Papantonio: We Wouldn't See $20 Billion in a Case Like This for Decades

[babylonsister]

I have to say, I loved this interview from Ed yesterday. Video at link...

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/node/37801

Papantonio: We Wouldn't See $20 Billion in a Case Like This for Decades
By Heather Thursday Jun 17, 2010 10:00am


Ed Schultz wonders if BP's commitment to "make the small people" whole again will still be there three years from now. Mike Papantonio thinks that it was smart of President Obama to get a $20 billion down payment on the commitment instead of waiting for them to slow walk everyone in the courts.

Papantonio: We wouldn't see $20 billion in a case like this, all you've got to do is look at Exxon, it would be decades before the legal system would be able to render anything close.

...It's unprecedented to have a leader that says we don't trust you and we want your money now. To do this in the legal system is almost impossible. You can't go back and find an example of this kind of leadership yielding this kind of money in any legal setting in America.

Pap had a lot of praise for President Obama's speech and for the actions he's taking now. I don't care about speeches. I care about what action he takes and getting this oil contained and cleaned up. This was definitely a step in the right direction but there's a long way to go.

[WeDidIt]

1. Obama knew the score

So does Joe Barton and the GOP.

Barton was floating a possible talking point to see if it would pass.

It failed.

Now the GOP is in a panic over how badly it failed because Obama already had a huge win with the escrow account.

[gateley]

2. This agreement is just HUGE, and probably indicates BP knows they're screwed

and that they're not going to get the same chummy treatment from Obama as they did from Cheney.

[glitch]

3. Pap would know, I trust his opinion. K & R (this one is getting urecced fast, interesting) nt

[spiritual_gunfighter]

4. Yep its all about actions now

Screw the flowery speeches about prayer.

[WI_DEM]

5. As usual the media underestimated Obama; criticizing his speech and then

the next day he comes up with this and says it's just the beginning.

[WeDidIt]

6. And by playing it the way he did

Obama had the $20 billion esrcrow fund floated for days, inviting the criticism of the same nutburgers who call him a socialist prior to the deal being cut.

Now, the GOP cannot claim the credit for it being done.

[Cha]

12. That's right..they can claim credit for trying to kiss up to Big

Oil while the Gulf Residents are suffering.

[Cha]

11. Wonder if Obama was keeping in mind the way

the people of Alaska got stiffed by Exxon and the Supreme Court when he got this money from BP?

[zipplewrath]

7. It's a very good thing

I'm a frequent critic around here of the president. But I gotta say, this one was pretty good. It helps of course that BP is cooperative, but this was a damn good idea. And really we out to figure out in the long run how to make this relatively standard for various incidents like this. Could be a form of "tort reform". Wouldn't THAT piss of the GOP. Keep a few lawyers out of the way too.

[depakid]

8. People would do well to read DU'er statistical's analysis in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4430693&mesg_id=4430693

From what I can tell, a lot of people here don't have a good grasp of what's actually been done.

[Cha]

9. "Supreme Court drastically cuts payouts for plaintiffs in Exxon Valdez oil spill "

<snip>

"Hopes of fishermen throughout Washington and Alaska were sunk Wednesday when the Supreme Court slashed the amount of punitive damages that Exxon must pay for the epic Exxon Valdez oil spill nearly two decades ago.

The high court, in a 5-3 decision, found that punitive damages could not be larger than the compensatory damages for actual losses from the spill, which totaled $507.5 million.

The justices rejected the amount — $2.5 billion — that a federal appeals court had granted to be shared by 32,677 plaintiffs who had claimed damages from the worst oil spill in U.S. history, including fishermen, Alaska natives, local businesses and others."

<much more>
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008018035_exxon26m.html

[depakid]

10. And in all likelihood, simlar things are going to happen here.

when they do, don't be surprised.