Emergency! Emergency! Someone call the CNN Thought Police! A pundit expressed an opinion on the air that might possibly be construed as critical of President Obama. Quick, pull that man off camera. Where is Roland Martin? Can he step in at short notice?

I have followed Gergen for years and just now because of this appearance, I now know he must be a racist.

No other explanation is possible.

A few dents are showing up in the ‘Obama can never be criticized’ armor.

Completely bombastic and over the top. This type of rhetoric is unprecedented in our times. To imply that Obama could have lost WW2 is unintentional racism at best and downright Amerikan overt racism at worst.

I demand that Gergen explain which type of racist he is.

Herr Gergen ist richtig. Big Oil führt Amerika, nicht der Präsident. Wie immer. Bedauerlich.

So much for the Liberal philosophy of the government is more capable of handling problems.

… and for the Conservative philosophy of giving big business carte blanche over our resources.

Wow, comrade King put down Das Kapital and is speaking in his native German. I guess the Commie Cell meeting broke up early. Sorry King the tatoos of Karl Marx and Mao on your arms give you away. You need to add a Tokyo Rose tattoo.

War Herr Gergen vorhanden, wenn sie, dass Kommentar?

So just to be clear, right-wingers, the gov’t should step out of the way and let private industry handle things…until they f*ck up? Then it’s the government’s fault. Or is it only the government’s fault when Obama is president? Or Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact. Because when people blamed Bush for Katrina, the right quickly stepped in to say that it wasn’t his fault, but this private matter is Obama’s? Your inconsistency astounds

Katrina wasn’t Bush’s fault. But he was partially to blame for the government’s slow response. Likewise, Obama wasn’t responsible for the oil leak, but he is partially responsible for the slow response.

Moderate says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:03 am
That’s where you’re wrong, government isn’t the one handling things, BP is. Government is just telling them to get it taken care of. They’re taking up the right wing point, which isn’t working out well. Why? Bp doesn’t want to seal off the leak because then they seal off the oil which reduces profit. The right-wing is wrong here.

You need another verb, Righter.

—

Like I would ever get a tatoo, Gordon Blower Show. I may be insufferably burgeois at times, but I am most assuredly not a member of the proletariat.

writer says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:18 am
I will agree with you there. However, I will say that in Bush’s case gov’t was responsible to handle the incident because it was a natural disaster. In this case, you’re involved with a business, so things are more delicate. So if Obama goes in and destroys the valve to stop the leak, then many on the right will say that he’s expanding government and overreaching in private matters, you can’t deny that. They’re trying to allow private industry to take care of it, and people are getting mad at them for not getting involved. It’s a lose-lose situation.

The Real Royal King says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:19 am
You can safely ignore gordon “johnny rebel sr” bloyer, he just spouts talking points out of his @$$

Besser uberprufen Sie noch einmal Konig. Und sie keine Antwort. Wurde Gergen vorhanden wahrend Ihre Anmerkung?

Nein, Konig. Sie sind nur einen elitaren snob.

Reasonable, that gets back to the (true) argument that government is usually incompetent, no matter which party is in charge. For as long as I can remember, anytime there was a hurricane in the Gulf, people would say ‘”Whew! New Orleans really dodged a bullet that time!” And then nothing was done. Did they think New Orleans was always going to ‘dodge the bullet’? No one did anything. Then the finger gets pointed to whomever is in charge at the time.

Righter: You’re using a translation software of some sort, and it’s just not making any sense. Of course, when you use English you seldom make sense, either.

Or could it be that you can’t use your German-English dictionary that fast?

writer says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:32 am
No, it’s not that government is incompetent, it depends on the priorities, gov’t functioned well under Clinton, and we ended up with a budget surplus. Government helped successfully restored oil operations quickly and by September production was back to 42% of normal. In this case, Obama gives people what they want; gov’t staying out of private matters, and they get pissed. Once again, private is the one responsible here, private is the one messing up because private is thinking solely of the profit motive. You can’t blame government for doing what you’ve wanted them to do; stay out of private matters.

Nice spin, reasonable. While Katrina was an act of nature, things like shoring up levees, providing for shelters and evacuation, adequate food and water, etc.. do fall under government domain. Both federal and local. I know you like to blame Republicans for everything, but like I said, people knew for decades that New Orleans was ‘dodging a bullet’, and neither party took steps to do anything.

How would a dictionary help me translate a verb which is not present?

