After Touting Drilling’s ‘Safety,’ McCain Cancels Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig Event Because Of The ‘Weather’
After Touting Drilling’s ‘Safety,’ McCain Cancels Gulf Of Mexico Oil Rig Event Because Of The ‘Weather’
In announcing his newfound support for offshore drilling, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) consistently touts the safety of offshore oil exploration. “[I]t’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage,” he said recently. To make his case, McCain was scheduled to helicopter tomorrow to an oil rig in the Gulf Coast.
But it seems even McCain is fearful of being caught on an offshore oil rig during rough weather. Jonathan Martin reports:
Just over an hour after finalizing plans to visit an oil rig tomorrow, the McCain campaign has cancelled the visit.“The meeting with Governor Jindal has been postponed and we are cancelling the trip to the rig due to weather,” said spokesman Michael Goldfarb. […]
The campaign declined to comment any further about the quick decision to spike the trip other than to cite the weather.
Ironically, the “weather” of concern is the strengthening Hurricane Dolly, which has been bumped up to a category 2 hurricane (Katrina was rated a category 5) with winds up to 100 miles per hour. Today, Dolly made landfall in Texas.
As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has noted multiple times, McCain and his surrogates have for weeks been peddling the false claim that Hurricane Katrina caused no major oil spills to push for expanded drilling. Watch a compilation:
The hurricanes destroyed 113 offshore oil platforms and caused 124 offshore spills and hundreds more onshore. In fact, because of Hurricane Dolly, “at least 62 production platforms and eight drilling rigs had been shut down and evacuated in the Gulf.”
As McCain makes his push for increased oil production, Louisiana officials are also dealing with a barge collision that caused a spill of an estimated 9,000 barrels of fuel into the Mississippi River, resulting in a 12-mile long oil slick. “Television stations reported the stench of diesel fuel wafting across the French Quarter.”
McCain has put safety first today, putting off his oil drilling photo-op for another day.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 6:08 pmBut Dolly makes landfall today and is only cat 2. Admittedly, enough winds to interfere with travel. However, as big as hurricaines are on a human scale, they actually push the bad weather ahead of them. As long as he is a few hundred miles behind the hurricaine, he would have smooth sailing.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:09 pmYep. “The weather outside is frightful; But inside, it’s so delightful”. He’s a liar, folks….
Too bad abot the huge oil spill in the Mississippi. I hear it is really bad. More drilling, right GOP? No spills, right?
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:10 pmThe weather??? You mean they went to all the trouble of planning this trip, and no one checked on the weather before this? I don’t believe them.
Sorry, but this explanation doesn’t pass the Smell Test.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:14 pmWas McDepends driving that tug boat that clipped the barge? If so, he now has 5 planes, a crippled carrier AND an oil barge. Probably a few thousand fish and birds, too.
Atta Boy, Johnny!
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:16 pmLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!
Think how funny McNumbNuts could be if he had a comedy writer.
This is just too priceless.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:18 pmHey, Pry - you’ve got the government you deserve.
Too bad for the rest of us, eh?
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm“McCain has put safety first today, putting off his oil drilling photo-op for another day.”
Now dat rite dar isa brave soldier, right?…NOT!
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pmJohnny isn’t having a very good week, is he?
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pmGod, please grant Prytania at least some temporary use of a brain while he is edumacating us here at TP. He really, really needs your help, God. Please do it for the children.
And I do know ‘accidents’ can happen. Just ask your Mom and Dad about that. They are still shell shocked.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:25 pmMaybe he means it’s good weather, and he wants to go hunting.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:29 pmPerhaps someone on his dysfunctional campaign staff figured out that if you are going to be an attention whore you might want to avoid flying 100 miles offshore where most of your dwindling press entourage can’t or won’t follow.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:34 pmJim Wilke Says:
Use your heads, haters. McCain was willing to go but the pilots said no.
Hello Jim. I thought McCain was a pilot. Didn’t he leave any uncrashed planes lying around somewhere? Actually, I believe his wife is also a pilot. Didn’t he leave her lying around somewhere - maybe next to the medicine cabinet?
This gets all confusing for me - they are all pilots, but you say they couldn’t go because the pilots said no.
Cheetos, anyone?
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:38 pmJim Wilke Says:
Use your heads, haters. McCain was willing to go but the pilots said no.
Well, then, I guess he’s McStupider than I thought.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:39 pmHi Jim Wilke:
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 pmWow, makes ya wonder what dirt those pilots have on McCain that they can direct a multimultimillion dollar campaign to get him elected president doesn’t it?
McCain spills oil every time he opens his mouth. Totally bought and paid for by BIG OIL.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:43 pmKinda sad that all Johnny Boy can do to try to derail Obama’s trip is to fly to an offshore platform.
I have been out to them many times, not much to see. Not sure what he was going to learn, unless it was to one of the ones destroyed or damaged in Katrina, so he can see what happens when Mother Nature takes a whup ass to a platform.
