Yesterday, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) appeared on the Fox Business Network to discuss President Bush’s announcement that he would lift the executive order banning offshore oil drilling — which Domenici hailed as “wonderful news.” After explaining to Fox host Elizabeth MacDonald why he had called Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) a “chicken” — “That’s the best word I could come up with” — Domenici launched into a passionate exhortation to expand offshore drilling.
Domenici’s rationale for drilling was so error-filled, however, that MacDonald was forced to repeatedly correct him, starting with the oft-cited issue of hurricane-caused oil spills:
MACDONALD: We saw with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, a lot of oil spills occurred on those oil platforms –
DOMENICI: Not so! Not so! Don’t em give you that baloney. There were none!
MACDONALD: No, there were 124.
Next, Domenici cited conservatives’ favorite boogeyman, Chinese drilling off of Cuba:
MACDONALD: And you know what I think is upsetting a lot of Americans too is the idea that China owns leases off of Cuba. It’s not just China, it’s Vietnam, it’s Spain. But even though they’re not drilling yet –
DOMENICI: Sure they are!
MACDONALD: They haven’t started drilling yet.
Yet Domenici’s errors didn’t dissuade the Fox anchor, who invited the senator back to the network to keep “about telling the truth”:
DOMENICI: We ought to go through because they’re not telling the truth, there’s no risk, it ought to be done.
MACDONALD: We’re about telling the truth on this network, and that’s why we want you to come back.
Watch it:
Domenici received $197,058 from Big Oil between 2002-2007. In fact, Domenici’s lifetime contributions from the oil and natural gas — totalling nearly $750,000 — rank him fifth among the current Senate’s largest energy sector recipients.
Transcript:
MACDONALD: You got into a bit of chicken fight with Sen. Harry Reid. You called him a chicken. … Why did you call Sen. Reid a chicken?
DOMENICI: That’s the best word I could come up with when I heart a reporter say he just told us he was not going to let you vote on the offshore — on taking the moratorium offshore. … and I’ve said he’s got to be a chicken, because the reason he won’t let us is because we’d win! The American people aren’t stupid; they want what’s theirs. [...]
MACDONALD: We saw with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, a lot of oil spills occurred on those oil platforms –
DOMENICI: Not so! Not so! Don’t em give you that baloney. There were none!
MACDONALD: No, there were 124.
DOMENICI: Yes, but do you know how many serious oil spills occurred because of the outer water continental shelf drilling, the big kind that are on platforms, the kind we do today? None. Zero.
MACDONALD: I hear what you’re saying. So zero off of there. And you know what I think is upsetting a lot of Americans too is the idea that China owns leases off of Cuba. It’s not just China, it’s Vietnam, it’s Spain. But even though they’re not drilling yet –
DOMENICI: Sure they are!
MACDONALD: They haven’t started drilling yet, but they own the leases, the idea that we own oil-producing properties off-shore. We should get right at it to bring gas prices down. How long will it take though to bring this oil online?
DOMENICI: Look m’am, here’s the thing. When the world judges what’s happening in the oil availability; if they see that the united STates of America has made a decision, the giant has come awake and said let’s allow drilling, we’re the best drillers in the world, we have the best outer continental shelf, we’re doing it for other people in the world. When they see we’re doing it for ourselves, it’s going to have a positive impact on America
MACDONALD: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Senator, thank you so much. I would love it if you could come back and talk to us again and let us know what is going on with the energy legislation making its way through the House.
DOMENICI: I’d like to come back on this issue. We ought to go through because they’re not telling the truth, there’s no risk, it ought to be done.
MACDONALD: We’re about telling the truth on this network, and that’s why we want you to come back.
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