Congressional Report Claims Obama Administration Misled About Oil Spill Efforts

Chris Field | July 02, 2010 11:42 AM

In an item that's sure to surprise -- well -- no one (except, perhaps, those most sold out to our Hopenchange president), CNSNews reporter and Townhall magazine contributing editor Fred Lucas

reports that maybe the White House wasn't being totally straight with the American people about the efforts to clean up the BP spill in the Gulf.

Billy Nungesser, president of New Orleans’ Plaquemines Parish, sensed that a chart showing 140 oil skimmers at work -- a chart given to him by BP and the Coast Guard -- was “somewhat inaccurate.” So, Nungesser asked to fly over the spill to verify the number.

The flyover was cancelled three times before those officials admitted that just 31 of the 140 skimmers were actually deployed.

The incident is detailed in a report released Thursday by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Republicans say the report provides evidence that the Obama administration misrepresented the assets devoted to the cleanup, misrepresented the timing of when government officials knew there was an oil spill and misrepresented the level of control the government had over the matter. It also claims the Obama administration seemed more interested in public relations than cleaning the mess and plugging the hole.

Pretty sure our mothers would call it "lying," but in DC parlance, it's just "misleading."