# Conservative response to BP spill: unwad your panties **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 2, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035 "2010-05-02T15:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/61 "2010-05-03T13:29:09Z")
A succinct encapsulation of a good chunk of the DFH position here, courtesy of former conservative [John Cole of Balloon Juice](http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/05/02/90-days/): > [@](#): > > Is anyone else noticing a trend here? Decades of onlsaught by Republicans (and many Democrats, as well) and business friendly interests have led to the complete inability or unwillingness of government to regulate our food safety, our water, our financial markets, our mines, and now, tragically, our offshore drilling programs. And in every case, defanging the regulators has led to expensive disasters. All so a select few can make more and more money. ---
**Author:** ![Creole\_Tomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Creole\_Tomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creole_Tomato)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/62 "2010-05-03T14:03:57Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Looks like you are gonna have to unwad your panties all right… to mop up the oil spill that BP is not going to be reimbursing you for. I’m going to have to buy some bigger panties. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/63 "2010-05-03T14:50:11Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > So, you “heard it from some people,” found a cite on a web site you seem to think is “conservative,” and seem to think that Hannity may have also “picked it up.” Is this accurate? _cough_graspingatstraws_cough_ ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/64 "2010-05-03T14:52:01Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Brainglutton, why don’t you tell us what outlets you consider representative of the liberal viewpoint? No fair. He asked you first. Why not share? Are you afraid of the man behind the curtain showing his face? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/65 "2010-05-03T15:06:05Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Great! Where can we sell tar balls? Will it sell better than chocolate covered cotton? C’mon, we all know tarballs are coughed up by catfish. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/66 "2010-05-03T21:11:19Z")
I love the disconnect between “Capitalism and free enterprise always work better than government!” and “This is Obama’s fault for not acting sooner to clean up BP’s mess!” Drill baby drill. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/67 "2010-05-03T21:47:06Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Drill baby drill. How’s that drilly spilly thing workin’ out for ya? \ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/68 "2010-05-03T22:20:11Z")
On other related news, a huge failure at a wind power site resulted in thousands of tons of air spilling out on the surrounding countryside. The liberal media, of course, are covering it up… ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/69 "2010-05-04T00:00:42Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Well, sure–it may well happen in certain places (and FWIW, I appreciate your teaching me about this phenomenon). At the same time, some folks are using natural oil seepage to suggest there’s no harm in artificial seepage. This is akin to suggesting that, because the Sahara has an ecosystem that requires very little rainfall, it’d be okay to drain wetlands. > > Natural systems develop ecosystems around them, and when humans come in, we tend to develop industry around those ecosystems. Disrupted ecosystems can fall apart until a nice chunk of time elapses, and in the meantime, industry that depends on that disrupted ecosystem also falls apart. > > **John** , sorry I got my back up at your post. No, I wasn’t trying to apologize for the spill- far from it. The OP though had mentioned natural oil seeps being roughly in the same quantity, and had at least to me, implied that these were bogus, or couldn’t possibly be as much as 4000-5000 barrels per day, which they are. My smart-assed response was probably unwarranted, but all I was trying to say is that if he didn’t believe that there are natural oil seeps in the Gulf, then he certainly hasn’t been to a Galveston beach, because there are tar balls all over the place. As for the spill, safety protocols and a pretty good hypothesis of what happened, read **El Kabong** and **Natural Blond Chap’s** posts [on this thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561634) They post a pretty informed, reasonable and cogent theory as to what probably happened, and why. Blindly accusing BP of being malevolent or something like that without proof is just dumb. Occam’s razor would say (to me anyway) that it’s far more likely that some poor guy fucked up on the drill site, or not far away, not that Tony Heyward on down is part of a big conspiracy of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/70 "2010-05-04T00:20:00Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Look, it just hacks me off how SDMB liberals are constantly finding some idiot and then saying that this person is “the face of” the conservatives, or the Republican Party, or the Tear Partiers, or whatever. That 's not fair. Anyone who legitimately is “the face of” any of those group will be, by nature, an idiot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Creole\_Tomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Creole\_Tomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creole_Tomato)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/71 "2010-05-04T00:52:58Z")
