Fox Floats A New Conspiracy Theory That Obama Let the Gulf Oil Leak Happen

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Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:01 pm

A brand new Obama/oil leak conspiracy theory is making the rounds courtesy of Fox News and Fox Business. The network is alleging that Obama intentionally let the oil leak so that he could ban offshore drilling. Eric Bolling said, “Are you sure they didn’t let it leak so he could renege on his promise to, to, to allow some offshore drilling?”

Here is the video of Eric Bolling on Fox Business courtesy of Media Matters:

Bolling floated his conspiracy theory to Alan Comes that Obama didn’t really want to stop the leak, “Let me ask you this, alright, Alan, day one. That leak came and BP said there’s about 42,000 gallons — 1,000 barrels a day were leaking. About day nine, they said, you know, it looks like it’s going to be 5,000 barrels per day, 210,000 gallons. Today, day 38, we find it’s likely a million gallons a day. Had the Obama administration gone in there, sent the Army Corps of Engineers into that hole, into that — the, the, the dig, and find out that there’s a million gallons a day, and BP had no way of stopping this, they may have started then, not day 38.”

He then asked Colmes, “Are you sure they didn’t let it leak so he could renege on his promise to, to, to allow some offshore drilling?” Colmes responded by mocking Bolling for going all black helicopter, “Oh, that’s what — it’s a big conspiracy. Hey, there’s a black helicopter. Yeah, it’s all about reneging on a permit, that’s right.”

Bolling was also on Fox News floating the same theory with Neal Cavuto:

Cavuto said, “I don’t want to sound too jaded or cynical, but do you think a lot of this was baked into the energy cake? I don’t know. This accident happened as horrific as it was and is, and it provided a very good excuse to just say no, no to drill baby drill.” In case you don’t understand the conspiracy theory, here it is. After supporting expanding offshore drilling since the 2008 presidential campaign, and announcing an expansion of offshore drilling recently, suddenly, Obama changed his mind, and when the explosion occurred in the Gulf, he saw his chance to go back on his word and get rid of offshore drilling.

Like most conspiracy theories, this one when closely examined makes no sense. Obama announced at the beginning of April an expansion of offshore drilling, so why would he suddenly change his mind? The President of the United States doesn’t need a disaster in the Gulf to change his position offshore drilling, and the idea that Obama would let the Gulf Coast be ruined so that he could reverse course on a policy decision is absurd. The only people dumber than these conspiracy theories are the people on Fox News who are advancing them. This one has no logic, no merit, and it makes no sense.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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