They Say It So Much It Just Has To Be True
The scary myth of Chinese oil drilling off Florida
"Amid the heated debate over whether to open more U.S. territory for energy exploration, a handful of congressional Republicans continue to repeat a "fact" that has been thoroughly disproven -- that China is drilling for oil just off the coast of Florida.
The survival of the China drilling factoid is a good illustration of the D.C. echo chamber. The idea that such drilling was occurring gained big media attention when Vice President Cheney said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that "oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we're not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply."
Cheney cited as a source a June 5 column by George F. Will, and several other Republicans had repeated the charge by the time Cheney said it. But Will has since corrected his original assertion, saying: "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." Cheney's office has also acknowledged it wasn't true.
But the idea that communist China and Cuba have teamed up to drill oil just off Florida while the U.S. sits out the game has proven to be just too juicy not to repeat. The blog TPMElection Central has been gleefully tracking the number of congressional Republicans who keep making the same assertion."
Ooops, there goes another one
"We now have our eleventh big-name Republican spreading the China-Cuba Oil Myth -- the idea that we need to drill offshore because the Chinese are already grabbing our oil in concert with Cuba. Even Dick Cheney retracted this claim three weeks ago.
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican in a tough race against Al Franken, made the claim yesterday when speaking to a local reporter at an event in Mankato, Minnesota."
"Amid the heated debate over whether to open more U.S. territory for energy exploration, a handful of congressional Republicans continue to repeat a "fact" that has been thoroughly disproven -- that China is drilling for oil just off the coast of Florida.
The survival of the China drilling factoid is a good illustration of the D.C. echo chamber. The idea that such drilling was occurring gained big media attention when Vice President Cheney said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that "oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we're not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply."
Cheney cited as a source a June 5 column by George F. Will, and several other Republicans had repeated the charge by the time Cheney said it. But Will has since corrected his original assertion, saying: "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." Cheney's office has also acknowledged it wasn't true.
But the idea that communist China and Cuba have teamed up to drill oil just off Florida while the U.S. sits out the game has proven to be just too juicy not to repeat. The blog TPMElection Central has been gleefully tracking the number of congressional Republicans who keep making the same assertion."
Ooops, there goes another one
"We now have our eleventh big-name Republican spreading the China-Cuba Oil Myth -- the idea that we need to drill offshore because the Chinese are already grabbing our oil in concert with Cuba. Even Dick Cheney retracted this claim three weeks ago.
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican in a tough race against Al Franken, made the claim yesterday when speaking to a local reporter at an event in Mankato, Minnesota."
posted by patootie at 10:34 PM
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