Gulf Oil Spill: Cover-up?

[ssj4wolverine]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100603082.html

I'm not sure what to believe in this scenario.

MSNBC and CNN had actual visual footage of the spill being larger than estimated and lasting longer than reported, so I always figured they were low-balling it, and I doubt too many other people believed these crazy low figures that the media sold to us during the first weeks of the spill either..

What I don't get, is why (if true), the White House would feel the need to sugar coat it.

I don't see what they (the WH officials) would have to gain, by fudging the numbers.

If it's actually a larger spill, blame BP and those contractors. Simple as that. The spill was their fault, not this Administration's, so why the (possible) cover-up?

[Craig Reade]

Honestly, I think this is a lot of spin. There is a political agenda here of some kind, only I am not really sure what.

Yeah - they drastically underestimated the amount of the spill in the early days, just as they overestimated the impact once there was political advantage to be gained. And I am honestly not sure what difference releasing the 'Worst Case Scenarios' would be - the results aren't nearly as drastic as predicted, and if this spill follows history, that region is going to be in for some excellent fishing seasons in the next year or two. I can kind of see why the White House wouldn't want someone standing up and saying "millions of gallons a day." Bush got blamed for Katrina, despite the fact it was an act of God - you know Obama will be blamed for the spill in the end.

Top-to-bottom, the oil spill was exploited as a political opportunity. Environmentalists seized on it for it's potential for oil covered birds, and to attack a major oil company. Obama attempted to exploit it for a "moment" when he could demonstrate what a leader he is, and attempted to manage the information to make him look as good as possible. Even conservatives took advantage of it top point at Obama's failings, and to argue against the domestic drilling restrictions that put a rig that far out. (Naturally, I agree with the latter, but they still took advantage of the situation).

Meanwhile, with all the hype and overreaction, no one took a step back to look at history, and see what happened when similar accidents occured. Well, a few people did, and so far each one of their predictions have proven 100% accurate.

[Terry Verticchio]

Just clean up the mess.

The rest is useless drivel.