Because, King, you’re making it up, like you do in so many of your posts. I didn’t miss a verb. But since it takes you so long to translate, I’ll ask in English. You claimed that you didn’t want to comment on Farrakhan because he wasn’t ‘present’. Yet I’ve noticed you commenting on Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and others. The question is, are they ‘present’? Are they sitting there with you, or out on the porch, or what? You seem to be violating what you said before.

The Real Royal King says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:02 am

writer says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:11 am

Wait… you guys are talking about this”, right?

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:18 am

Well, that’s not entirely true either. The government gave them the contracts, and relaxed the environmental standards (and then Obama gave them a safety award). So they’ve had a role in this for a while.

Now, as I said yesterday… BP has all the incentive to get this fixed. They’re losing money, credibility, and potentially their company. If the government was in charge, what would they lose? Votes? An election? Meh. Nothing that can’t be recovered in a year or two.

Bp doesn’t want to seal off the leak because then they seal off the oil which reduces profit. The right-wing is wrong here.

That makes NO sense. The oil that’s spilling into the Gulf is unusable, so they’re losing that. Once they plug it, they’ll later be able to re-open it, and start again. How is the spill increasing profit for BP?

As for “inconsistencies,” how about you equally call out the left who bashed Bush for Katrina… and now defend Obama. See, its’ a two way street… you can criticize the right for unfairly attacking Obama, but then you have to criticize the left for unfairly attacking Bush. Ready. Set. Go.

The Real Royal King says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:19 am

Like I would ever get a tatoo, Gordon Blower Show. I may be insufferably burgeois at times, but I am most assuredly not a member of the proletariat.

Of course not… we’ve all heard you “brag” about flying all over the globe and being of “national importance.” What I can’t figure out is why if Republicans (according to you) are all rich white guys… why you’re not a Republican? But you’ve never billed yourself as consistent or honest, so I guess we’ll let it slide.

(Look at how King look down his nose on everyone. Apparently, tattoos are now worthy of his scorn. The list continues.)

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:22 am

A natural disaster does not mean the Feds have any responsibility. The local government has responsibility, and then can call in the state, and then the Feds. That’s where the trouble came for Obama.

And while you’re arguing a straw man, you’re arguing it incorrectly. People aren’t just upset with Obama for not “fixing” the problem, but for not allowing the locals to help with the clean up. Boats left in port, fishermen who could help skim, and volunteers ready to build sand bars… apparently, the Feds are holding them back. That’s a problem.

“Over at CNN last night James Carville continued his tirade calling for “heads to roll”

Carville wants “heads to roll” alright, every head but Obama’s. He was on a “tirade” last week, but obviously someone at CNN put the brakes on him because he was making excuses for Obama left and right on the King show last night.

“if our government had fought WWII like the way we’re fighting the oil spill, there’s a good chance many of us would be speaking German today.”

I loved the startled looks on Anderson’s and Brinkley’s faces when Gergen said that! It was like someone had punched them in the stomach. I think Gergen is realizing that Obama is not as competent as he had hoped he would be.

writer says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:48 am
Why thank you, I try my best. And no, I don’t blame Republicans for everything. Narrow minded fools, yes. Conservatives? Maybe since the Conservative coalition began they’ve been responsible for a number of things. But I blame fools entirely. Useful idiots I believe they’ve been called. I can’t recall who it was, but somebody once said that the purpose of learning history is not so it won’t repeat itself because it will, the purpose is to protect us from the great simple fires. A great simple fire would be somebody like Hitler. Because nothing is ever simple, but if you make it simple like Hitler (Jews are responsible) then they will get behind you. Prime example the conservative love of Palin and Reagan. They support them simply because they think that they are more like them.
And yes, they do, but as I said before, those were not the priorities. They tried to secure the economy first because of how high gas rose during that time. I’m sure you remember seeing $3 and more at that time. Their first response was to solve a problem which affected everybody. And yes, nobody did, I acknowledge that, but as I’ve said before I’m a center left liberal, not a democrat, not a republican. Whichever party runs the better candidate.

INB, a point of clarification. While the King stereotypes all white conservatives as rich business moguls, he also stereotypes them as poor toothless hillbillies living in trailers. He does this all at once, and sees no inconsistency in it.

Fine, Braniac. You asked:

War Herr Gergen vorhanden, wenn sie, dass Kommentar?,

the only reasonable translation of which is:

Was Mr. Gergen there when they that comment?

