Good grief -- Charles Krauthammer blames the Gulf disaster on environmentalists

[Blue_In_AK]

Can this guy possibly be serious??

http://townhall.com/columnists/CharlesKrauthammer/2010/05/28/whose_blowout_is_it,_anyway

WASHINGTON -- Heres my question: Why are we drilling in 5,000 feet of water in the first place?

Many reasons, but this one goes unmentioned: Environmental chic has driven us out there. As production from the shallower Gulf of Mexico wells declines, we go deep (1,000 feet and more) and ultra deep (5,000 feet and more), in part because environmentalists have succeeded in rendering the Pacific and nearly all the Atlantic coast off-limits to oil production. (President Obama's tentative, selective opening of some Atlantic and offshore Alaska sites is now dead.) And of course, in the safest of all places, on land, weve had a 30-year ban on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

So we go deep, ultra deep -- to such a technological frontier that no precedent exists for the April 20 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

There will always be catastrophic oil spills. You make them as rare as humanly possible, but where would you rather have one: in the Gulf of Mexico, upon which thousands depend for their livelihood, or in the Arctic, where there are practically no people? All spills seriously damage wildlife. Thats a given. But why have we pushed the drilling from the barren to the populated, from the remote wilderness to a center of fishing, shipping, tourism and recreation?

Not that the environmentalists are the only ones to blame. Not by far. But it is odd that theyve escaped any mention at all.

<snip>

There's more if you can stand it. My head has exploded.

[EFerrari]

1. You know, I found an old newspaper we saved from a time the Giants won

the pennant -- maybe in the late 80s. CK had a column in it. He was an idiot way back then, too.

[ejpoeta]

2. environmentalists that don't want the drilling at all? they are to blame???

this guy's got balls.

[AnArmyVeteran]

9. If he does have balls they are most likely being ingested by another tea bagger...

Only cowards like CK can write such garbage attacking people who are trying to make our country and world a better place. CK was also for both of Bush's Wars, eagerly going to war against a non-existent enemy and adding a trillion dollar debt that will be dumped on the poorest in our nation.

[Turbineguy]

3. Ridiculous

That guy is filled with shit.

[izquierdista]

4. Krautkopf is more like it

I've had better conversations with a turnip.

[indepat]

7. Krauty-boy would do the Nazis proud imv

:P

[Mimosa]

5. Mr. Potter (It's a Wonderful Life) married Dr. Strangelove and Krauthammer is the spawn! n/t

[Bragi]

6. It's like how the peace movement causes wars /nt

[Solomon]

8. Usual pattern. Hannity started it first, blaiming the

environmentalists, then people like this ass pick it up and try to legitimaize it. That's how their factory works. Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity say something outrageous, then these guys come along and try to make it mainstream.

[chillspike]

10. Krauthammer forgot to mention

that in order to drill ANYWHERE oil companies have to convince federal and state governments that it is safe. These oil companies wouldn't be drilling anywhere without GIVING safety assurances. Now to say, "Well, we only had the disaster because environmentalists wouldn't let us drill close to shore or on land" is crying wolf and a little bit too late, I might add. The whole reason they got to drill in deep water in the first place was because they convinced somebody it was safe to do.

I'm calling bullshit on Krauthammer and the oil companies who said it was safe to drill in deep water. The truth is, they will say it's safe to drill anywhere we let them. That's why we shouldn't trust these fuckers and we should phase out oil drilling.

[Bitwit1234]

11. People you should know by now

there is a damn one of the republicans who have 1/10th of a brain in their head. So I just ignore their opinions and keep remembering the truth.

[jillan]

12. Even IF this was true - it still doesn't give BP an excuse for NOT taking care of their equipment or

knowing what to do incase this happened.

BP knew they were going to drill in the deep water, they are responsible for knowing what they are doing REGARDLESS of the reason why they have to drill in the deep water in the first place.

Nice try Charlie....this is one of the most stupid things I ever heard.:crazy:

[Jade Fox]

13. Limbaugh said the same thing.....

Clearly this is a right-wing talking point that has been distributed.

[SOS]

14. It's an old tactic

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

-Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda

[corpseratemedia]

15. environmentalists don't approve of offshore drilling at all precisely because of the consequences he

mentions


what an insane argument he has

[saras]

16. OK, if you ask

Why? Because we're incorrigibly stupid greedy bastards who didn't get the message back in the seventies when the environmentalists first told us we have to knock off this stupid shit before something bad happens.

It's like saying the reason you rape four-year-olds is that older people can defend themselves.

[Swamp Rat]

17. 'Environmental chic' = the next corporatist meme

"But it is odd that theyve escaped any mention at all. " - Now watch his readers follow this red herring right into a plume of Krauthammer Krude in the Gulf of Mexico.

[chill_wind]

18. Well that's a twist, I suppose, on a recurring delusion. There were some garden variety wingnuts

who actually tried to push their suspicion in the first few days that there was an Obama plot to have "enviros" sabatage the rig -- to reverse public opinion on off-shore drilling.

Fortunately, it was an idea that seemed to die a fairly quick death, but Krauthammer's still trying to ping them any way he can, it sound like.

[JackRiddler]

19. He's wrong about everything, but one thing stands out.

"There will always be catastrophic oil spills."

Nope. Before this century is out, there will be no oil spills. Either because we wised up, or because it ran out. We might still be causing catastrophic but routine water poisoning through the use of shale oil.

[Rex]

20. This is a privileged Weekly Standard idiot that wouldn't know

the truth if it walked up and slapped him in the face. I get so tired of these Rwing freaks, why do they hate America so much?

[JCMach1]

21. Idiot! They go deep because that's where most of the oil still is...

on the fringes of what our technology can do.