EVEN O’REILLY ISN’T BUYING THE ‘SHAKEDOWN’ LINE…. | The Washington Monthly
Steve Benen:
I hardly ever find areas of agreement with Bill O’Reilly, but he didn’t seem to have any problem with the president pressuring BP on the relief fund, and neither do I.
“The only thing we’re disagreeing about here today is that I don’t mind Obama looking at these guys, saying, ‘You better do the right thing or we’re coming after you with everything we have.’ I want him to do that.”
At that point, Bachmann started backtracking a bit, but it was too late. It pains me to type this, but O’Reilly actually summarized the larger dynamic fairly well — the president fought for the Gulf Coast the way the country wants him to. In response, the Republican Party and its far-right base have tried to trash him for it, up to and including issuing a groveling apology to the company responsible for the worst environmental catastrophe in American history.