Obama Press Secretary Flat-Out Lies About Keystone Pipeline
Maggie over at Thurber’s Thoughts has a fantastic piece on what she originally calls a spin job by the administration. But hearing Jay Carney tell the American people that President Obama did not reject the Keystone pipeline isn’t spin.
It’s, as she concludes, an out-and-out lie.
This is an administration so arrogant that they actually believe they can look directly into the camera and lie to the American people. They are banking on you not knowing any better. And if you’re not offended or outraged no matter your view on the Keystone pipeline project itself, then you have relegated yourself to a life of government servitude, an acceptance of administration lies, a repeat of the epic mistake our country made in 2008 – or your just too damn lazy to care anymore.
I suppose that the job of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is to spin the actions of President Barack Obama in a favorable light. But out and out lies, unchecked by the media, are beyond what Americans should expect – especially with an economic project as critical as the Keystone Oil Pipeline.
Real Clear Politics reports that in yesterday’s press briefing, Carney was spinning away:
White House press secretary Jay Carney first says Republicans “forced” President Obama to deny the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Later in his press briefing, Carney says Obama didn’t turn down the pipeline.
“In terms of Keystone, as you all know, the history here is pretty clear. And the fact is because Republicans decided to play political with Keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they insisted on a time frame in which it was impossible to completely approve the pipeline,” Carney said when asked about the pipeline by ABC News’ Jake Tapper.
As Maggie points out, the pipeline has been under consideration for three years. It isn’t a new project that just snuck up on the President. The deadline imposed by Republicans was something that Obama actually forced, having dragged his feet for so long.
And when Carney whines about not having enough time to review – during that three year span the project was approved by 10 government agencies already, including the environment-bound EPA!
Keystone Less of a Risk Than Pipelines Already in Place, Experts Say
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| Pipeline to nowhere? |
President Obama recently unleashed his first campaign ad for the 2012 election year. The 30-second spot is described as such:
President Obama has taken steps to make us energy independent and create an economy that’s built to last. He’s been a strong supporter of domestic energy production, has made historic investments in clean energy technology, and has nearly doubled fuel-efficiency standards for cars and trucks. Because of the progress we’ve made, our dependence on foreign oil is the lowest it’s been in 16 years.
The Washington Post gave the ad a rating of ‘three Pinocchios’ for misleading viewers with a suggestion that Obama was responsible for creating 2.7 million clean-energy jobs, and for cherry-picking certain citations to back up its claims. The resulting descriptions of the ad included such words as ‘slippery’, ‘slick’, and ‘misleading’.
The Obama administration in a nutshell.
But the irony that the first ad campaign of the season touts Obama’s strengths in making the United States more energy independent, while he is simultaneously thwarting further energy independence via the Keystone pipeline, can not be overlooked.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue called the decision to deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit ‘dumbfounding’. He added, “the President’s decision will make us more dependent on oil from foreign nations that don’t share our interests.”
So why would the energy independence-touting President deny construction of a pipeline that has the potential to improve said independence, along with an added bonus of creating a minimum of 20,000 jobs?
Aside from kowtowing to environmental groups, Obama cites “the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment”.
That smokescreen doesn’t hold up either. A new report from Fox News indicates that the Keystone pipeline would actually pose less of an environmental danger than pipelines currently running in the U.S.
Several energy experts who represent the oil and gas industry say the controversial Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline that would run from Canada to Texas, poses less of a risk to the environment than the estimated 50,000 miles of crude oil pipelines already crisscrossing the U.S., a network they say is safe and efficient.
Mental Recession 