NYT - this could be where the rethugs are getting this

[jillan]

BP Is Criticized Over Oil Spill, but U.S. Missed Chances to Act
snips -

BP officials said they did everything possible, but a review of the response suggests that it may be too simplistic to place all the blame on the oil company. The federal government also had opportunities to move more quickly, but did not do so while it waited for a resolution to the spreading spill from BP, which was leasing the drilling rig that exploded in flames on April 20 and sank two days later. Eleven workers were left missing and are presumed dead..

The Department of Homeland Security waited until Thursday to declare that the incident was “a spill of national significance,” and then set up a second command center in Mobile. The actions came only after the estimate of the size of the spill was increased fivefold to 5,000 barrels a day.

The delay meant that the Homeland Security Department waited until late this week to formally request a more robust response from the Department of Defense, with Ms. Napolitano acknowledging even as late as Thursday afternoon that she did not know if the Defense Department even had equipment that might be helpful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01gulf.html?hp

:(

[ProSense]

1. This isn't about federal response. This is a private company's failure.

Officials initially seemed to underestimate the threat of a leak, just as BP did last year when it told the government such an event was highly unlikely. Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry, the chief Coast Guard official in charge of the response, said on April 22, after the rig sank, that the oil that was on the surface appeared to be merely residual oil from the fire, though she acknowledged that it was unclear what was going on under the water. The day after, officials said that it appeared the well’s blowout preventer had kicked in and that there did not appear to be any oil emanating from the well, though they cautioned that it was not a guarantee.

BP officials, even after the oil leak was confirmed by using remote-controlled robots, expressed confidence that the leak was slow enough, and steps taken out in the Gulf of Mexico aggressive enough, that the oil would never reach the coast.

The comparisons to Katrina are utterly bogus.

Compare it to the Exxon Valdez, and BP needs to suffer the same fate.

[jillan]

2. I agree - I just hope this administration controls the message on this one. They did have the Coast

Guard out from day one.

I'm just pointing out what the NYT printed.

[phleshdef]

3. Also, what the hell could the government actually DO anyway?

This isn't a city that needs evacuated. This isn't a fire that can be put out. This isn't a terrorist that can apprehended or killed. What exactly is it that the government or BP or anyone could be doing or have done that isn't being done or wasn't done? I could be wrong, but I think the fact that an oil spill under these circumstances can't be controlled is a good reason not to drill offshore. But all that aside, I don't get what additional steps could be taken right now.

[ProSense]

6. The media trying hard to conflate disasters.

One of these things doen't belong:

Exxon Vadez, Katrina and BP

Does anyone remember Bush I getting grief for the federal response to the Exxon Valdez? Of course not.

Katrina and Bush's response have nothing remotely in common with an oil spill.

[Jennicut]

11. Bush I had no grief from the response to the Valdez spill but this is suddenly Obama's Katrina?

Something tells me there are people with certain agendas in the media and they are not against offshore drilling.

[Cha]

4. Private company's failure that now

wants to shift the blame with the help of the corporatemediawhoredom.

[jillan]

5. That's it - BP could be trying to transfer some of the blame to this administration.

Think about it - if you were a BP exec, you'd probably be looking for a scapegoat too.

As I posted above, I just hope they get ahead of this smear, and control the message for once.

[Cha]

7. Have you seen these?..

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/04/obama-administration-were-on-top-of-the-oil-slick.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8249833

[jillan]

8. Good - It would just make me sick

to see the msm get behind the wacko's talking points...which the msm does all the time. Whatever Palin or Cheney says, it's always the top story in the news. Not this time. BP needs to take all the blame for this....including hiring Halliburton.

[treestar]

9. I loathe those words "waited"

I get that on the job so much. As if people sat around "waiting." Anyone who'd use that term is someone for whom nothing is ever going to be good enough. No, they were not "waiting."

conservatives just suck. According to their views BP should take responsibility. And they would dare call someone on welfare "entitled." Here they are in essence saying BP is entitled to have to government make sure everything is safe for them.

[Phx_Dem]

10. ...

Adm. Thad W. Allen, the commandant of the Coast Guard, said Friday that he agreed the situation was catastrophic and could continue to unfold for up to three months, but he said he remained satisfied with his team’s response, saying that even if it had initially known that the leak was 5,000 barrels a day, the response would have been the same. “While it may not have been visible to the public, from the very start, we have been working this very hard,” he said.

Within a matter of hours of the report of the explosion, the Coast Guard had dispatched three cutters, four helicopters and a plane to the scene, helping to save 90 workers, including three critically injured ones who were sent by helicopter for emergency care.

“We have never tried so many different methods for a large spill on the surface as we have during this, and I have been doing oil spill response for 30 years,” Admiral Allen said.