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Home Front: Politix
WH disappointed by oil spill: not enough dead birds
2010-05-20
Dominic Lawson, The Independent

Barack Obama's media advisers were quite distressed when the President travelled down to the Louisiana coastline last week to make his first on-the-spot statement about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Their distress was caused by what they didn't discover, rather than what they did. Despite their frantic requests, no photogenic dying oil-covered birds could be found to form a backdrop for the Presidential tirade as he weighed into BP.

The same fact – the oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon rig has not (yet) hit the coastline itself – presumably explains why the incident has not been big on the television news, for all the alarm and even hysteria that has been expressed. On a visual medium there is little enduring interest to be had in footage of oil floating on water – even if it is a lot of oil on a lot of water.
Posted by:Mike

#14  ION TOPIX > CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: OBAMA GUIDING THE [PCorrect-Deniable]DECLINE AND FALL OF AMERICAN POWER.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-05-20 23:53  

#13  Just remember, "The trouble with being infallible is that you have to deal with everyone else making mistakes."
Posted by: Guillibaldo Unusing2147   2010-05-20 19:09  

#12  That's high quality snark there, ed.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2010-05-20 18:26  

#11  I can see Rahm choking a few chickens. For O's photo op of course.
Posted by: ed   2010-05-20 16:15  

#10  Bambi can rant and rave all he wants about BP but the rig was approved by his administration.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2010-05-20 16:07  

#9  Well, Obumble has said he wants expensive energy. BP has played right into his hands. Reactionary, short term thinking sheep won't have an issue with the stoppage of exploration and drilling.
Posted by: Jefferson   2010-05-20 14:14  

#8  Thanks for that info Glenmore.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-05-20 13:47  

#7  Besoeker,
The BP well was not hooked up to produce and there was no test of its production capacity yet. I had heard guesstimates from semi-official sources of potential open flow capacity of 70,000 BOPD, and that would be in line with the best of the deep water wells (and far better than any shallow water US wells.) The BP well is certainly not flowing unconstrained, so the rate should be below that value. Could be flowing at the semi-official 5000 BOPD, or perhaps 2-3 times that --- I don't think anyone knows or can know. A good guess might be made by comparing underwater photos of the leak with the tube in it before and after sucking 2000 BOPD out through the tube.
Posted by: Glenmore   2010-05-20 13:36  

#6  #4 DO NOT send them in for a swim. It would take us years to get the scum off the water.
Posted by Deacon Blues


NO! Get a real feel! Swimming to the rig be good! Take ALL the press pogs as well. Don't forget to bring along your 48" Rigid pipe wrenches and fishing tools (ankle tied dummy cords). Never know when these items might come in handy. Recommend the 'buddy system' while swimming with the tools, they are a bit hefty.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-05-20 11:39  

#5  Crude oil and gas has oozed from the ocean depths since the beginning of time. Perhaps I missed it, but what was the daily production capacity (barrels per day) on that well BEFORE the accident? That could give a clue to roughly how much oil is being released. You Rantburg wildcat'rs correct me if I'm wrong.... again.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-05-20 11:31  

#4  DO NOT send them in for a swim. It would take us years to get the scum off the water.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2010-05-20 11:30  

#3  Or maybe the coast guard and BP are actually helping in keeping the worst of it off the beaches?

Either way, the fact that teh ONE wanted animals dying in a horrible way to make a political point against a company that made huge donations to him and is now being thrown under a political bus and being used for political points to prop up a incompetent president really shows just how slimy teh ONE is.

The faster he is driven out of Washington DC humiliated and scorned, the better.
Posted by: DarthVader   2010-05-20 09:23  

#2  Maybe send some of the staff in for a swim?

No one would have noticed a difference if Rhambo was coated a sheen of oil.
Posted by: Beavis   2010-05-20 09:09  

#1  no photogenic dying oil-covered birds could be found to form a backdrop for the Presidential tirade

So pay some of the locals to gather dead birds.

Or use dead chickens. With oil covering them, who'll know the difference? Certainly not your average media-folk...

Take a boat out to the oil-slick.

Maybe send some of the staff in for a swim?

C'mon - I thought of this before coffee. And this is supposed to be the smartest WH evah!
Posted by: Pappy   2010-05-20 08:30  

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