BP: Public Enemy #1

[carpro]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...nt-pet-BP-now-a-capitalist-tool-95942659.html

Once a government pet, BP now a capitalist tool

By: Timothy P. Carney
Examiner Columnist
June 9, 2010

As BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig was sinking on April 22, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was on the phone with allies in his push for climate legislation, telling them he would soon roll out the Senate climate bill with the support of the utility industry and three oil companies — including BP, according to the Washington Post.

Kerry never got to have his photo op with BP chief executive Tony Hayward and other regulation-friendly corporate chieftains. Within days, Republican co-sponsor Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., repudiated the bill following a spat about immigration, and Democrats went back to the drawing board.

But the Kerry-BP alliance for an energy bill that included a cap-and-trade scheme for greenhouse gases pokes a hole in a favorite claim of President Obama and his allies in the media — that BP’s lobbyists have fought fiercely to be left alone. Lobbying records show that BP is no free-market crusader, but instead a close friend of big government whenever it serves the company’s bottom line.

While BP has resisted some government interventions, it has lobbied for tax hikes, greenhouse gas restraints, the stimulus bill, the Wall Street bailout, and subsidies for oil pipelines, solar panels, natural gas and biofuels.

Now that BP’s oil rig has caused the biggest environmental disaster in American history, the Left is pulling the same bogus trick it did with Enron and AIG: Whenever a company earns universal ire, declare it the poster boy for the free market

As Democrats fight to advance climate change policies, they are resorting to the misleading tactics they used in their health care and finance efforts: posing as the scourges of the special interests and tarring “reform” opponents as the stooges of big business.

Expect BP to be public enemy No. 1 in the climate debate

 

[saturneptune]

Certainly, BP is part of the problem, and should be held accountable for the damage. However, there is plenty of blame to go around. Go back a few decades when drilling was in shallower water, and much more accessible. Enter the bleeding heart environmentalists. So, drilling is moved deeper and deeper. Too bad the technology to fix an emergency did not keep up the the environmentalists demands.

There is nothing wrong, absolutely nothing, with programs to keep water, air, and the environment clean. What is wrong is when it becomes a political agenda with no common sense or regard to working people making a living. With a little common sense, both could exist quite comfortably together. However, this is not good enough for the wackos. Our technology in this area has made rapid advances such as the burning of coal.

I will guarantee you, if the extremists could shut down all oil and gas production, they would scream the loudest when they could not fill up their cars at the pump.

 

[just-want-peace]

Certainly, BP is part of the problem, and should be held accountable for the damage. However, there is plenty of blame to go around. Go back a few decades when drilling was in shallower water, and much more accessible. Enter the bleeding heart environmentalists. So, drilling is moved deeper and deeper. Too bad the technology to fix an emergency did not keep up the the environmentalists demands.

There is nothing wrong, absolutely nothing, with programs to keep water, air, and the environment clean. What is wrong is when it becomes a political agenda with no common sense or regard to working people making a living. With a little common sense, both could exist quite comfortably together. However, this is not good enough for the wackos. Our technology in this area has made rapid advances such as the burning of coal.

I will guarantee you, if the extremists could shut down all oil and gas production, they would scream the loudest when they could not fill up their cars at the pump.

Emphasis mine

A great big 7 fold AMEN to the above!!

 

[abcgrad94]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...nt-pet-BP-now-a-capitalist-tool-95942659.html
Lobbying records show that BP is no free-market crusader, but instead a close friend of big government whenever it serves the company’s bottom line.

Now that BP’s oil rig has caused the biggest environmental disaster in American history, the Left is pulling the same bogus trick it did with Enron and AIG: Whenever a company earns universal ire, declare it the poster boy for the free market

Expect BP to be public enemy No. 1 in the climate debate

So, looks like it's BP's turn to get thrown under the bus. Surprise, surprise. I wonder who will be next.

 

[carpro]

So, looks like it's BP's turn to get thrown under the bus. Surprise, surprise. I wonder who will be next.

Anyone that liberals believe will help advance their anti-American agenda.

 

[Matt Black]

The irony is that, despite the 'B' in BP, it is in reality Anglo-American; 39% of its shareholders are American- that's US retirement funds Obama is threatening with his call for BP to withold their dividend. He's playing a dangerous game IMO...

 

[ccrobinson]

Turning somebody, anybody, into public enemy #1 is a strength of President Obama. He's not the only one who does this, nor did the practice originate with him, he's just perfecting it.

 

[HankD]

BP: Public Enemy #1

Wait a minute!

What happened, I thought "W" was the left's public enemy # 1.

HankD

 

[ccrobinson]

I thought "W" was the left's public enemy # 1.

He may be back sooner than we think. Some high ranking Brits are speaking out against Obama coming down so hard on BP, so I expect we'll see Obama cave in to them in the next few days and soften his rhetoric against BP.

 

[carpro]

Wait a minute!

What happened, I thought "W" was the left's public enemy # 1.

HankD

No. Just Obama Scapegoat #1.

 

[Robert Snow]

There is another side to the story.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36783.html

"During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records."

Along with this, there's also this:

"The top congressional recipients of BP campaign cash include Republican Rep. Don Young of the oil-intensive Alaska delegation, who has received almost as much as Obama, raking in $73,300 during his congressional tenure. Also on the list is Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), whose state has a BP refinery in Toledo and who has raked in $41,400. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has received $44,899."

Then there's this:

"BP has also evolved in its corporate giving over the past decade, shifting more money to Democrats. In 2000, the company gave almost 39 percent more to Republicans than to Democrats. But by 2008, Democrats had nearly pulled even with Republicans on BP donations."

These corporations give to both parties, and they usually give more to the party in charge at the moment.

 

[poncho]

So, looks like it's BP's turn to get thrown under the bus. Surprise, surprise. I wonder who will be next.

We'll all be under the same bus then, because we . . . the American taxpayers will once again foot the bill to bailout yet another transnational corporation.

"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there"

Mind you now a "republican" said this.

SOURCE

 

[billwald]

BP isn't operating any differently than the "robber barons" of the last century. BP is using the American political and economic system against the rest of us, just as the Libertarian and Republican parties advocate.

The interesting news . . . the Brits are angry at the US press for calling it BRITISH Petroleum. Their queen will still come out of it as the 2nd richest person in the world.

 

[Matt Black]

We're slightly bemused more than irritated by the 'British' bit, since no-one here has called it 'British' for aeons, just 'BP' and, as I've already pointed out, it's a largely Anglo-American-owned concern.