Doesn’t a verb seem missing to you?

Many Amerikans speak only English. That’s unfortunate, but it’s no great personal disgrace. Persisting in making yourself look foolish is, however.

U.S. exempted BP’s Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Interior Department exempted BP’s calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year. The decision by the department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) to give BP’s lease at Deepwater Horizon a “categorical exclusion” from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 — and BP’s lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions — show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated a calamity.

Why Did the Obama Admin Exempt the Deepwater Horizon From Environmental Impact Study?
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 05. 6.10

“It somehow boggles the mind, doesn’t it? But you’re reading the title correctly. BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig was exempted from having an detailed environmental impact study done by the Department of Interior last year. The Washington Post looked at federal documents and found that the department’s Mineral Management Service have the project a “categorical exclusion” from review, something which BP had been lobbying for more broadly just prior to the explosion that kicked of this series of tragic events. ”

ImNotBlue says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:56 am
Yes, the government did give them contracts, and to an extent they did relax, but you must clarify. They said that the study which concluded a spill was unlikely was sufficient proof. They may be losing money in the department of losing oil, but people still go to BP gas stations on a daily basis. People don’t care about something like that when Sheetz is 2.59 and BP is 2.49, and they only have $3 for gas. And no, some things can’t be recovered. Following the vote on the civil rights act, the south has voted exclusively Republican as Johnson predicted.

And yes, if you read what I wrote, it does. They want to plug it, but they could solve it all by shutting it off, or destroying the pipeling, which they don’t want to do because they would lose profits. You’re using the Michelle tactic now and only picking up on certain parts, i expect better of you.

No, it’s not a two-way street, as I’ve said before; natural disaster vs. environmental disaster. Natural is beyond control, but gov’t is in place to provide relief in said situations, it falls under their jurisdiction. This is a private matter, government interacting with private industries, so the situation is much more delicate. You can criticize the response, but not the separate criticisms.

It does when there are multiple states involved because then it becomes a national issue. As more states become involved, this would become a federal matter as well, but as I said before, it involves a private entity, so they are responsible.

Straw man? Bah! This is all I’ve seen “governmeent is doing too much and getting involved in private matters” and when they don’t get involved, people complain, bottom line. How is that a misrepresentation of the opponent’s position? Isn’t that what all of you guys have been saying? Get your government out of my pocket, etc. etc.?

JohnSimpson says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I address your copy and paste post in the following one, have a nice day.

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:17 pm

Thanks for accepting it as FACTS you can not dispute.

Oh, and The_Reasonable_Lib , when BHO said “Plug the hole”, he was referring to your mouth.

But King, I didn’t ask if Gergan was ‘there’. I asked if he was ‘present’. There’s a difference, which you’ll see if I give you enough time to look it up. But you’re once again splitting hairs so you won’t have to address a question. You’ve stated that you don’t want to comment on people who arent’ ‘present’ (in the case of Louis Farrakhan), yet you never apply that philosophy to anyone else. Why does Louie get special treatment?

JohnSimpson says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Once again, you’re the idiot. They rendered that the study which said that a spill was unlikely as sufficient evidence, not the same thing as what you said. Good job misrepresenting the facts, though. And as for plugging the hole, the only problem is I’m typing, not talking. But you on the otherhand should shut your @$$, it makes it difficult to type with it.

writer will stand with a fool, as long as the fool is in the right party. Gergen is right on. Were the Generation of WWII around to witness these events, they’d smash in the faces of you partisan lackies and get down to business.

That is truly disappointing, trickle. Just yesterday you were on your high horse, above all of this partisan bickering. This is a bitter pill.

ImNotBlue says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:56 am

—

Wow! If you’d been around in the ’30′s the Germans would have found their non-explosive gas source, and we’d still be flying blimps and Zeppelins to Hamburg.

Better check if INB is still present before commenting.

Trickle, I guess you don’t consider the King as ‘partisan’. Just me, huh?

Righter, you asked if Gergen was “on hand”. But, we still don’t know what verb to use with comment.

And the question remains ignored.

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:16 pm

Yes, the government did give them contracts, and to an extent they did relax, but you must clarify. They said that the study which concluded a spill was unlikely was sufficient proof.

And that doesn’t strike you as inappropriate? I have to show more proof than that to update my license plates!

They may be losing money in the department of losing oil, but people still go to BP gas stations on a daily basis. People don’t care about something like that when Sheetz is 2.59 and BP is 2.49, and they only have $3 for gas.

