Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Michele Bachmann Defends British Petroleum, Attacks Escrow Designed To Help Victims

Patrick Caldwell for The Minnesota Independent wrote an interesting piece about Michele Bachmann today discussing her criticism of the proposed escrow account to handle damage claims against British Petroleum.

"The president just called for creating a fund that would be administered by outsiders, which would be more of a redistribution-of-wealth fund," said Bachmann at a Heritage Foundation luncheon in Washington, DC.

Again, I would like to point out that it is British Petroleum that we are talking about, so how exactly is it a redistribution of wealth to make a foreign company pay for the damages they caused to American territory and citizens' livelihoods?

If you are wondering who exactly Bachmann represents, the answer is Big Oil.  Bachmann went on to defend British Petroleum:
They shouldn’t have to be fleeced and make chumps to have to pay for perpetual unemployment and all the rest — they’ve got to be legitimate claims.
The other thing we have to remember is that Obama loves to make evil whatever company it is that he wants to get more power from. He makes them evil, and what we’ve got to ask ourselves is: Do we really want to be paying $9 for a gallon of gas? Because that could be the final result of this.
She also mentioned that she supported raising the liability of cap on the company - how is that any different from creating an escrow account to help administer funds for damage claims?  What good would raising the liabilty cap be if the company were to declare bankruptcy.  At least in an escrow account, the money would be set aside.  See, Bachmann believes that all those people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Texas are just shit out of luck if the damages caused by the oil rig kills their business, because obviously they didn't try harder to find work.  She would rather the British company get to keep their money and not pay out any claims to hardworking Americans.  

Bachmann is beginning to sound less like an American and more like the British.  In the Daily Express on Friday, Padraic Flanagan wrote the cover story titled "Obama Is Killing All Our Pensions" and writes that "his rants against BP are a disgrace."  Flanagan accused the president of keeping hush in regards to the other American companies involved in the incident - Haliburton and Transocean.  Flanagan does indicate that under American law, British Petoleum is the "responsible party" for the "leak, containment and clean-up," and during congressional hearings that featured executives from all three companies, Obama criticized all three of the companies, but Flanagan also believes that America is playing favoritism - Haliburton and Transocean insist they are not to blame and have received less negative publicity.

I'm sure every guilty party will get their just deserts when this is all said and done.

Even before Obama's speech, Bachmann attacked the administration's response to the disaster, claiming all they have done is talk about themselves and point fingers, and then she feared that the president may try to buy out British Petroleum.  "I hope the president isn’t going to send the signals now that he believes the United States should be equity owner in BP,” Bachmann said. “That would be the wrong signal to send."

Looks like Bachmann found a way to work in that whole socialism talking point from the far right, too.  Just check out what they are saying over at Fox News about this - Fox and Friends guest Stuart Varney claimed the escrow account was "Hugo Chavez-like" and Steve Doocy claimed it was a government seizure of private assets, despite being established through negotiationa with British Petroleum and managed by an "independent trustee."

The right-wing loves to revisit old themes because they can't seem to come up with a solution.  Look at Bachmann's statements against Obama, in which she stated that he had not been able to find ways around buerocratic obstacles like "MMS permits, EPA studies and the Jones Act," but has she?  After all, Bachmann is an elected representative of the United States...

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