Northern Exposure of the Day

"I repeat the slogan 'drill here, drill now' not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills." -- Excerpt from a posting titled "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe" on the Facebook page of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caught fire.

Not surprisingly, there are multiple offensive aspects of Palin's comments on Facebook. First and foremost, while she has used the expression "drill here and drill now" in the past, she is much more closely associated with the tag line "Drill, baby, drill". (Palin uttered both phrases at last month's Southern Republican Leadership Conference: "Let's drill, baby, drill. Not stall, baby, stall. We need to give it all we've got. Drill here and drill now.") With that being said, it is extremely interesting to witness Palin avoid the casual and folksy "drill, baby, drill" when commenting on an oil spill which is affecting millions of individuals and animals.

But despite that suffering by the inhabitants (man and beast alike) of the Gulf Coast, Palin felt the need to discuss her resume during that same Facebook posting: "It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry. This was the position I took as an oil and gas regulator and as Governor of Alaska." Palin also tapped into the fear apparently living inside all Republicans by stating "We need oil and, if we don’t drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us but also do not have the oversight that America has". (The only thing Palin was missing from those remarks was the phrase '9/11'.")

Palin does mention on Facebook that, as Governor of Alaska, she "instituted new oversight and held British Petroleum (BP) financially accountable for poor maintenance practices". This is somewhat of a surprise considering the connection between BP and Palin's husband Todd. BP, which leased the damaged oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, employed Todd for approximately twenty years until his resignation in September 2009. What is not a shock is Palin's omission of Halliburton from her posting. In case you have been living under a rock for the last 10+ years, Halliburton, which assisted in building the oil rig, was honored by having Dick Cheney as its CEO and Chairman of the Board from 1995 to 2000.