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The world of Washington spin
Sen. Ken Salazar, who has one of the more active and imaginative press operations of any politician we deal with, apparently was alarmed Monday when he got wind that we were doing a story and an editorial about his objection to offshore drilling even if gas prices rise to $10 a gallon.
We were tipped to the senator’s comments on the Senate floor by readers who were not happy with the senator’s position on offshore drilling.
The Salazar spin machine revved into high gear, telling reporter Gary Harmon that the senator’s comments were not a story at all (we disagreed) and telling Editorial Page Editor Bob Silbernagel that the youtube video of the senator objecting to offshore drilling was heavily edited and had the entire video been posted viewers would see that his real position is that any offshore drilling has to be tied to development of renewable energy sources.
To prove that, Salazar’s main press guy, Matt Lee-Ashley, said he would provide the rest of the video and we could see for ourselves that the senator is in favor of offshore drilling that is tied to renewable energy development. We took the guy at his word and inserted a line saying as much in the editorial.
We should have listened to the video first. Here it is. We’ve listened to it a number of times and nowhere do we hear Sen. Salazar saying he’s for offshore drilling if we also develop renewable energy sources.
To the contrary, we hear nothing but what Democrats have been saying all along: Developing new offshore oil is a waste of time because if we begin today it will take years and years before any of it comes on-line and then it will have minimal effect on pump prices. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.
What we are sure of is that the Washington spin machine is an Alice in Wonderlandian behemoth, one that pays little attention to facts.
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