When asked on the O'Reilly Factor, or whatever the name of that All Spin Zone show is, if the Obama administration is doing all it can to deal with BP's disaster, Palin shot off her mouth and did what she does best: she answered without knowing the facts and just made stuff up using her usual word salad:
PALIN:
“What the federal government should have done was to accept the assistance of foreign countries, of entrepreneurial Americans… the Dutch and the Norweigians. They are known for dikes and for cleaning up water and for dealing with spills. They offered to help! And yet, no– they too, with the proverbial ‘can’t even get a phone call back.’ That is what the Norweigians are telling us and the Dutch are telling us. And then the entrepreneurial Americans, the company in Maine that has the boom and the absorbents, those companies that are waiting for the Obama administration eight weeks later…”
"Meanwhile, back in reality-based reality:
In an interview on the June 15 edition of Fox & Friends, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs stated that “[w]e have talked to several countries” and that “foreign entities are operating within the Gulf that help us respond” to the oil spill. Despite this, both Carlson and Ingraham continued to falsely suggest that foreign aide was being denied.
…In a June 15 press release, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center (JIC) stated that “[c]urrently, 15 foreign-flagged vessels are involved in the largest response to an oil spill in U.S. history.” The JIC further explained, “No Jones Act waivers have been granted because none of these vessels have required such a waiver to conduct their operations in the Gulf of Mexico.” The press release further stated:
To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from numerous foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response, including Canada, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization and the European Union’s Monitoring and Information Centre. In some cases, offers of international assistance have been turned down because the offer didn’t fit the needs of the response.
…On June 10, Fox News reporter Brian Wilson wrote on his blog that “[t]he Coast Guard and the Administration are quick to point out that some foreign technology is being used in the current cleanup effort.” According to Wilson, this technology includes:
■Canada’s offer of 3,000 meters of containment boom
■Three sets of COSEQ sweeping arms from the Dutch
■Mexico’s offer of two skimmers and 4200 meters of boom
■Norway’s offer of 8 skimming systems
Gibbs: “We are using equipment … from countries like Norway, Canada, the Netherlands”; no need “thus far” for “any type of waiver.” In a June 10 press briefing, Gibbs fielded a question on the administration’s position in issuing waivers to the Jones Act. Gibbs stated that “there has not been any problem” with “using equipment” from foreign countries."
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo chimes in:
"I tend to think of making fun of Sarah Palin as pretty old hat. I mean, she has to say something pretty silly at this point to make me take notice. But last night she went on O'Reilly to rail on the president for not getting the oil leak at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico stopped. And when pressed on just how he was supposed to do that by all of people Bill O'Reilly, Palin said Obama had really blown it by not reaching out to the Dutch since they proved themselves so good at building dikes and sluices and dams to reclaim land from the sea. Which when you think about it is pretty much the same thing as capping an oil gusher a mile underwater."
Well, at least Sarah's consistent in not knowing what the hell she's talking about. People actually listen to this woman. Why?
h/t Pensito Review
