Offshore drilling agency refuses to send witness to Senate oil spill hearing
Yeah. That's showing all hands on deck...
Several MMS Officials were there. By the way, only three senators showed up.
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/updates_from_oil_rig_explosion_1.html
Lieberman was mad because the MMS Officials that showed up was not the one THEY wanted, because he's resigning.
Now, what do we know about this particular official?
He was appointed in 2007... which administration was that, again?
He's resigning amid scrutiny of safety inspections and mounting criticism of what Obama described as the agency's 'cozy relationship' with the energy industry.
You see, that's what's so insidious about Obama, he was hiring federal employees before he was ever sworn in! Hell, before there was even an election!
And if he'd been fired right off the bat in January of 2009, the right-wingers would have screamed "political motivated firing" and "Chicago Style Politics" to the high heavens. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
People know who to blame for this and it's not the guy pulling the car out of the ditch.
And Obama was on the record early on criticizing the agency for its "cozy relationship" with the industry. Contrast that with Bush's personal philosophy of letting various industries self-regulate.
These aren't political appointees who shift in and out with administrations. These are career bureaucrats who floated to the top of the septic tank gradually over a long time. It not like being the head of FEMA.
This would be solved by a simple new rule for Democratic presidents following a Republican president: fire everyone who works for the government, top to bottom. You just have to assume that the Republican president during his administration allowed the government to be infested by incompetent, crony-capitalists, hell-bent on lining the pockets of big business at the expense of the health, wealth and safety of the American public. Don't let there be any hold-outs because their incompetence will be held against you when they screw up. It's the political equivalent of nuking the site from orbit.
And for you right-wingers that fellate BP merely because it's a corporation... there was an excellent 60 Minutes piece on this from Sunday.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6490348n
Basically, the first well failed because they were rushed. BP pushed them on the second well, which they completed. BP then wanted to rush the capping of the well, transition said no. BP said they were in charge, so that's what they did. And that, along with an unreported problem and broken equipment, caused the explosion.
And you can keep repeating the "deck" comment, because it doesn't alter the fact that the administration responded immediately.
The Conservatives, of course, will brazenly shift the entirety of blame off BP/Transocean/Halliburton and onto the US Government.
More Bush malfeasance that will lead to more regulation.
You've made it easy for us, Conservatives. Thanks!
