Tue, Jun 17, 2008 3:00pm ET

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Despite Cheney's reported correction on China drilling claim, Hannity asserted China is "drilling 60 miles off our shores"

Summary: Sean Hannity claimed on his radio show, "[W]e've got China, you know, joining with Cuba, they're drilling 60 miles off our shores of Florida." But Vice President Dick Cheney has reportedly issued a correction for making the same claim, as has George Will, whom Cheney cited as the source of his claim.
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Posted by tommy

It seems it would be more difficult to drill and extract a truthful, nonpartisan statement from Sean Hannity than it ever would be doing the same for oil off of any coast.

Posted by snoopy in reply to tommy

You're gonna need a bigger drill, Tommy. Jean Schmitt and Mary Matlin continue to spew that lie as well, while here you will find other republican office holders actually defending that lie.

They all lie as easily as they breathe.

Posted by pete592 in reply to Easy to refute wingnuts

The right-wing slime machine is in overdrive controlling the message on gas prices and oil drilling.   They need to shift the blame to environmentalist, and thus, onto Democrats.  After all, it's an election year and there's some pretty p***ed off consumers out there.

What does the right-wing slime machine want to obscure from the public in regard to this issue?  

  • That 68 million acres of federal land is currently permitted and available for oil drilling.
  • That 80% of the known oil in the Continental shelf lies in areas already permitted to drill.
  • That 8,000 oil leases already exist and only one quarter of them are being utilized.

These are the kinds of facts and figures presented by Democrats on the floor of Congress that will make it onto C-Span, but you'll hear very little about them on cable crap news. 

The oil cartel is stockpiling leases, and the right-wing slime machine is performing its sworn duty to cover their @$$es. 

 

Posted by mary59 in reply to pete592

thanks for putting this out there, Pete. Hopefully Obama and others will fire back with this information each time McSame and friends try to bark up the wrong tree with their phony "we gotta drill in ANWAR bilge"

Posted by nerzog in reply to pete592

On yesterday's show, Rush Pigboy Limbaugh said that McBush should make "Drill here, Drill now" his new campaign theme... thus putting Democrats on the defensive. Then, what did I hear on the news this morning? McCain has reversed his stance on offshore drilling.

This raises the question.... is McBush getting his talking points from PigBoy, or vice versa?

Posted by friedbergboy1422

I think the next time the Onion writes something about Obama I am going to send Hannity the link to see if he'll read it on the air.  Amazing, but good on George Will to write a correction.

Posted by friedbergboy1422

And before anyone disses the education of Hannity, he does have an honorary degree from Falwell Tech, I mean, Liberty University.  SO THERE!

Posted by Clevenative in reply to friedbergboy1422

I won't diss him for his education - only for his inabillity to think for himself. I can guarantee that 99% of what this guy says is just his repeating some other wingnut comment - truth or fiction. I have to give him some credit - what he does, he does well... but so does my talking parrot!

Posted by friedbergboy1422 in reply to Clevenative

Where ya been, Cleve?  Is your health ok?

Posted by Clevenative in reply to friedbergboy1422

Yeah - thanks. I just had to get away from the madness for a bit. Are the Primaries over yet?:)

Posted by juliajayne in reply to Clevenative

I thought about you just the other day, Cleve. I was wondering where you'd gone to. Glad you're back.

Posted by Clevenative in reply to juliajayne

Ok, ok - now I'm starting to blush - I missed you all too (I'd start listing names but I know I'll leave someone out). Many people probably wish they had a medical excuse to just drop-out for a few months, I know.:) It's about the only thing good about my "condition" - LOL.  I followed a lot of stuff here reallly - just not up to writing.:(

Thanks again - and a big "hello again" to all!

Posted by roundhouse in reply to Clevenative

Welcome back, Clevenative. Glad you're around again.

