For a while, Republicans were defending their call for coastal drilling by claiming that the Chinese were drilling in Cuban waters. This proved to be false (though many on the right repeat the claim anyway).

So, conservatives have moved onto a new talking point: coastal drilling is safe for the environment, because recent hurricanes didn’t lead to oil spills. It leads to rhetoric like this from Nancy Pfotenhauer, John McCain’s senior energy adviser, who appeared on MSNBC the other day.

John McCain made the same claim a month ago: “As for offshore drilling, it’s safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) said the same thing over the weekend: “I think people are reassured that not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita. Those rigs in the Gulf, there was not a single incident of spillage that anyone reported.”

Bill O’Reilly is sticking to the Republican script, telling his radio audience the other day, “Remember when Katrina hit, none of the oil rigs spilled in Louisiana.”

Even Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who presumably would know better, told Fox News a couple of weeks ago, “[T]hat’s one of the great unwritten success stories, after Katrina and Rita, these awful storms, no major spills.”

George Will, Dick Morris, Robert Samuelson, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page have all repeated the claim.

And they’re all wrong.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Bill W)

Scott McClellan got the Judge Judy treatment from Bill O'Reilly over his new book which rips the Bush administration on a host of issues. In this extended clip, BillO took exception because Scott had the audacity to indict the press over their horrid coverage of the run up to the Iraq war. And poor Bill tries to spin him into the ground over his admissions that the Iraq war was sold to American people using---propaganda. (rough transcript)

O'Reilly: You said they used propaganda and that is a loaded word

McClellan: The White House Iraq group, the White House Iraq group was set up, it's a marketing arm for selling the a war. That was a specific purpose that I talked about in the book

O'Reilly: Because they fervently believed that the guy was a danger and could hand his weapons off.

McClellan: No because the President had a bigger driving motivation which was to transform the middle east.

O'Reilly: You telling me that President Bush didn't believe they had the,

McClellan: No, he did too. He believed that too.

O'Reilly:That's not propaganda then, that's not propaganda.

McClellan: It is when you package it all together---over sell it and over state it to the American people. That is propaganda.

In Bill's mind it's A-OK that the WHIG was formed to set up a one stop shopping mart to shoot war propaganda directly into the veins of the press which would be passed on to fool the American people into thinking we needed to attack Iraq. However, in BillO's mind it was no big thing because Bush felt it justified. Unbelievable. Scotty was unflappable.

Guest roundup by Brad Jacobson of MediaBloodhound

War and Piece: Why is Israel “appeasing” Syria? And the real reason Bush is pissed at NBC.

Hullabaloo: dday digs beneath the surface of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ comment that we’re “stuck” with Gitmo.

David Corn: Addressing upset Hillary supporters, Corn notes they can vote for Obama in November or “vote for a guy who will appoint Supreme Court justices likely to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

After Downing Street: David Lindorff on Bush’s war crimes against children. In addition, of course, to these other war crimes against them.

Booman Tribune: Interesting breakdown of November’s electoral college strategy.

Scholars and Rogues: Hilarious new footage of Bill O’Reilly’s Inside Edition blow-up. And here’s an excellent song to jumpstart your next workout. (Warning: turn down volume if at work.)

Well, that’s all for me, C&L’ers. It’s been fun filling in for Mike. And I’d like to thank him, John and Nicole for the keys. (Final programming note: Hope you can stop by MediaBloodhound this Friday for a fresh satirical dispatch from The Wounded-Courier; it’s about this guy.) Take care, everyone!

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Bill O'Reilly melts down over Romney's election loss in his new Talking Points Memo because he can't come to grips with the fact that America has rejected conservatism yet again. He has to do a 'Dick Morris' and make up lies to validate his argument.

O'Reilly refers to Dennis Miller's idiotic remarks about how America has changed forever from people that he is comfortable with. WTF? Racist much?

MILLER: Do I think I'll ever see it go back in my lifetime to the other way? No, I don't. I think this is it. Do I think it's the America that I saw from 18 to 58? No, I don't. Is that the end of the world? No. It's not like I was in the shower this morning and found a lump in my armpit. That's always my fallback position. I've got a great life. But I'm just saying it is not the America I've grown comfortable with.

BillO rejected this on the premise that white America can reclaim the USA by loudly attacking SP's (liberals, aka secular progressives). You see, Mitt Romney lost the election because he wasn't loud enough on all the social issues that O'Reilly cares about. No, really -- just scream baby killer more often and Mittens would have won. Is traditional America gone for good?

So it's more about Romney's failure to build on McCain's vote than Obama doing anything. A stronger candidate would have defeated the President. Mr. Obama won the woman vote, blacks and Asians. But it was the Hispanic vote that really nailed Romney; 71 percent of Latinos voted for the President. And that was the difference in Florida, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada. Other states were impacted as well.
Romney took white males and Independents by significant margins. But when you bunch it all up together, when you bunch it up, it was an entitlement vote this year. American families earning less than $30,000 a year broke big for the President; 62 percent to 35 percent. So it's clear that left-wing ideology did not win the day for Barack Obama, big spending on federal programs did.

That's the key. Because many in the media would have us believe that liberal ideology was confirmed by this election. It was not. However... however, secularism is certainly eroding traditional power. No question about it. Those Americans who attend religious services at least once a week voted for Romney 59-39, the problem is church going is on the decline in this country.

Here's an example. Despite the President's controversial insistence that some Catholic entities provide birth control and after pills, Catholics supported Obama 50 percent to 48 percent down from 2008 but still a surprise to some.

The fact that Catholics voted for Obama destroys BillO's arguments and you know that's eating him up since he's a Catholic too. Now come BillO's Big Three talking points about the election results.

By the way, Mitt Romney didn't even try to marginalize secularism. He basically ignored it. A mistake because President Obama is the poster guy for the secular progressive movement. The key question going forward is the SP Movement good for Americans no matter what their ethnicity or economic condition and the answer is no.

Three vivid examples. Secular progressives champion a do-your-own-thing philosophy. No judgments about personal behavior are allowed in that arena. The public school system has adopted that philosophy. And that's now wreaking havoc on American society.

Isn't conservative philosophy all about being allowed the freedom from government to do your own thing? How times have changed, but BillO's premise about public schools is ridiculous. What does that even mean? Does he mean that kids can do homework and take tests if they feel like it?

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