"Drill more": Fox News figures respond to environmental catastrophe by calling for more drilling
In the wake of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, several Fox News hosts and contributors have responded by calling for a continuation -- and in some instances, an expansion -- of offshore drilling.
Fox hosts and contributors respond to drilling catastrophe by calling for drilling
Kristol suggests drilling "closer in, which is probably less dangerous." On the May 3 broadcast of Fox News Sunday Fox News contributor Bill Kristol said: "Look, it was a bad accident. But the fact is, I think we get something like one third of our domestic oil from the Gulf - from offshore drilling in the Gulf. We need it. We can't cut back on it. Incidentally, if we hadn't stopped closer in drilling after the Santa Barbara accident forty years ago and we've had these congressional restrictions until 2008 for forty years, we'd have a lot more drilling closer in which is probably less dangerous, less treacherous than trying to drill fifty miles from the coast." Kristol also suggested "on-shore drilling" in ANWR, and added, "I'm a drill, baby, drill, person."
Bolling: "Drill here, drill now ...drill, baby, drill" On the April 30 broadcast of Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor, Fox Business host and Fox News contributor Eric Bolling suggested that the "six dollar, seven dollar diesel fuel" is "more harmful" for fishermen than the oil spill and said: "We need to drill here, drill now, and hey, drill, baby, drill."
Asman says "the answer" is we need to "drill more," tells environmental "hypocrites" to "shut up." On the April 30 edition of Fox Business' America's Nightly Scoreboard, host David Asman announced he was "sick" of "environmentalists living the good life while lecturing the rest of us about how we're all a bunch of selfish oil little piggies." He added: "The bottom line is we need oil. And we will for some time, and the only way to prevent us from getting stuck on foreign oil is to drill more domestically. It's a messy business, but it beats most of the alternatives for now. And until someone comes up with something better, the answer is now as it was before the awful spill in Louisiana: drill more."
Perino suggests continuing "very safe" offshore drilling. On the May 3 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Dana Perino said that we have "very safe offshore oil drilling," adding, "look how much is down there, if it was safe and we were able to harness it."
Palin posts Facebook note titled "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe." In a note posted to her Facebook page on April 30th, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin wrote: "I repeat the slogan 'drill here, drill now' not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills -- my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America's domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation."
Fox News has long history of aggressively advocating for offshore drilling
As Media Matters has noted, Fox News has fervently advocated for offshore drilling. Its activism has includled promoting Sarah Palin's "drill, baby, drill" mantra and pushing myths suggesting that drilling is environmentally safe. Notably, Glenn Beck has repeatedly touted offshore drilling, including claiming that "if you really cared about the environment, you would let us drill for our own oil," and Newt Gingrich is the author of Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less: A handbook for slashing gas prices and solving our energy crisis (Regnery Press, 2008).
Earlier this week, William Kristol's BRILLIANT observation: "offshore drilling is quite safe, “and very environmentally clean, except where there is a disaster like this" should earn him a Master's Degree in the obvious.
When something goes wrong, this same group of "experts" unleash a nonstop torrent of blame on the Obama administration before moving on to their next half-baked "idea."
Maybe its time Fox put their money where their collective mouth is...Fox, I challenge you to underwrite insurance for all these rigs...if they are safe and the Oil companies are honest, no problem. If there's a disaster, Fox picks up the tab. What do you say, Mr. "We're balanced"?
And then, on top of that, there's the confusion that your side seems to have that money given to different people has an equal impact with those different people, and it doesn't.
Republicans lean towards supporting big business, and money from those companies make them lean even MORE in that direction.
Democrats lean AWAY from supporting big business, and money from those companies stop them from leaning even MORE away from their direction!
You're lying to yourself if you think BP didn't have influence in this administration. To add fuel to the fire, Barry said "Wall street is just like main street". This guy is cozing up to big business faster than any president I've ever seen.
Keep your head in the sand. We're counting on it come November.
Fox News is no different. The more outrageous and controversial they are, the more views and people like us giving them free publicity. The rest of world considers Murdock's media about as credible as we consider the National Inquirer.
Glenn Beck is even on record in Forbes that he is only in it for the money, doesn't "give a flip about politics" and anybody that ":takes what he says at face value is an idiot."
Sheer genius. So, he thinks that oil companies skipped over the low handing fruit to drill 50 miles off shore just for the heck of it?
However, this well was being drilled to tap a new field, a field that wasn't available in shallower water!
Sure! And since that worked so well, let's invade Iran and Yemen and who knows what else. It's not like Rupert's puppets will be putting their own behinds on the line.
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Unless action is taken, it does not.
Too bad the greedy oil companies and drilling companies and the Bush Administration didn't understand this in the early part of this decade when they were looking into whether or not to mandate the use of that redundant shut-off valve!
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I say,
Solar, Wind and Geothermal NOW,
Solar, Wind and Geothermal TOMORROW,
Solar, Wind and Geothermal FOREVER.