Yeah, I’m not so sure about that. I think people may be willing to pay a few extra bucks if it means not supporting BP. For example, I won’t buy Citgo gas (never heard of Sheetz until now), even if Citgo is a few cents cheaper. I’m not sure they’re not worried about the bottom line here.

And no, some things can’t be recovered. Following the vote on the civil rights act, the south has voted exclusively Republican as Johnson predicted.

And yet, it was the Democrats as a whole who were more unified AGAINST it, than Republicans. For example, in the Senate, there was 1 Southern Republican who voted against it (out of 1), while 20 Southern Democrats voted against it (out of 21).

And yes, if you read what I wrote, it does. They want to plug it, but they could solve it all by shutting it off, or destroying the pipeling, which they don’t want to do because they would lose profits. You’re using the Michelle tactic now and only picking up on certain parts, i expect better of you.

Prove it. I have seen no evidence that a fix for this could be as quick and easy as you say. Link me up, please.

No, it’s not a two-way street, as I’ve said before; natural disaster vs. environmental disaster. Natural is beyond control, but gov’t is in place to provide relief in said situations, it falls under their jurisdiction. This is a private matter, government interacting with private industries, so the situation is much more delicate. You can criticize the response, but not the separate criticisms.

Look, as I said before, it’s the clean-up that’s proving to be a bigger issue here. BP has to fix the leak… that’s their job. But government is apparently holding back the cleanup… and that’s a problem.

It does when there are multiple states involved because then it becomes a national issue. As more states become involved, this would become a federal matter as well, but as I said before, it involves a private entity, so they are responsible.

In Katrina, the states were very slow (and there was ample evidence to show) that the local governments told the Federal government to stay away… that is, until it was too late. The rush to blame Bush was obvious and very political opportunistic. The situation is similar here. And as I said, if you’re going to play the game then, you gotta play it now… fair or not.

Straw man? Bah! This is all I’ve seen “governmeent is doing too much and getting involved in private matters” and when they don’t get involved, people complain, bottom line. How is that a misrepresentation of the opponent’s position? Isn’t that what all of you guys have been saying? Get your government out of my pocket, etc. etc.?

The government had a responsibility when giving out permits, they failed on that level. Perhaps this could have been prevented, if they were doing their job from the beginning… but they didn’t. Either way, in your example you have the government assisting the business in stopping the leak… not “taking over” the company. The government should be able to work with a private business without absorbing it.

writer says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Remember, it’s only bad to be really partisan and nasty when you’re disagreeing with someone. Trickle is happy to argue and insult, and complain that others are arguing and insulting. I asked yesterday when he was on his horse if he was “helping or just adding.” I assume he knew the answer, and that’s why he ran from the question. No surprise.

The Real Royal King says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:46 pm

Um, what? I’m having trouble deciphering this particular part of your insanity.

Righter, I am sure Trickletown considers me a partisan gasbag, as well, with good cause. What I don’t understand is why you think that he has come down off his high horse. It seems to me what he just wrote was remarkably consistent with what he wrote yesterday.

Trickle has stated a distaste for partisan bickering and claims to be politically neutral. Fine. But why come to a site where you know that partisan bickering is a big part of it, then complain about it? Someone making him log in here?

ImNotBlue says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:51 pm

on http://cont.geti.or.kr/Content/2002-jungbo/video/media/sound/PRESSURI.WAV

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:26 pm

JohnSimpson says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:21 pm
t. They rendered that the study which said that a spill was unlikely as sufficient evidence,”

But it did leak dumb ass!

I guess barry’s ass isn’t tasting so good to you anymore , hey, libby?

Eh, this is just the standard pundit hyperbolic style.

The government and BP are doing everything they can. Like Cooper said and Gergen concurred before his rant, BP are the only ones with the technology/expertise to stop the oil leak. Gergen said something about getting the other oil companies involved to fix this? Yeah right, it’s already a traffic jam at the site and Exxon and Shell wouldn’t be doing anything different. Plus, why would they want to be associated with this mess?

It sounds like he wants a Russel Honore type for the cameras because BP and the gov are already coordinating their respective ends of the disaster response.

” “ImNotBlue says:
May 26, 2010 at 12:51 pm
“And no, some things can’t be recovered. Following the vote on the civil rights act, the south has voted exclusively Republican as Johnson predicted.”

