“In times of crisis, you get a public reaction that is incoherence on stilts. On the one hand, most people know that the government is not in the oil business. They don't want it in the oil business. They know there is nothing a man in Washington can do to plug a hole a mile down in the gulf. On the other hand, they demand that the president 'take control.' They demand that he hold press conferences, show leadership, announce that the buck stops here and do something. They want him to emote and perform the proper theatrical gestures so they can see their emotions enacted on the public stage. They want to hold him responsible for things they know he doesn't control. Their reaction is a mixture of disgust, anger, longing and need. It may not make sense. But it doesn't make sense that the country wants spending cuts and doesn't want cuts, wants change and doesn't want change.” PoliticsEmotionObamaVox PopuliDeepwater Horizon Oil Spill Author:David Brooks
“Hey, the ubiquitous Leak-Cam is to 2010 as the bottom-of-the-screen news ticker was to late 2001: What you're seeing beneath the news anchor or talking head may not actually include any new information, but you feel like you're watching something dramatic.” HumourNewsDeepwater Horizon Oil Spill Author:Jim Geraghty
“Some people are just quitters, man they just give up, and the rest of us are dreamers without any luck.” InspirationFailureHomosexualityDeepwater Horizon Oil SpillRevive The Love Spells Author:Danny Aspinall
“Drilling without thinking has of course been Republican party policy since May 2008. With gas prices soaring to unprecedented heights, that's when the conservative leader Newt Gingrich unveiled the slogan 'Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less'—with an emphasis on the now. The wildly popular campaign was a cry against caution, against study, against measured action. In Gingrich's telling, drilling at home wherever the oil and gas might be—locked in Rocky Mountain shale, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and deep offshore—was a surefire way to lower the price at the pump, create jobs, and kick Arab ass all at once. In the face of this triple win, caring about the environment was for sissies: as senator Mitch McConnell put it, 'in Alabama and Mississippi and Louisiana and Texas, they think oil rigs are pretty'. By the time the infamous 'Drill Baby Drill' Republican national convention rolled around, the party base was in such a frenzy for US-made fossil fuels, they would have bored under the convention floor if someone had brought a big enough drill.” EnvironmentEmploymentTexasSlogansEnvironmentalismMississippiLouisianaAlabamaPolitical CampaignAnti IntellectualismArabs2008Fossil FuelsRocky MountainsUnited States SenateDeepwater Horizon Oil SpillPetroleum IndustryNewt GingrichRepublican Party UsArctic National Wildlife RefugeDrilling RigsMitch McconnellOil Wells2008 In United States2008 RncAnti ArabismDrill Baby DrillMay 2008Natural Gas PricesOffshore DrillingOffshore Oil Gas In UsOil PlatformsOil RigsRepublican National ConventionShale GasShalesUs Offshore Drilling Debate Author:Naomi Klein
“There wasn't even enough meat to make proper fun of [....] I keep waiting for somebody else to come on TV, maybe a cabinet member, to read the real speech, the one that tells us ... I dunno ... stuff. Seriously, sorority girls have done the Walk of Shame home from frat parties feeling more satisfied.” PoliticsUnited StatesObamaSpeeches2010Deepwater Horizon Oil SpillFratsSororities Author:Stephen Green
“Everybody is comparing the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina, but the real parallel could be the Iranian hostage crisis. In the late 1970s, the hostage crisis became a symbol of America's inability to take decisive action in the face of pervasive problems. In the same way, the uncontrolled oil plume could become the objective correlative of the country's inability to govern itself.” United StatesHurricane KatrinaDeepwater Horizon Oil SpillIran Hostage Crisis Author:David Brooks