Another GOP Rep. Pushing Tall Tale That China Is Drilling For Oil Off American Shores
They just can't seem to get enough of this one. It looks like another Republican is still pushing the idea that China is drilling for oil in deep ocean waters near Cuba -- Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri is continuing to push it even after big-name Republicans like GOP Sen. Mel Martinez and even Dick Cheney have disavowed it, and his staff is refusing to offer any retraction of his statement.
The Missouri Democrats are sending around this YouTube of Graves, who is facing a tough challenge from former Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes, pushing the China-Cuba story at local campaign events:
Graves campaign spokesman Jason Klindt is sticking to the story for now.
"We have one newspaper that says China is drilling and one that says China is not drilling," Klindt told Election Central via e-mail. "If it turns out to be verified as inaccurate, he will certainly let his constituents know."
Like Jean Schmidt before him, Klindt cited a source that didn't actually appear to back up his point. Klindt referred us to a 2006 New York Times article that only said China was planning to drill there. Since that story was published, as GOP Sen. Mel Martinez laid out on the Senate floor, China is only drilling along shoreline areas of Cuba at this juncture.
Go ahead. You can say it Erik. You're with friends here.
It's called a lie.
June 25, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
how's the comments section working for everyone here today?
June 25, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No problems today.
June 25, 2008 4:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
thx
June 25, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't know where you guys are getting this nonsense. I saw that China is drilling off the Florida coast on Fox. That's Fox News. Nice try, guys. Go McCain 08!
www.womenforjohnmccain.com
June 25, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Thanks. I needed a good laugh.
June 25, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hahahaha... news. hahahaha!!!! she said news. hahahaha!!! whew! I can't breathe... hahahahahahaha!!! Oh it hurts! hahahaha!!!
who are the women for john mccain? the ones who own stock in coathanger manufacturers? Ok... THAT just made me a terrible person. My apologies, but i refuse to let a perfectly disgusting, snarky comment, that's so over the top, just be.
June 25, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
k... just visited your website. hahahahah!!! I am THOROUGHLY amused! graphic on the top righthand corner is hilarious.
June 25, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL....LOL.....LOL ALERT!!!
Your site is hysterical. As good a satire as is one the web.
June 25, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
OUTSTANDING JOB on your web site! I have bookmarked it and it deserves an award!
June 25, 2008 6:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know what? These lies are no worse than the ones the people on the left swallow about prices being part of the evil oil companies or the Saudis hoarding oil.
Speculators currently control the market, and will always control the market now that no swing producers are left.
Oil prices will never come down no matter what a politician promises to do to the oil companies.
Oil prices are up because we have passed the point of pumping the easy oil out of the ground (the 1st half).
I guess neither left nor right want to deal with reality. That's not a surprise since neither group has a lock on the truth -- despite their sureness that they do.
June 25, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
To quote Harry Frankfurt:
The conservative movement is built on BS. "Cutting taxes always raises revenue" has served them for years. This is no different -- they don't care whether it's true or not, only that it serves their purposes.
June 25, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Lindsey Graham mentioned this on Meet the Press with Brian Williams last weekend too. So, what is the lie here -- that China is drilling off the coast of Cuba OR that China has an agreement to drill off the coast of Cuba? or both? I think Graham referred to an agreement to drill. Is that a lie too, or just if someone claims that the already are drilling?
June 25, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fight fire with fire!
Hold a press conference and claim McCain is planning to sell off Lake Superior to the Canadians in return for oil sands rights in Alberta and is giving China the ownership of AmTrack in return for forgiving some of our debt!
Doesn't matter if they shoot it down; not at all.
At least 1% of their base is likely to believe it!
Every percent counts!
June 25, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
And as an added benefit, Lou Dobbs would drop dead from stroke!
June 25, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't get our hopes up.
June 25, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do these people read?The following is a statement released by Cheney`s office sheepishly admitting his error:
"It is our understanding that, although Cuba has leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off the coast of southern Florida, which is closer than American firms are allowed to operate in that area, no Chinese firm is drilling there."
Two weeks later,this fool releases his buffoonish video on YouTube.These guys are really something
June 25, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sam Graves is right. We need to keep the Commies from slant-drilling into God's blessed American soil and the only way to do that is to REJECT the San Francisco values of Kay Barnes.
June 25, 2008 6:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
If only we could get McCain to claim that "China is drilling for oil off the Kansas coastline!!!"
June 25, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's what happens when you depend on talking points for knowledge.
You look stupid, in bunches!
June 25, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even better, tell them it's Lake Michigan he'll
trade. It's 100% in U.S., while Superior is
already half theirs.
June 25, 2008 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see this great ad campaign! A 30-60 second spot.
A slide show of various American famous properties sold to offshore interests since 2001.
General Motors Building (and a screen overlay SOLD TO DUBAI/KUWAIT/QATER
Flatiron Building (SALE PENDING ITALY)
Chrysler Building (SALE PENDING ABU DHABI)
Anheiser Busch (SALE PENDING BELGIUM)
and so forth. Not to mention aerial shots of highways now owned by overseas toll operators!!
After this demoralizing display, the screen goes black with white lettering FIRE SALE AMERICA and a solemn voice-over: "Bush/Cheney oversaw the sale of your country to overseas interest. Now McCain promises more of the same."
Then you close off this spot, with a wind-blown Obama in a cornfield with a silo in the background saying he won't sell our birthright, etc.!
Would play pretty good in the red states and rustbelt!
June 25, 2008 7:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Timing is everything. Don't release the ad until 2 days before the elections...
Add some archive footage of McCain shaking hands with foreign looking potentates with the final voice over!
That is if we wanted to sell our souls and become Rove-ians.
June 25, 2008 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
It depends on what the meaning of "drilling" is.
TPM is just splitting hairs between the "exploration" and "production" of oil.
No one is saying China is producing. But China is exploring for oil exactly where Graves says they are.
This is a significant difference. We have banned not only production but also exploration, e.g., in ANWR. Environmentalists call either "drilling". But when it hurts the anti-domestic production case, the definition of "drilling" changes.
How terribly convenient.
June 25, 2008 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think by "drilling", we mean drilling.
link
June 25, 2008 8:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sam Graves is not alone. Melissa Hart in PA-04 was caught red handed spreading the same lie.
Check it out. http://www.thepennsylvaniaprogressive.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=69
June 25, 2008 8:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Christina, I positively LOVE your website! It is so awesome!
John's Story was SO sad, but that's why he's my hero!
Go John McCain! All the way! YAY!
June 25, 2008 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check out the quotable quotes on the Women for McCain website. Those are the types of quotes I can live by........
June 26, 2008 8:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Christina - you rock!!! Website is truly a work of art. Thank you. I sent the link to my sisters.
Evie
June 26, 2008 9:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does China have the ability to do off shore drilling? I never heard of them doing this anywhere until the Cuba/China bullshit came out.
Can anyone point to some other are where China is drilling offshore?
June 26, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink