As I was taking in the Sestak-versus-Specteriana on CNN's State Of The Union yesterday morning, I missed Fox News Sunday's typically entertaining panel discussion. But this segment shouldn't go unnoted, seeing as how former newsman Brit Hume was wondering if the BP oil slick was so awesomely terrifying, why couldn't he see any of the oil? Seriously! This happened!
WATCH:
JUAN WILLIAMS: First of all, don't you think, this spill now is going to be in excess of what happened with Exxon Valdez.
BRIT HUME: Let's see if that happens. There's a good question today if you are standing on the Gulf, and that is: Where is the oil?
WILLIAMS: Where is the oil?
HUME: It's not on -- except for little of chunks of it, you're not even seeing it on the shore yet.
It's just some "oil chunks" on America's shores, most of which could probably be converted to Christianity without too much trouble.
Chris Wallace gamely attempted to point out where the oil was.
WALLACE: But there are some new reports that there are greater amounts of it on the ocean floor.
HUME: Oh, yes, that's true. But you know where the greatest source of oil that seeps into the ocean is? It's from natural seepage from subterreanean deposits. That's where most of it comes from, not from drilling accidents. So what's badly needed here is on our energy policy, and also on the realities of what really goes on when it comes to oil spillage.
I... would... agree... and I'd note that natural oil spillage doesn't lead to gigantic slicks or underwater "oil plumes." Hume insists that "the ocean absorbs a lot."
WILLIAMS: But I think it will damage the environment in the gulf and damage tourism and damage fishing. I don't think there's any question this is in excess of anything we've previously asked the ocean to absorb.
HUME: We'll see if it is. We'll see if it is. The ocean absorbs a lot, Juan, an awful lot. The ocean absorbs a lot.
WILLIAMS: I think Rush Limbaugh went down this road, "The ocean can handle it." I think we have to take some responsibility for the environment and be responsible to people who live in the area, vacation in that area, fish in that area. It's just wrong to think, "You know what? Dump it on the ocean and let the ocean handle it."
HUME: Who said that? Who is saying that? No one's making that argument.
It sort of looks like Brit Hume was making that argument!
Anyway, where is the oil? ThinkProgress' Brad Johnson points out: "The slick on the surface of the Gulf is now about 4,922 square miles, larger than Los Angeles County, Delaware, or Rhode Island. On the surface, oil contamination has reached the barrier islands of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida." So that's where your oil chunks are.
WORK HARDER, OCEANS!
RELATED:
Brit Hume Shrugs Off Oil Spill: 'Where Is The Oil?' [ThinkProgress]
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