Thinkprogress.org did their homework and revealed an interesting motive for the grandstanding Republicans in the House of Representatives. It’s seems Big Oil should be making big profits for a number of really good reasons:
In the past week, conservatives have jumped to the defense of Big Oil in order to justify their own push for more offshore drilling. On Sunday, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) backed up Exxon Mobil, saying that the company’s critics should be overjoyed that an “American company made money.” On Laura Ingraham’s radio show on Friday, former senator Rick Santorum said that Exxon’s record-setting quarterly profit of $11.7 billion was not “a huge profit.”
Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, Karl Rove joined in, declaring that oil companies “pay a lot in taxes.” But this new right-wing meme was too much even for Bill O’Reilly, who said that Big Oil should “donate 2 percent of their profits for the last four quarters to a fund that would help struggling Americans pay their heating bills.”
Throughout the segment, Rove acted as Big Oil’s top lobbyist. He said that O’Reilly’s proposal was unnecessary because of the federal LIHEAP grant, which provides home energy assistance to low-income families. Rove said that this funding was “probably adequate to help with most of the problem that we face this fall.”
However, President Bush and his conservative allies in Congress have repeatedly blocked funding to the program. Last November, Bush vetoed LIHEAP. Just last week, Senate Republicans successfully blocked renewed funding for the program.
It’s nice to see Bill O’Reilly’s position supporting hard hit average Americans. Whether sincere or not, he’s got the right idea.
I was also surprised by Bill O'Reilly's comments. I don't know if I like this or not, but anger at Big Oil and higher energy prices seems to be about the only issue that can unite most Americans.
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