The Fox-industrial complex

John Lapoint, the president of a Maine company called Packgen, has been making the rounds in the media this week, complaining that BP and the federal government haven't purchased thousands of feet of oil boom that his company began manufacturing in the wake of the Gulf disaster.

Tonight, Lapoint appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. Hannity -- who declared the situation “frustrating” and said that “the blame goes to BP, and the blame goes to our government” -- demanded to know “why” BP and the Obama administration hadn't bought the boom.

Why?

Packgen, as we've noted, has reportedly never commercially manufactured booms before. They are also reportedly using a different design than the standard oil boom. Which is probably why BP reportedly "ordered a trial run of the product" rather than immediately buying up Packgen's entire inventory.

And tonight -- about an hour before Lapoint appeared on Hannity's infomercial -- ABC's Jake Tapper reported that the Coast Guard told him: “The boom manufactured by Packgen did not pass an initial quality control test.”

Oh, maybe that's why.