Looks like Johnny Boy’s Straight Talk Express is turning into the SS Titanic.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pmJim Wilke Says:
Use your heads, haters. McCain was willing to go but the pilots said no.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:33 pm
IF that is true, then why didn’t the campaign just come out and say so? There would have been no shame in that, and McCain could have made another of his famous bad jokes and laughed it off. But they didn’t, did they Jim? This suggests to me that it wasn’t canceled because the pilots refused to fly.
But if you can find proof that it was the pilots who called it off, then I will be happy to read it and judge for myself.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:48 pmJim Wilke:
Soory ’bout that. I thought the point of our last discourse was pretty clear but you indicated that you didn’t understand so late me clarify.
I was not suggesting the pilots were direcing the entire national campaign. I was suggesting that there is no way a couple of pilots could “influence” the campaign that way unless there was something more. They didn’t call this…
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pmNo oil spills? Ok, so all that black goo on the beaches was fish poop?
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pmBuckie Boy Says:
No oil spills? Ok, so all that black goo on the beaches was fish poop?
No, it is fossilized dinosaur poop.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:52 pmWhat is a little blowback from a girl hurricane named Dolly to Macho-man McTough? Just bring along a few Navy patrol boats, some sailors, some emergency rubber rafts, a few of the rockets’ red flares and a few GPS signalers and she’ll be right, mate…
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:00 pmThat’s great Triplekick2:
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:07 pmSo the cumulative effect of all three must be just magical. So maybe we should find a source which dumps loses less than rigs and then we could keep going from there ala “for want of a nail”. Is that your point?
About a month (?) ago McCain shifted an NJ campaign shindig from Sandy Hook to Jersey City also because of “the weather”–though it was threatening rain, nothing like a hurricane.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:08 pmSandy Hook has a population of about 1,000 and it’s a pain in the arse to get to. He wanted to use the Coast Guard Station as the backdrop.
It would appear McCain picks his venues based first on how they will look–logistics are apparently tertiary.
I can understand why Johnny McNumbNuts wants to visit a drilling platform. After all, they are out as sea with mist in the air. What better way for him to camouflage the “flop sweat” he’s been suffering from lately.
Now, of course, he really doesn’t have to go to a drilling platform to figure out the solution to high energy prices. Today, the moron suggested that GDumbya’s lifting of the executive ban on off-shore drilling is the cause of the decline in oil prices we have seen over the past week.
Gee, Johnny. That’s all it took, huh? Just a little jaw-flapping from GDumbya. Gee, Johnny. Do you think that the reduction in demand from reduced consumption could have had anything remotely to do with it? Come on, Johnny. You’re a “free-market” conservative. Surely, you have an opinion on this.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:08 pmTripleKick 2 Says:
educate yourselves. Fact: more oil is leaked into the ocean from oil barges transporting foreign oil than fron rigs. Also more is leaked from planes dumping their fuel each year than from rigs.
Now TK is defending oil spills. Hmmm, why don’t your words make me feel better about the future livability of this planet?
Is there no earth changing, human induced ecological catastrophe that you would admit that is bad for our planet?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:10 pmtriplekick: “Also more is leaked from planes dumping their fuel each year than from rigs.”
Jet fuel is JP4 which is Kerosene which atomizes easily. It is in no way comparable to crude oil in it’s environmental impact in water. Educate yourself.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:12 pmoh and also that’s bollocks anyway. Jets don’t dump fuel unless they have an emergency.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:14 pmSo why are these planes dumping so much fuel anyway. I thought there was like this whole enrgy crisis stuff that requires that we drill all over the freakin’ place? Seems sort of stupid to just throw it out of jets.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:23 pmSo now they run jets on crude oil?
Or is 5th Estate’s point still valid because the current formulation of jet fuel atomizes easily and has negligible impact on water quality, as suggested?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pmRalph,
Here’s a link…for JP4…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JP-4
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:29 pmJim Wilke Says:
McDepends McNumbNuts Johnny Boy Macho-man McTough
McStupider
A regular Algonquin Round Table around here….
Care to offer one of your own? Seating for one?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pmJP-4 was replaced by JP-8 completed in 1995 by the USAF.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 pmYou don’t need a wheaterman to know the way the wind blows…
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 pmSuch a manly man…
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:44 pmTripleIck and Jim Wilke, Cheech and Chong, Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello?
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 pm“Where is that marvelous ape?”
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pmWow. Tough week for McCain. ;)
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:14 pmHmm, later news on Google.com suggests that this was a truly massive oil spill on the Mississippi River in Louisiana of an estimated 419,286 gallons of heavy No. 6 fuel oil.. The scenes of this oily mess would not do much for McOil’s touting of the supposed safety of drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Reality and truth seem to bite McGaffe in the butt on a daily basis now… Maybe it’s time for McOld to give up his GOP nomination and let Mittens have a go…
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 pmHi Jim Wilke:
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pmAre you really sure?
Jim Wilke Says:
I’m sure this was McCain’s fault somehow.
