Republicans, media annoyed by attempts to blame Bush

[ProSense]

HAS ACCOUNTABILITY BEEN DEEMED IMPOLITE?....

The name of the game is, "Talk about the oil spill disaster without implicating the Bush administration in any way, ever." Kate Sheppard reports on some of the latest efforts to play the game effectively.

The Obama administration has faced harsh criticism for its oversight of offshore oil and gas development in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The most absurd commentary, of course, comes from Republicans who have consistently pushed back against any attempts to regulate industry for years. The administration has been fighting back, but no one wants to actually call the problem by its name: the Bush administration.

At a House hearing Wednesday, Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) accused Salazar of "harping on what MMS did or didn't do in the previous administration. "Why aren't we talking about the here and now?" asked Lamborn.

Salazar shot back about the efforts they've taken to reform the beleaguered agency. "Unlike the prior administration, this is not the candy store for the oil and gas kingdom that you and others were a part of," he deadpanned.

Lamborn's question for Salazar was almost comical. "Why aren't we talking about the here and now?" Well, we are. And in the here and now, we're dealing with some of the consequences of the Bush administration's corruption, incompetence, and mismanagement. It's not some academic or partisan exercise -- the line between Bush/Cheney-era policies and today's nightmares is straight and direct.

But apparently no one is supposed to mention this. Blaming Bush/Cheney for their own administration's spectacular failures has been deemed ... rude. Uncouth. Downright uncivilized.

At yesterday's White House press conference, CBS News' Chip Reid sounded downright annoyed by efforts to connect Bush-era corruption and mismanagement to the mess -- not because the efforts were wrong, but because the statute of political limitations had apparently run out.

<...>

Sheppard added:

...Republican badgering of the administration over the issue is fairly absurd. Fixing the troubled agency was one of the very first things Salazar sought to address after taking office, announcing a restructuring of MMS's royalty-in-kind program, calling for a Justice Department investigation, and instating a new conduct code for the agency in the first days after taking office.

The Obama Department of Interior could have done more, of course, to improve the beleaguered agency. But the root of this is still the one name they won't say: George W. Bush.

I suspect the right wants to make discussion of Bush/Cheney off limits for one inescapable reason: the truth hurts.

[Bok_Tukalo]

1. Well, to be fair .....

Bush already has a Katrina.

[Cha]

13. bush has more than Katrina to take responsibility for. nt

[NJmaverick]

2. Isn't it Republican media rather than Republicans, media?

[phleshdef]

3. Unlike the prior administration, this is not the candy store for the oil and gas kingdom that you..

others were a part of.

Nicely done Ken. Nicely done.

[Johnyawl]

8. Well done, indeed, Mr. Salazar!

I'm a big fan of slapping a republican HARD with the truth, when they run off at the mouth.

Harry Truman: "I don't give the republicans hell, I just tell the truth and they think it's hell!" the more things change...

[smoogatz]

4. k/r

[craigmatic]

5. I blame bush too he was the one comfortable with the oil industry.

Obama's hands got oil on them too but not as much as bush and his repub cronies.

[felinetta]

6. Repigs never want to show how we got to where we are because they are all guilty.

[butterfly77]

7. This morning Fred Thompson was on

cspan's washington journal whining about Dems blaming bush..

[ProSense]

9. Amazing, isn't it? n/t

[old mark]

11. Wow! They pulled out the intellectual "BIG GUN" of the GOP!!! NT

[Cha]

14. 'Cause we all know bushcheney poll points were down in the

toilet because he was such a competant guy.

fred thompson is a neanderthal.

[4lbs]

10. Yeah, we surely wouldn't want to blame BushCo, except for the fact that nearly everything that

happened to lead to this disaster stemmed from decisions and events that occurred from 2001 to 2008.

[Cha]

12. No "attempts" needed ..facts are facts..I don't

care how much the gNOp corporatemediawhore propaganda machine doesn't like them.

[givemebackmycountry]

15. Gee, don't you know the thing that makes America great is that...

NO Republican EVER does anything wrong EVER?
Only LIBERAL COMMIES commit crimes and wrongdoings, because they HATE America and they hate our troops.
Jesus!
How many times do I need to explain this to you people?


:sarcasm: