Shep Smith Mocks BP Oil Exec’s ‘Small People’ Remark

video

by Glynnis MacNicol | 6:01 pm, June 16th, 2010

» 28 comments

This could almost be straight out of the BP Global PR fake twitter feed. After meeting with President Obama today, BP Board Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg addressed reporters outside the White House to assure the American public BP had their best interests at heart. Or presumably that’s what he intended to say. What he actually said was this:

“We care about the small people, I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are really companies that don’t care, but that is not the case in BP, we care about the small people.”

Perhaps this is a good time to note that English is not Svanberg’s first language; a BP spokesperson later clarified the “small people” he was referring to were “local people, local businesses is what he meant by that…He just means the small businesses, the local people, the local people affected.” Regardless, it took only minutes for the phrase to go viral. Shep Smith could hardly contain himself when he opened his show a few minutes after Svanberg’s remarks. Then he got serious, noting that Svanberg had gone on vacation a few days after the Deepwater explosion and further remarked on his “scurrying” into the White House. Me thinks Shep has a new BP oil target. Watch the medium-sized report below.

barack obama, Carl-Henric Svanberg, Shep Smith, Tony Hayward

me1ranger

Let them eat cake..
Puter Boi

mmmmmmmmm….cake.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Funny. I just made a snark about that same phrasing in a comment to another site.

Way to go, Shep!
m

Carl-Henric Svanberg is Swedish. English is not his first language. Cut him some damn slack.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@m: Ahh.. come on…
The imagery of us appearing like ants as he looks down from his jet is just too easy to skip.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

…and that’s not even touching upon the idea of a Swedish businessman being the Chairman of the merged British Petroleum and American Oil Company, which was drilling an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico under a Marshall Islands flag, all of which implies that he may think himself larger than governments.
me1ranger

m..you got the Swede fetish thing going on..chill out. Swedish Fish taste like shit..good ole American Gummy bears wup up on them big time! How you like them meatballs?
http://politicsofdestruction.com/ Bobomatic

wait a minute… I thought libs loved the Swedes for their forward thinking social economy and environment… hmmm.. There are the Swede, libs… and the small people.
Ination

@me1ranger – are you f@#king serious? They’re called FREEDOM Fish now.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@Ination: From the looks of the Gulf, I’d say many may be DEAD.
http://www.libertarianism.com/ Burnnotice

Screw em! Small people? How a bout we little people soak your ass to the tune of $20 billion! LOL. Way to make em pay Obama. Make sure you get that money in escrow before the have a chance to go insolvent., and don’t forget that piece of shites Yacht! God Damn Scandinavian British Bastards anyway……
MichelleF

CNBC’s Matt Nesto was asked whether BP acted appropriately by agreeing to the White House’s terms by cutting its dividend payments and agreeing to a $20 billion escrow account.

Nesto argued that the administration was circumventing the legal system with such acts.

“I don’t think they [BP] had a [choice],” Nesto said. “In cutting the dividend or in joining up with that fund? I mean, cutting the dividend – yeah it is smart and prudent to save cash in the face of an unknown liability, but I’m very troubled by the fact, uh, that the President has once again created his own sense of, of a legal system.”

Nesto cited previous instances where Obama has acted in an unprecedented ways to back up his claim and explained Obama was operating outside the presidency’s intended function.

“He fired the CEO of General Motors. He circumvented the rights of bond holders in the GM situation and now he’s confiscated $20 billion from a private company – wait a minute – to set up, quote, ‘a financial and legal framework’ that already exists,” Nesto continued. “It’s not his job to create laws. It’s his job to enforce laws.”

Although BP’s ability to stem the flow of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon well, the oil company has reacted to many of the government’s public requests, including suspending their dividend.

“They are doing that,” Nesto said. “Why do they have to have a gun to their head? There is a thing called due process my friends. There’s gonna be a lot of litigation, as there should, right?”