And absolutely dazzlingrepartee from Jimbo.
You were saying something about algonquin?
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 pmCome now Jim Wilke:
I offered you a reasoned discussion of idea of liberal bias. In the end you claimed to understand my point. I also offered you the chance to defend your idea that a bunch of pilots froze a national presidential campaign in its tracks. Seems there is plenty of opportunity for respectful discussion here.
I gave you my ideas about that liberal education, labor, media, etc., so how about sharing yours?
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:00 pmJim Wilke:
Damn I have to get a new keyboardist as this one screws up so! I apologize.
Please put the word “the” before liberal bias and the word “not” after claimed
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 pmMcSame might get a bit of oil or mud on his tie. I didn’t watch the corporate media tonight, so I doubt if any of the big 3 networks even mentioned the oil spill in the river. If anybody knows different please let us all know.
And whatever this irrelevant discussion on the media is, some of you are so new here, you don’t know a fact from your posterior region.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 pmWell it does point out that all those safety measures the GOP swears are in place are a fallacy, doesn’t it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 pmWe talk about substance when you’re not here. When a trolls around we prefer to express our opinion of him and then when he leaves we get back to business. Of course we do have private communication where we talk about you and the issues behind your back, loser.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 pmI’m beginning to see the pattern around here. TP passes off an opinion as fact, the usual suspects pile on with name-calling and cheerleading and no one talks about anything of substance.
I’m sure this was McCain’s fault somehow.
Substance? Perhaps you could point to it in this post.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 pm45. J Wilke - I wouldn’t blame it just on McCain.
However, I note that the number of regulators in various fields has dramatically decreased in the last 7 years and tugs are much more willing to assume that they won’t get caught.
Kind of like the high-profile food poisioning from tomatoes / jalapenos / spinach / etc. etc.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pmMcCain:” Offshore drilling is succeeding,is succeeding,is succeeding ,my dear friends..just like the Surge, my dear friends..”
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 pmHe does nothing then complains the media won’t cover it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 pmWhile it’s irrelevant to Johnny McSpin’s flip-flopping through EVERY SINGLE appearance…
I have a lifelong passion for anything that flies, and, (without bragging) I could write a thesis on virtually every man made flying craft ever built, it’s motive power, the people who built and flew it, and the rules and regulations regarding it’s flight.
I can reassure you all that since the introduction of computer regulated engine controls, computer fuel management, and new fuel tank deseigns, dumping fuel has become increasingly rare. They no longer need to overfill for most oversea flights. It’s pretty much an emergency procedure.
Ditto for military flights. Every time someone is forced to dump fuel they are forced to answer for it. It’s considered embarrassing unless there’s some legitimate safety concern. Obviously, they need to maintain larger margains when flying high performance military aircraft.
And I would also need independent confirmation that fuel dumped from airplanes has ever matched the incidental loss of CRUDE OIL from oil rigs. Jet fuel, of any “brand” including the boron boosted JP-7 “zip fuel” from the SR-71, is volatile. Most of CRUDE OIL is not. In short, refined fuel evaporates and CRUDE OIL lasts forever. The two can not be compared.
Back on topic:
I’m not even opposed to drilling beyond what’s planned in existing leased land. But I’m tired of being lied to about the “magic drilling plan”. All that one needs to do is look at any oil company’s web site under “Futre Drilling Projects” or something similar. Then ask yourself one question:
If the oil companies intended to invest in infrastrcture like new wells, pipelines, oil rigs, tankers, refineries etc; wouldn’t they have announced plans to build that infrastructure and increase utilization of existing leases?
I’ll say it again, ANWR and other protected areas are not going to supply “sweet” crude. The oil companies won’t go after our “sour” stuff until foreign “sweet” stuff is gone. If they had any other inention there would already be a well every fifty feet and a thousand brand new refineries.
Get this through your head trolls/harpies (look ‘em up if you missed the earlier reference). It doesn’t matter what anl politician signs away to the oil companies. If they had any intention of drilling extra wells they would be building infrastructure. They would not be hoarding cash while the getting is good. If you believe otherwise you’re a bigger fool than your Reichwing masters take you for. It’s just that effing simple.
P.S to the trolls/harpies.
Educate your miserable self!
July 24th, 2008 at 12:19 amI had heard that the trip to Louisiana to visit the oil rigs with Bobby Jindal never made it on Gov. Jindal’s calendar.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:48 amOh, and by the way, the hurricane was no where near the rigs off of Louisiana.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:55 amAnd, oh yeah, I do believe the oil tanker spill on the Mississippi River in New Orleans had something to do with his cancelling the trip that would be touting the “safety” of more drilling. The river is closed to traffic now and may be for days or weeks.
How’s that for economic impact?
Cry_Havoc Says:,
With that said, the only real way to lower our price, is to lower our price - why pay someone else for something we already have?
It don’t git stupiderer dan dat!! Morons like you are abundant…it’s smarts we need ’round here…
July 24th, 2008 at 7:34 pm