Posted by Clevenative in reply to juliajayne

I have to mention... We dropped cable TV for over 3 months as part of a little money-saving experiment. I suppose that adds a little to my truancy excuse - and what might have helped lead to my "No Woman, No Cry" state of mind as far as MMFA goes. :) I finally couldn't take it anymore once the Primary ended.:( I'm trying to start a campaign to get the local TWC affiliate to carry at least one of the numerous gay-oriented cable channels available (which have been available on any extended basic cable package in any other city I have lived). This way my house partners  might be willing to share the extended cableTV bill again. Ahhh, The Bible Belt.:(

Posted by archae

Once again, the typical right-wing talking poing M. O.

Even after it's been proven to be a lie, the right-wingers, (in this case, Sean Hannity,) still run with it.

Does Hannity not know it's false? No. He knows darn well it's a lie, but he has to continue with the lie, to pander to his fanboys.

Posted by wzwriter in reply to archae

Does Hannity not know it's false?

Sean Insanity would never let the fact that a story is false stand in the way of using it if it supports his narrow-minded, racist, xenophobic, gay-bashing, lily-white agenda.

Posted by roundhouse

Feeding the oil jones by drilling for more oil makes us independent?

It's irrational to oppose our tax dollars being spent to build oil their refineries? It's irrational to oppose spending our money to protect, with the military, the further enrichment of a handful of oilmen?

Love that conservative logic.

If we started drilling today in ANWR the petroleum there wouldn't be gas in our tank until 2018. There is no reason to wait to invest in a green economy.

Posted by my4cents1172

"and they focus people's anger on the oil companies and their profits. What about the profits the government makes every time we fill up at a gas station?"

Simple. The government gives it to the oil companies as subsidies.

Posted by juliajayne

Promoting propaganda is Hannity's premeire priority. Fallacious facts are fomented for his fanatical followers. Tenacious truth is too tenuous for this truculent toady.

 

Posted by mary59 in reply to juliajayne

Sean's slithering snakeoil support for superficial solutions stupify slacker citizens shlumping into cesspools of senility.

Posted by wzwriter

Hannity asserted China is "drilling 60 miles off our shores"

Hannity's brain is 60 miles off our shores......

Posted by snoopy

I really feel for Tommy and Jeter, it must suck knowing the conservative party has been hijacked by a bunch of lying racist bigots. Speaking of, love this pin that was for sale at the GOP convention:

Courtesy of the bradblog!

Posted by roundhouse in reply to snoopy

Oh come on, snoop. Don't you know anything about Republican responsibility? They won't own a racist tendency. That pin is obviously, "just a joke."

Posted by snoopy in reply to roundhouse

That's right, I forgot. Them republicans are such jokesters!

Posted by roundhouse in reply to snoopy

"Blogging dens of resistance." In other words, it ain't our fault you're offended by racism.

Yep. Responsibility.

Posted by Clevenative in reply to roundhouse

Oh, That's right - and we just "don't get" conservative humor.:)

Posted by tommy in reply to snoopy

Yes, we are wrecked.  Actually, I'm not speaking for Jeter although he may agree.....since we are not inextricably joined at the hip to any political party, but rather our principles, we have no problem criticizing any politician or "racist hijacker", as we do here quite often, unlike many on the left who don't dare speak ill of any liberal Democrat or their sainted party.

It's liberating to free yourself from the chains of political party affiliation and its confines, freedom reigns!  Try it.......(up and up and  awaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy) 

Posted by christopherpking in reply to tommy

agreed.... I am politically homeless....

Posted by roundhouse in reply to tommy

Right. Sure. Whatever. As if your principles are not inextricably linked to a partisan conservative worldview.

No you will say? Then why the partisan dig? ("unlike many on the left who don't dare speak ill of any liberal Democrat or their sainted party.")

Not very convincing, Tommy.

Posted by tommy in reply to roundhouse

Perhaps if you slowed down and actually read what you are responding to, instead of your knee-jerk replies.  I said I wasn't invested in any political party, which I am not.  That is why I don't get so defensive when the Republican party is criticized, like many of you do when it's your Democratic party - it's like one of your children are being attacked or something.

As for conservatism, that is not a political party, and the Republicans of late hardly are conservative - so I have my principles and my beliefs and my values, which are far more important to me than some pandering politician or defending some political party which first and foremost wants my vote, often times at the expense of principles.

Posted by roundhouse in reply to tommy

"so I have my principles and my beliefs and my values,"

Which are very conservative. You are a partisan conservative. Deal.

And why don't you read what I wrote? I never said you were invested in one political party. I simply pointed out how divested you are of the other political party.

Also, if you'll ever notice, I am not enamoured of the Democratic party. I am a partisan liberal, I am a populist progressive. I am the anti-Tommy.

Posted by wolf kotenberg

Show me pictures

Posted by snoopy in reply to wolf kotenberg

Read about it here, at the Dallas Morning News blog reporting live from the texas GOP convention.

Posted by wolf kotenberg in reply to snoopy

well, anyone with even the most elementary critical thinking skills would have to realise drilling in the gulf of mexico is a monumental task, much bigger than grabbing your black & Decker . Ya think our secretary of defense would have said something by now. unless our government collapsed completely and they are all desperately looking for work before january 20, 2009. Drilling and getting the oil to the market is very hard to keep under the radar.The chinese would be better served by allying with Russia, a lot closer.

Posted by juliajayne in reply to snoopy

I think Snoopy is going to be the next MMFA tipster.

Posted by Linus

OMG!!!  Is Sean Hannity calling Dick Cheney a liar??!!??

Posted by archfiend

I have a rather dim wingnut friend with whom I correspond a lot.

Last week he came at me with the "Democrats block drilling here" meme. I responded with Cheney's Cuba-China falsehood, and pointed out that Cheney had acknowledged it wasn't true (even if he didn't actually apologize for it).

That was before all these other bobbleheads picked up on it. So I'm hoping that if he sees all these people lie to him and this time he knows they're lying to him, maybe he'll start to resent getting lied to and stop taking all this crap at face value so quickly.

It's not likely, but it IS a hope.

Posted by magnolialover in reply to archfiend

Bear in mind, drilling off of the coast of Florida has been opposed by, Jeb Bush, and subsequently his republican replacement as well. Also, by the republican led Florida state Congressional members.

Posted by MoonbatYouBet in reply to archfiend

I found this little tidbit in the archives demonstrating how far a pair of absolutely crazy unhinged left wing liberal enviro-nuts would go to stop drilling in Florida:

"Governor Bush Joins President At White House To Take Historic Action Protecting Florida From Drilling -- Agreements protect Florida's beaches and the Everglades --

WASHINGTON D.C.-- This morning at the White House, President George W. Bush made an unprecedented commitment to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, protecting both Florida's beaches and the Everglades from oil and gas drilling"

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/news/2002/02-govdrill.htm

Posted by MoonbatYouBet in reply to archfiend

And this:

"But environmentalists and Florida Governor Charlie Crist oppose the idea of drilling off the coast of Florida.

Asked last week about the possibility of opening up the Continental Shelf to drilling--including the coastline of Florida--Crist said he couldn't support it even with rising fuel prices.

A spokesman for Crist says the governor still opposes offshore drilling despite President Bush's comments today."

http://www.wmbb.com/gulfcoastwest/mbb/news.apx.-content-articles-MBB-2008-06-09-0013.html

Posted by Clevenative in reply to MoonbatYouBet

Yeah sure - let's just start drilling along the continental shelf? I mean what better place to start drilling mile deep holes into the ocean floor until it looks like polka-dots? - What the heck - I mean - It's only a shelf.

Geez, I give up on some of the stupid things you guys "support".

Posted by Clevenative in reply to MoonbatYouBet

I did it again Moonbat - well at least now you know it's really me again.:) ROFLMAO

Anyhow, the idea remains - YOU GUYS.:)

Posted by billie101112

"I'm telling you, it's nuts out there."

 

Actually, Sean, it's nuts "in there."

Posted by MoonbatYouBet

"What about the profits the government makes every time we fill up at a gas station? "

This is another one of Hannity's standard bits of repetitions, usually followed with a "for doing nothing" comment.  At some point last week he repeated the false claim that 15% of gas prices is tax.  So much lying it's hard to catch it all. 

With the "for doing nothing" comment, and this applies to all the other radio wingnuts who call public transportation a subsidy, I have just one question:  How did we get all these roads and how do we keep getting them fixed?

On his bizarrre claim of 15% of gas prices being tax, the Federal gas tax is a flat 18.4 cents per gallon, no matter what the price per gallon is.  State and local taxes vary but are also flat in many states, though not all.  This is just Sean making crap up as usual and then repeating it over and over again until it becomes lodged in the brains of his loyal followers to go out and repeat it.

Posted by Col. Harlan Sanders in reply to MoonbatYouBet

Hey, Moonbat, I've been hearing that stuff too. Hannity actually says the Oil companies only make 4% on the gas.

I haven't been able to check it out, but I'm guessing he's divvying up exploration, refining, distribution and the profit made at retail. He may be telling his audience what the gas company who owns the gas station makes at the actual time of delivery into the car, I'm not sure.

I sent a "tip" to MMFA a while back regarding this issue, hoping that somebody knew more about the numbers than I do, but saw no response.

I was crushed, but am OK now, with my new official tipster status.

Posted by perdix in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders

I just went over all this with a wingnut buddy. He regurgitated Hannity' numbers exactly. However, about 10 minutes in the web reveals:

The national average oil industry profit margin is approximately 8.3% after taxes. ExxonMobil’s were 10.4%. And that was for 2007, well before the prices shot over $4/gal. Not too shabby. A hell of a lot better than my 401k has ever done since Bush was in office. And way way WAY more than my house has appreciated in the 21 years I’ve been there (about 3.5% after the last appraisal, about 4.2% before it).
 
The Federal Government’s take is a flat 18.4 cents/gal. At $4/gal that works out to be 4.6%.
 
States vary. Michigan charges 19 cents per gallon road tax plus 6% sales tax (but not on the 19 cents). At $4/gal that works out to be about 10.5%.

Ah well, you really can't argue with the numbers.

Posted by open_mind in reply to perdix

The federal gas tax increased last year.  It is now 24.4 cents per gallon.

Just an FYI

Posted by snoopy in reply to Col. Harlan Sanders

Well Col., if ya want to know how gas prices really work, check out this site.

You may also be interested in the house energy bill. Gee, no surprise there...

Posted by open_mind in reply to snoopy

Great link, Snoop!

Posted by AllenAllen

Admin's own study showed that opening Anwar (Alaska) would cut cost by 75 cents per barrel!  Wow! I'd spend cents less per fill up.  This crap they do is obviously to deflect criticism of their corporate oil masters and put the blame on "tree huggers."  Fact is, they can drill all they want and it will do CRAP for significantly adding to the oil supply. They know that. It is again about putting the blame on "environmentalists." They know people are angry when the fill up their tanks and are succesfully channeling that anger away from the guilty parties. 

Posted by Conchobhar in reply to AllenAllen

And that "seventy-five cents per barrel" won't kick in for at least ten years.  By that time who knows what the base price will be?

Posted by cArn

Hannity is more annoying than Rush, Beck, and the other right-wing bloviators, but I find it difficult to articulate why that is. 

Posted by Clevenative in reply to cArn

Uhmmm, Could it be because he does his lying with such a calm. matter-of-fact tone of voice?

Posted by eddy3957 reregistered in reply to cArn

Carn, let me try to mind-meld with you:

You hear/see a man who obviously has no convictions.  He doesn’t seem to believe himself what he says. You are not even vaguely persuaded by him.  You wonder how gullible Fox must they think you are.  You feel that your intelligence is being insulted.   

