Considering the devastation that BP has caused, it’s not surprising that the company is unpopular. But a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll reveals just how low the company’s favorability ratings have plummeted — below O.J. Simpson’s and approaching those of individuals our nation has gone to war against:
Indeed, the poll shows that only 6 percent have a favorable rating of BP. In the history of the NBC News/Journal poll, Saddam Hussein (3 percent), Fidel Castro (3 percent) and Yasser Arafat (4 percent) have had lower favorable scores, and O.J. Simpson (11 percent) and tobacco-maker Philip Morris (15 percent) have had higher ratings.
Despite this historic level of disapproval, conservatives continue to make excuses for the foreign oil giant. Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-TX) infamous apology to BP executives highlighted the fact that 115 Republican Congressmen agreed that the $20 billion escrow fund to help Gulf families is a “shakedown.” Meanwhile, the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol warned Sunday, “It’s not healthy for the country…for the President to bully” BP, and just two days ago, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) praised a right-wing columnist’s argument that the escrow fund could somehow lead to a Nazi-like dictatorship.
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