Oil Spill: "LA Wetlands Will Be Washed Away"

Had someone I know say he did not believe it when I mentioned Carville's comments on the oil leak. I knew he would not watch the video so I found the transcript here: Source: newsbusters.org...

A transcript of the May 26 segment, which aired at 7:06am EDT, follows:

"STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, the White House denies any political motivation here. But, immigration and this oil spill have become two, big political headaches for the administration. So, let's bring in our political strategist, James Carville, worked for Bill Clinton. Matthew Dowd, pollster for George W. Bush, also some Democrats, as well. And, James, let's begin with the oil spill. Last week, even though you're an ally of President Obama, you blasted the White House. Said it was a lackadaisical response, said they were naive for trusting BP. And you went on to say that this is a disaster of the first magnitude. They have got to go to Plan B. Are we seeing Plan B now?

JAMES CARVILLE: Man, I hope so, George. Because, the political stupidity is unbelievable. Here, you have a situation, where you have some working- 11 working- hard-working people, blown up as the result of corporate malfeasance and maybe criminal negligence, as a result of inept bureaucrats who were part of the- you can actually blame the previous administration for this. And the President doesn't get down here in the middle of this. This thing should be- his approval should be up seven points right now if he had come down. I have no idea of why they didn't seize this thing. I have no idea of why their attitude was so hands-off-y here. It's just unbelievable. Now, I hope he sees it now, because very seldom do you get good politics and the really the right thing to do. And that is to get involved here.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the President is going down on Friday. He's announcing these tighter new regulations on Thursday. Matthew Dowd, you lived through Katrina with President Bush. What we are seeing now, for the first time on this issue, a majority disapprove of how he's handling it. But, do you see this posing a Katrina-like threat, political threat to President Obama?

MATTHEW DOWD: Well, I think this incident that happened, the environmental disaster that happened, is another example for the American public that they can't trust corporations and big government to protect them. And I think ultimately, it will be a real political problem. It hasn't affected his numbers yet. But, James is right. In a disaster like this, his numbers should be going up. Not just staying stagnant. And, ultimately, I think the country right now is so frustrated on a lot of things. This is just another example where they say, "What is government doing? And what can they do well?" We have disasters. And we're seeming to be on Plan G "

STEPHANOPOULOS: But, let me ask both of you this: What more can the President do here? He didn't-

CARVILLE: George! George! George! The President of the United States could have come down here. He could have been involved with the families of these 11 people. He could have commandeered the things. We could have sent the Woods Hole people. He could have sent the Scripps on research vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. He could have implemented a plan in anticipation of this. You know, right, he can't exactly fill the hole up. Last night I was on Larry King, the CEO, the former CEO of the Shell. They said they got 85 percent of the stuff cleaned up in the Gulf of Saudi Arabia. He could be commandeering tankers and making BP bring tankers in and clean this up. They could the deploying people to the coast right now. He could be deploying people to the coast. He could be with the corps of engineers and the Coast Guard with these people in Plaquemines Parish, doing something about these regulations. These people are crying. They're begging for something down here. And it just looks like he's not involved in this! Man, you have got to get down here and take control of this! Put somebody in charge of this and get this thing moving! We're about to die down here! "
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The rest of the interview was about immigration matters.

Anyways, after seeing the article, the guy said nothing other than I'll be damn, Carville is a real Cajun.

Thanks for speaking up James. The country appreciates it.





[edit on 27-5-2010 by manta78]

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Are you refuting the fact that barrier islands (and specifically wetlands) act as protection for the coastline? I'd like to see some science behind that please.

Before you ignore my question and ask me for proof that they do: There is an equation for X number of miles of wetland/per ft of storm surge. Usually 2-4 linear miles to reduce the storm surge of 1 ft. citation

The 'chicken little' is mostly right.

(had to change who the post was addressed to)

[edit on 27-5-2010 by beaverg]

Originally posted by beaverg
reply to post by JohnPhoenix

 

Are you refuting the fact that barrier islands (and specifically wetlands) act as protection for the coastline? I'd like to see some science behind that please.

Before you ignore my question and ask me for proof that they do: There is an equation for X number of miles of wetland/per ft of storm surge. Usually 2-4 linear miles to reduce the storm surge of 1 ft. citation

The 'chicken little' is mostly right.

(had to change who the post was addressed to)

[edit on 27-5-2010 by beaverg]

I don't need any science.. I have seen too many hurricanes plow right over them without making enough of an impact. Many many times it doesn't slow the hurricane down. You can see this for yourself by watching satellite and radar feeds of hurricanes going over them. Sure, the do help break up the tidal surge, but they don't have the impact to keep a big hurricane from destroying the city, as the OP claims.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


You're right about that. They aren't "speed bumps" that cause the storm itself to lose "considerable energy". But we can't neglect the importance these wetlands play in reducing the distance a storm surge can penetrate the main coastline. I skimmed over the article so I missed the key words I put in quotes up there.