk reactions on blogs, but he speaks the truth.

[politicasista]

55. Bingo

He is too "smart" for Americans and ain't nothing wrong with intelligence and speaking truth, even if it is not a sentence in 10 words or less. :)

[blm]

65. Bingo....

.

[YvonneCa]

80. Something he has in common with...

...President Obama. We are sure lucky to have these two intelligent leaders...especially considering all the problems facing our country.

[Yavin4]

36. Well, At Least Mass. Has One Great Senator Left

What has nude dude said about the spill?

[politicasista]

63. Probably saying he needs to study it more to take a position

:rofl: :puke:

[Capitalocracy]

38. Waiting for a breakthrough that already exists...

“But as I’ve said before, for better or worse, we’re stuck with having to drill for the next 20, 30 years unless there is some extraordinary breakthrough with a new fuel mechanism that will (change) where we are today.”

The technology already exists. Why do we need a breakthrough? What we need is leadership.

[johnaries]

47. Actually, the technology does NOT exist.

There is no "silver bullet". There are several promising areas, but none of them solve the whole problem and currently they are too expensive. Further, we don't have the infrastructure to properly implement most of the alternatives. Putting that infrastructure in place will be costly and take a long time.

Although I believe that we should start preparing the infrastucture now, it will stil be a long time until we can wean the entire nation off of oil.

[Capitalocracy]

48. But we're not putting that infrastructure in place.

So it's going to be a very, very long time indeed.

[karynnj]

49. The problem is replacing the huge amount of oil.

There are technologies, but it is not possible to flash cut from using oil. Just consider the number of cars on the road. You can convert to electric cars - but that comes mostly from coal (or other fossil fuel)fired power plans.

[Capitalocracy]

52. Yes, but we have the technology to replace all those things

And yes, I know it will take time, but we're not actually doing it. If we made our goal to eliminate fossil fuels and started putting the infrastructure in place, I understand that it would take a few years, but the fact that we're not doing that means it will never happen. It's like just because the transition won't be immediate, we have no plans to make the transition, and that's horribly wrong. I mean, just look at the peak oil movement... their very logical theory is that this transition is going to happen whether we prepare for it or not. Shouldn't we do it now while we still have oil to keep us going until the transition is made, and before we destroy the environment completely?

[karynnj]

78. That's why passing Kerry/Leiberman is important

it does key things like creating the smart grid needed to connect things like wind power generated in North Dakota.

The fact is that Kerry has been pushing for this transition since before he ran for President.

[stevenleser]

39. K&R

I was one of the first where I lived to support John Kerry for Prez. I have never regretted that decision.

[politicasista]

41. Kick. It's rather unfortnate that Kerry's environmental activism is dissed

by "Democrats," "Liberals," "Progressives."

Question is where are the other Democrats and why aren't they stepping up and backing Obama up? Crickets?

[Major Hogwash]

67. Kerry has gotten really cocky since he became the Senior Senator from Massachusetts

He even endorsed Specter a few weeks ago.

THERE HAS TO BE A BUS THAT KERRY WON'T DIVE UNDER IN PUBLIC!!!

[politicasista]

69. delete.

Some people will never be satisfied.

[paparush]

43. Wow. That sounded like straight talk.

I hear it so infrequently from most politicians.

[johnaries]

44. K&R. thank you for talking sense once again, Senator Kerry.

And thank you for posting this, Prosense!

[swilton]

50. Besides lack of oversight

we've under invested in the the renewable energy technologies.

Capitalism is unfavorable to the innovation that is required to invest in wind/solar and wean ourselves away from the energy industries that are hurting the planet and us. Oil, coal and gas are not doing us any favors.

[Cha]

60. Sorry, you can't blame that on President Obama.

[imurhuckleberry]

66. "extraordinary breakthrough"...not, but what about industrial hemp? What does anyone else think

about it?

[Amonester]

77. but, hemp is a...BaD, VeRy bAd DRUG you know.

got to keep criminalizing it so The War On Drugs (TM) keeps costing us a fortune while (almost) all the profits goes to GANGSTERS and keep TAXES out of the loop.

Maybe if we stopped funding that stupid War (TM) that will never be won and invest the taxes legalizing it would provide into RENEWABLE e-transition...

Nope. In this world, words speak louder than actions, sadly.

[volvoblue]

68. Finally someone pushes back

thank you, Sen Kerry!
this whole ganging on the president by the media for the sake of both 'conflict' and ratings is sickening and it is abuse of their role by misinforming the public.
Just because Bush failed doesn't mean the press, who also failed with Bush, needs to manipulate and sabotage this president for the sake of ratings.
I cannot make up my mind if the media simply hates Obama or democrats, considering how they have this constant criticism of Obama day and night and not just with this spill.
Or if they are shills for the republicans or being blackmailed to.
Or if it is for the need to manipulate the elections so they have do their pre-written story of 'it's 1994 again' and when will the republicans impeach Obama???
Maybe it's all of the above

[besdayz]

70. a

news has stopped being news sometime in the 1840s when it became legal for ads to be displayed in print newspapers....all downhill since then into a ratings competition and nothing more.....

media can't think on its own so it will follow the template..template here is govt is inept, something else happened in the gulf coast, katrina happened there. qed..obama's katrina...

constantly interviewing experts daily nullifies...
when you have a society of so many experts you have no experts....

[volvoblue]

71. I saw it slide into crap over the last

twenty five years. It breaks my heart to know that the public is being so grossly ill served and misinformed by a media they think is reporting facts.
They wonder why they are held in low regard and yet, when they are told, they ignore it.
More important to be shallow, lazy and syncophants of the republicans then to do what they were meant to do. Easier to manipulate and lie and tell whoppers and think it's all about them then to be real journalists.

[David Zephyr]

72. Kerry is correct. Carville has no shame.

James Carville sold out the entire nation of Bolivia for his own greed and ego.

Nothing this man says deserves the respect of any decent human being.

[Nikki Stone1]

74. :)

.

[Drunken Irishman]

79. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours