Continued Live Coverage From Louisiana Of The BP Oil Leak Disaster

Hi everyone. The road trip continues, now with more oil! Man, this is DEpressing. Luckily, the bullet points remain awesome. Away we go:

• While I am very loath to make Hurricane Katrina comparisons, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser is totally this disaster's Junior Rodriguez. All we need is for him to say "bullshit" live on air.

• Our anchor's piece:

• Apparently, the red tape is out of control. Ah, government. Of course, I'd take them over BP any day. Also? Kenneth the Page appears to be doing a fairly good job. He might recover from that Republican rebuttal just yet.

• I am not impressed with the ragin' cajun schtick, but I've never been a fan of James Carville to begin with. So there's that. This Newsweek piece takes on his criticism of Obama and hits on some of what has me bothered.

• The weird part is that both Nungesser and Carville swear Obama cares; he just apparently hasn't been properly informed of the situation. Um, does that make anyone else worried? Maybe heads really do need to roll, but I want them to roll because someone actually screwed up; not to give political cover. I don't know what to think of the situation right now. Friday will be interesting.

• Our anchor REALLY wants you to come to New Orleans, people.

• Anderson to Nungesser re: BP: "Do you think they have just been dishonest with you? And, if so, why? What is their motive?" Their motive? Um, covering their ass to protect their bottom line? Does anyone actually think there's another explanation?
  

• More from our anchor: "...today, just as we have done every day for weeks now, literally weeks, we invited BP's CEO, Tony Hayward, to come on 360. Again today, the answer was no. He does the morning shows. Maybe he doesn't want to stay up late. We will stay up. I will wake up early to talk to him as a service to viewers, so you can hear the company's side, because we do want the company to be able voice their side." Anderson Cooper will set his alarm for you, Tony! And aw, it's very sweet of him to be service-y like that for us.

• Still more: "We put the one and only interview we have done with a BP executive, not Mr. Hayward, online at AC360.com. Take a look at the interview. See if maybe you think I did something in that interview that would make them not want to come back on this program. I can't, for the life of me, figure it out. I did a lot of research for the interview, but I think they're up to it." Okay, please tell me this is extreme subtle snarking and he is not actually scratching his head over why Hayward won't come on the show. Perhaps, Anderson, he has seen you on the TeeVee being all impassioned and stuff and he knows you will politely rip him a new one. Like a Jedi. Does oil jerk want the big headline at Huffington Post to be "Anderson Cooper Demolishes BP's Tony Hayward"? No, he does not. Does he want a viral video of him looking a-fool? Nope. So there you go. Also, I laughed out loud when our anchor said he did a lot of research for that interview. Aw, yes you did. I swear Anderson Cooper, sometime you're just too adorable.

• Interesting interview with Zygmunt Plater.

• The ATF story was definitely important, but couldn't it have been run anytime? We still haven't gotten any coverage of Gary Tuchman in Haiti. Here's what I found online:

• I've been doing a fair amount of defending of our prez (and still don't believe this is his Katrina), but the news from Ed Henry that he attended a fundraiser for Gordon and Ann Getty of the Getty oil fortune is just unacceptable. Bad Obama, bad! If I see a picture of you with a senator and a birthday cake, you're sooo going on my list.

• Obviously Anderson and David Gergen have entered a conspiracy to drive me crazy. From our anchor: "David, you said something the other night to me which I've been thinking about a lot. You said, if we fought World War II with the same kind of attitude and energy with which the government is fighting this, a lot of us would be speaking German. Do you still believe that?" Oh good lord. Okay, I'm not a historian, but didn't we go through some massive messed up periods during WWII? Did neither of them watch Flags of Our Fathers? Or, like, any true-to-life movie/documentary on the subject? Anderson, I know you've seen Fog of War. Romanticizing the past only gets us into trouble in the present. But I guess history really is written by the victors.
  

• People are apparently emailing our anchor in defense of Obama (not me, people. I swear!). He goes on to tell us two things he thinks the federal government could have done: NOAA could have figured out how much oil was actually leaking and the EPA could have done more tests on dispersants. "Those are two things that--and again, I'm not particularly smart, but I can see on the ground here, those two things are things the federal government could have done in answer to the e- mails I'm getting." Dude. You're not particularly smart? I think that goes a little beyond self deprecation. I mean, could you have your own cable show if you weren't particularly smart? Okay, bad example. But stop saying that. It gives me sad face. Listen to me Anderson Cooper, you're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you. As for what he said about the government, would it have truly helped? Hell if I know, but we'll just assume that it would.

• The 360 kids are staying in the gulf through Friday. It'd be cool if Anderson could get an interview with Obama. I think he has a better shot at that than BP oil jerk.

• That'll do it. Sorry this post was more inside-baseball than usual. This bullet point contains Cheetos, mostly just because I'm craving Cheetos. They can't all be winners, people.