> [@bump](#): > > The OP though had mentioned natural oil seeps being roughly in the same quantity, and had at least to me, implied that these were bogus, or couldn’t possibly be as much as 4000-5000 barrels per day, which they are. > > My smart-assed response was probably unwarranted, but all I was trying to say is that if he didn’t believe that there are natural oil seeps in the Gulf, then he certainly hasn’t been to a Galveston beach, because there are tar balls all over the place. > Blindly accusing BP of being malevolent or something like that without proof is just dumb. Occam’s razor would say (to me anyway) that it’s far more likely that some poor guy fucked up on the drill site, or not far away, not that Tony Heyward on down is part of a big conspiracy of some kind. No, I’m not arguing that there isn’t oil in the Gulf. I’ll see your Galveston Beach and raise you Holly Beach in southwest Lousiana. :eek: My point was that to use that seepage as a rationale for saying, “This is no big deal–Mother Nature does worse!” is just stupid. And “he” is a “she.” (Otherwise that big-panty remark I made earlier would be kind of awkward.) 😃 I agree with your assessment RE conspiracy vs. fuckup. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/72 "2010-05-04T01:18:23Z")
The folks who feel oil is an okay part of nature, mind if I dump a barrel of unrefined crude in your garden? Because you’re getting your god damned oil all over the god damned fish that I’d like to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/73 "2010-05-04T01:43:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > No, I wasn’t trying to apologize for the spill- far from it. Yeah, I know–that was what my parenthetical was trying to convey. Sorry it wasn’t clearer! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/74 "2010-05-04T14:52:34Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > The folks who feel oil is an okay part of nature, mind if I dump a barrel of unrefined crude in your garden? Because you’re getting your god damned oil all over the god damned fish that I’d like to eat. You need Limbaugh’s address. He has said it we should do nothing about clean up.The ocean will take care of it naturally. He also said it was done by eco-terrorists bombing the rig. That is the Conservative position. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/75 "2010-05-04T15:02:32Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Brainglutton, why don’t you tell us what outlets you consider representative of the liberal viewpoint? We refused to have the microchips implanted that give us the daily talking points, so we are in complete disarray. Sometimes I envy you guys, thinking for ones’ self is just so hard. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/76 "2010-05-04T15:18:43Z")
The conservative response is that obvious this is Obama’s fault, somehow, for not using big government to crack down on private business…which uh…is a bad thing, but you see…um…when big business hurts the small business owners they…they’re bad, but still better than government! Which is why…ah…which is why…government should own up to this mess that they caused by turning big business against small business! Yes, that’s it! Shit, I think I can write for a conservative website, I know exactly how they think! Even when it’s businesses’ fault, it’s the fault of the government for having put them in that position! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/77 "2010-05-04T17:33:00Z")
To summarize, a “liberal?” is posting a thread about a conversation with a couple of “conservatives”. This is followed by more liberals (with telepathic powers) explaining how conservatives think. If ever a straw man was walking around with twisted panties it would be this thread. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/78 "2010-05-04T17:48:25Z")
We are speculating how conservatives who think will respond, we already know how conservatives who don’t think will respond. ---
**Author:** ![Creole\_Tomato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@Creole\_Tomato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creole_Tomato)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/79 "2010-05-04T18:39:26Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > To summarize, a “liberal?” is posting a thread about a conversation with a couple of “conservatives”. This is followed by more liberals (with telepathic powers) explaining how conservatives think. If ever a straw man was walking around with twisted panties it would be this thread. So you didn’t bother to read the thread, but instead dismissed it with a kneejerk response because you figured it would be unflattering to conservatives. In the process, you managed to ignore all of the evidence which contradicts your theory. Although there were numerous posts that corroborated that this viewpoint _is_, indeed, what many conservatives think, you chose to ignore that and go on the offensive. I feel like I’m being set up; this is the biggest straw man trap ever. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035/80 "2010-05-04T18:44:28Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > This is followed by more liberals (with telepathic powers). The stuff inside the brackets is _redundant_. Meanwhile, [Former FEMA Director Michael Brown on Obama’s Response to Oil Spill](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,592131,00.html) > [@](#): > > CAVUTO: So, Michael, you don’t take him at face value when he says a temporary halt in offshore drilling is just that, a temporary halt? > > BROWN: No, no. Look, Bill Nelson — and, you know, they don’t say these things without it being coordinated. And so now you’re looking at this oil slick approaching, you know, the Louisiana shore, according to certain — NOAA and other places, if the winds are right, it will go up the East Coast. > > This is exactly what they want, because now he can pander to the environmentalists and say, “I’m going to shut it down because It’s too dangerous,” while Mexico and China and everybody else drills in the Gulf. We’re going to get shut down. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conservative-response-to-bp-spill-unwad-your-panties/538035.md?page=5)