Haley Barbour takes one for the party: tells media to stop scaring tourists on Gulf Oil catastrophe ... by gimleteye

Wow. You go, Haley Barbour-- Guv'nah of Mississippi and former national GOP chairman during the Bush years. Yesterday, Haley complained that the media is creating the impression of devastation in the Gulf on account of the Gulf Oil Catastrophe. Now is Barbour taking his talking points from Mike Thomas, Orlando Sentinel columnist, or is it the other way around. Here's Thomas on May 6, 2010: "Naturally, as far as the media are concerned, this is the BIGGEST DARNED DISASTER IN THE HISTORY OF DISASTERS! The oil is going to destroy the Gulf of Mexico, wipe out 40 percent of the nation's fisheries and cripple Florida's tourism industry. Then it will head south and take out the Keys before heading north to Cocoa Beach." Here's Barbour, according to Huffington Post: "In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, the Mississippi Republican veered as close as any elected politician could to insisting that the biggest oil spill in the history of this country had been overblown -- at least when it comes to his state."

Barbour was trying out his talking point on Fox News, so maybe I was right the other day when I suggested that Thomas is auditioning for a spot on Fox. Here's Barbour: "The biggest negative impact for us has been the news coverage," Barbour added. "There has been no distinction between Grand Isle and Venice and all the places in Louisiana that we feel so terrible for that have had oil washing up on them. But to the average viewer [of] this show thinks that the whole coast from Florida to Texas is ankle-deep in oil. And of course, it's very, very bad for our tourist season. That is the real economic damage. ... The Mississippi gulf coast is beautiful. As I tell people, the coast is clear. Come on down!" Here is what Thomas wrote on April 23, 2009: "... The only shameful ploy I see in this drilling debate is opponents using outdated scare stories about oil-coated shorelines destroying our “pristine” beaches. The last offshore blowout of an American well happened 40 years ago off the Santa Barbara coast in California. Ever since, the industry has vastly improved its technology and safety record."

That editorial was written in 2009. One year later, nearly to the day, the BP Deepwater Horizon exploded in a fireball, taking 11 lives and triggering the worst environmental catastrophe in US history. Barbour and Thomas are on the same page: it is the media's fault. To late to turn back now, except for those brutal photos. If we could only close the cameras down.