Posted by perdix

The Outer Continental Shelf drilling moratorium has been renewed by Congress every year since 1981. It covers 85 percent of the country’s coastal waters — everywhere except the central and western Gulf of Mexico and some areas off Alaska.

1981 - hmm - what's familiar about that year. Oh yeah - Reagan was president! But by all means, let's blame the environmentalists.

Posted by pithaughn in reply to perdix

And why does offshore drilling have such a bad reputation? Does Santa Barbara 1969 ring any bells? http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/sb_69oilspill/69oilspill_articles2.html . Or is this what retirees in Florida want?

http://www.ead.ae/TacSoft/images/news/06_nt_oil5_5.jpg

Posted by sluggo

This "fact" is a clear indication  that Hannity is not even close to being a journalist. The problem is that real journalists understand that their profession is akin to that of a doctor. Telling the truth is part of their "oath" and must be followed uncritically. The harm resulting from an uninformed group of citizens is 4000 American deaths and many more deaths among Iraqis. The fact that Sean continues to spout such nonsense is a clear indication that his own professional and  personal value system is seriously flawed and that he (personally) cares little for other people.

Frankly, it is a waste of time for MMFA  to even document what he says...

Posted by Clevenative in reply to sluggo

Unfortunatley, I'm afraid it's just become a must needed duty... "It's a dirty job - but somebody's gotta do it?"

Posted by eddy3957 reregistered in reply to sluggo

...his own professional and  personal value system is seriously flawed---Sluggo

I don't think he even has one.

At the least though, Hannity's unsuitability to the job of persuading people makes clear that he is a puppet of Murdoch and Ailes and company.  They must have a good laugh at seeing their monkeys in the window (as O'Reilly once referred to himself) getting beaten up all the time in place of themselves.  And I fall for it it too---it's a neat little trick---out of sight, out of mind.   

Posted by bupkus456

George Will's "correction" is grossly inadequate. In point of fact, his grudging nod to the truth constitutes little more than a dishonest and irresponsible attempt to minimize his error. The phrasing is so fuzzy as to suggest that China is actually drilling, oh,  61 miles off the Florida coast, rather than 60. Here's the full "correction":

 

In a previous column, I stated that China, in partnership with Cuba, is drilling for oil 60 miles from the Florida coast. While Cuba has partnered with Chinese companies to drill in the Florida Straits, no Chinese company has been involved in Cuba's oil exploration that close to the United States.

Posted by BlagoBoy

OK...China has entered a partnership with Cuba and leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off our coast. But they aren't drilling YET. 

 This is like objecting to someone saying Barack Obama is the Democrat nominee because they haven't counted the votes at the convention YET.  Media Matters is truly PATHETIC!

Posted by magnolialover in reply to BlagoBoy

Apparently, someone didn't read the article, because indeed, these folks did say that China was drilling. A couple of folks who made that claim took it back, and yet we have Hannity running with it. So what was so pathetic about exposing mis-truths being peddled by our news media again in some sort of attempt to scare people again?

See, the thing is, McCain is bumping for drilling off of Florida. I wonder how that's going to play with the voters in say, umm, Florida? Probably not too well, since the state is primarily republican, and yet, here they have their own guy saying, or asking for them to allow drilling off of their coast, which is something that keeps getting rejected time and again. I hear his numbers falling as we speak.

Posted by pithaughn

Sean "Everyday is the begining of history" : Liberals, Democrats oppose "attempts to become energy independent."

Jimmy Carter : Carter said on July 15, 1979. "Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980s..." In addition, we needed to immediately begin to develop a long-range strategy to move beyond fossil fuel.

Does anyone expect anything non partisan and truthful from either HANNITY or CHENEY?

Posted by pithaughn in reply to hurricaneyankee52983

No, but you can be prepared to respond to this nonsense in your every day life. By occaisionally dropping by MMFA, I can get some idea of what to expect and how to defuse the slime I'll run into at lunch, by email etc.