And yet, it was the Democrats as a whole who were more unified AGAINST it, than Republicans. For example, in the Senate, there was 1 Southern Republican who voted against it (out of 1), while 20 Southern Democrats voted against it (out of 21).” ”

It wasn’t a party thing, it was North vs. South or progressive/liberal vs. conservative as it still is today. Southerners were against it, Northerners were for it. The South is conservative, the North is more liberal/progressive. By your logic, I could say the northern Democrats were even more unified FOR it. Here’s the breakdown of the yes / no votes from wikipedia.

The original House version:
Southern Democrats: 7-87 (7%-93%)
Southern Republicans: 0-10 (0%-100%)
Northern Democrats: 145-9 (94%-6%)
Northern Republicans: 138-24 (85%-15%)
The Senate version:
Southern Democrats: 1-20 (5%-95%)
Southern Republicans: 0-1 (0%-100%)
Northern Democrats: 45-1 (98%-2%)
Northern Republicans: 27-5 (84%-16%)

It is just a matter of time before CNN reins Gergen in and he starts to backpeddle about his comments, but it was refreshing to hear the truth about Obama from someone at CNN for a change.

BruceGoose says:
May 26, 2010 at 2:09 pm

By your logic, I could say the northern Democrats were even more unified FOR it.

Well, that would be true too. The point being that it wasn’t (as you said, but was implied by Reasonable) a left/right thing. The implication was clear, “Republicans were racists,” and that’s simply not what the numbers show.

Why it was that Johnson felt he was losing the South wasn’t because the Republicans were doing something more closely aligned with their ideas, but simply because they weren’t Democrats. The Democrats pushed the law through, so those who disagreed with the law left the party… with the only other option being the Republicans. So the implication of racism isn’t necessarily accurate at all. That was my point.

writer, I know you would rather i’d not come around and occaisionally spotlight your deplorable partisanship. Too bad, i consider it my task, and I enjoy it . Suggestion; The next time as your knee is about to jerk with some half-baked partisan bromide, just take a breath and ask yourself ” Is this going to solve the problem? Does this advance the greater good?” Try it. It’s a transcendent experience and you may just like it.

The_Reasonable_Lib says:
May 26, 2010 at 11:16 am

RL, from my early work experience in the Offshore Exploration and Production Dept for a major oil company I can testify that the oil industry is and has been a very heavily regulated industry by especially the feds. A side note is that oil royalties to the feds is in the top three revenue producers.

The problem is that government simply doesn’t do a lot of things well. When a disaster happens such as this one you can almost make book that the government is going to be very culpable for both its cause and an inadequate response.

Blanket waivers, missing never put in place fire booms, political posturing with boots on throats in lieu of getting qualified experts in place with expedited procedures. I am surprised that anyone actually expected anything other than what we’ve gotten.

I actually saw Obama being defended on this issue by the panel on Bret Baier last night on FOX. They all said that there’s no way that the government has the expertise the step in and fix the problem as far as capping the spill, so Obama has had no choice but to leave it up to BP and make sure that they stay in the loop so that the government can understand the cause and solution to this crisis in order to effectively legislate effectively against it happening in the future.

The panel felt any real culpability that could be attached to Obama would be for refusing to do things like allow barrier islands to be constructed to prevent/slow oil from making itr to the shores, which Gov. Jindal requested (the reason for refusal was that the effect on the ecosystem is unknown, btw). That’s actually pretty fair and balanced. Liberal commentators attacking Obama on this are simply trying to show the public the “depth of their concern and care for the environment”. Conservatives that are attacking are mostly just trying to score politcal points off the president.

What I find most interesting is that the administration is widely being perceived as slow to act instead of being given the benefit of the doubt. I think this is a result of the administration so often taking a combative and secretive stance after running a campaign that touted transparency as on of its hallmarks.

trickle, in attacking only me, you prove your own non-partisan approach. Kudos.

Wow that is absolutely the most despicable thing I’ve heard on tv ages, if ever. Someone should remind this prick that America let the Holocaust go on for two years, didn’t enter the war until THEY WERE ATTACKED, and wouldn’t have entered the war if they were not attacked. These despicable comments minimize the suffering, sacrifices and victories by the Allies before America entered the war and is basically akin to saying America is the only reason the war was won and it wouldn’t have been won if America didn’t enter the war. YOU ARE NOT GODS AMERICANS THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD DOES NOT REPEAT DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOU