Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Left Wing Demagoguery

Olbermann and others on the left have been hyperventilating about a BP memo discovered recently which "discloses that they were lying about the amount of oil leaking" from the blown-out well in the Gulf. It is claimed that, rather than the 1000 barrels per day, later revised to 5000 bpd, and then higher yet, the memo shows that they knew that it was actually 100,000 barrels per day from the beginning. What the memo actually says,

A BP estimate made after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon noted that as much as 100,000 barrels per day could leak into the ocean if the blowout preventer and wellhead were removed, a higher worst-case scenario than previously reported.

[Emphasis mine.] That's a little different than "they knew that it was actually 100,000 barrels per day from the beginning."

I have no problem with criticism of BP, in general or for their actions with respect to the Deepwater Horizon and its aftermath, but there are plenty of legitimate arguments to be made against them. Making stuff up is just not needed, and I dislike demagoguery as much from the left as I do when it comes from the right.

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