Another power grab by the regime. Can’t let a crisis go to waste, eh Rahm.
notsofast

It was an obvious mistake, but come on, get some thicker skin.
MichelleF

It’s called Faux outrage, notsofast.
roxsteady

It’s what we Liberals would call “Lost in Translation”. As Glynnis pointed out, English is not Mr. Svanberg’s first language. I don’t think he meant it to sound the way some think he meant it. Sadly, this is just another distraction for the real issue. More nonsense from the Villagers.
me1ranger

Why are these libs rushing to defend the head of some “big-oil” company? The answer is easy..He’s not an American. Admit it lefties..you really do hate this country, disgusting.
http://MsUnderestimated.com MsUnderestimated

STFU, Shep. You’re the whiny bitch crying about Beck, too, btw. I’ve heard you several times say “from the JOURNALISTS here at Fox News, goodnight” or what the hell ever.

Regarding the “small people” remark, can you please get off your high elitist “how dare Europeans insult Americans?” high horse for once? Ever heard of a “language barrier?” Oh, while I’m at it, check out why the Chevy Nova couldn’t be sold in Latin countries and THEN you can still cry about the “small people” remark.

Dou**e-bag! You’re not fair and EXTREMELY un-balanced.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

@roxsteady: We’re facing the greatest environmental disaster in human history. A few jokes and a couple of snide remarks isn’t going to fix anything, but trying to find a little humor wouldn’t hurt.
shootfromthehip

I love this country and the left loves America.

But I do admit I’d love it more If Texas succeeds and you rethugs all moved there. You could then set up your little theocracy there. You know, strip away women’s right to choose, mandatory Bible study for kids. Your basic right wing Taliban style government.

Please oh please do move there (we get to keep Austin, though).
notsofast

shootfromthehip says:
June 16, 2010 at 8:25 pm

I love this country and the left loves America.”

Nope!
me1ranger

We wish your mother had exercised that right to choose hip, then we could love our country more too. Are there some gay bars or commie hideouts in Austin that pique your interest? Why are you so violent..who do you want to shoot? You should be bannished..they’re doing that today. You could be next..peacenik hippy.
shootfromthehip

Not really interested in gay bars or “commie hideouts” (whatever the fuck that means), but I’m sure Austin has some great gay bars (they have the best all kids of bats in the world there).

I prefer the bars on 6th street filled with hot, tan and tattooed Texas hotties.

Hey idiot, for the last time, my name is an idiomatic expression that everyone in America understands (except you, apparently).

Here is the definition, again, so you get it through your cro-magnon head:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shoot%20from%20the%20hip

“An expression which suggests the described person a. speaks or behaves in a brusque, honest fashion b. does not censor their actions or words c. speaks tersely; communicates with the fewest number of words cf. to be brutally honest.”
shootfromthehip

But back to the topic at hand, Shep should be applauded for this segment. Shep is one of the few voices of reason at Fox these days.
TfT

Interesting. I too thought the term “small people” was awkward. However, he said “he agreed with President Obama” and then referenced the “small people” clearly referencing small business, local folks, etc. I have looked for the video clip and can’t find it. BUT, in his defense, english is not his first language as Glynnis points out (thanks Glynnis), but when I saw the video, prior to his “small people” reference, he did say “he agreed with the President”.

Shep should be applauded? Interesting. EIther give the full quote or don’t give any quote.
TfT

His exact quote was:

“He (President Obama) cares about the small people, and we care about the small people”.

Why is the “He cares about the small people, and” eliminated from the quote in the article?
sarainitaly

TfT says:
June 17, 2010 at 6:41 am
His exact quote was:
“He (President Obama) cares about the small people, and we care about the small people”.

I was going to say the same thing. Sounds to me like he was riffing off comments that were made in the meeting. No doubt something came up during the discussion about caring *for the little people*.

Also, the guy is from Sweden, and English is his second language. I would cut him some slack. My husband makes little goofs all the time like that.
me1ranger

It looks like shoot/at/the/hippy did a little too much acid, he thinks his little knikname is a mystery. “To be brutally honest”..hey hippy, now you’re talking about shooting and brutality..the horror! Why does this angry hippy hate peace so much? Go curl up with a heavily tattooed woman, and think about what you’ve done..bad hippy.
http://none pyrope

Much ado about nothing Shep. It is simply the differences in vernacular. The term “small people” in the UK means that those identified as such are not decision makers, not wealthy, nor in control of the circumstances that effects their lives.