Gov. Palin Discusses Obama's BP Speech on O'Reilly Factor

Video retrieved from Fox News

Governor Palin discussed Obama's eight-week-long non-response to the BP oil rig disaster with Bill O'Reilly today, as she called for energy independence and government working with energy companies to verify the their statements and hold them accountable for their actions.

Use Conventional and Alternative Sources, Don't Let Industry Players Define Facts

Gov. Palin said that we must drill here, simultaneously pursuing alternatives. We cannot be dependent on enemy nations who we must then supplicate to ramp up production for us. She said that we cannot let industry players define facts, which is precisely what eight weeks of bureaucratic malaise has accomplished.

Stop the Leak; Don't use as Excuse to pursue Cap and Tax

When questioned about solutions, Gov. Palin said, "stop the gusher!" She continued that stopping the leak has not been Obama's highest priority, but apparently cap and tax is. "He's using the crisis to increase the cost of energy," Gov. Palin said. "We cannot trust BP to stop the leak and government has not been able to stop it in eight weeks," she added.

O'Reilly said, "there's not a governor in the United States that has more experience in dealing with the oil companies than you do." He asked Gov. Palin what she would have done.

Solutions

"The Obama administration should have accepted the assistance of foreign countries and entrepreneurs who wanted to help. They cannot even get a phone call returned! The Dutch and Norwegians are known for cleaning up spills and they can't even get a phone call back. That's what they're telling us. A company in Maine has absorbents and booms" and is ready to go, but this administration eight weeks later has not purchased anything Gov. Palin said.

Big Government the Problem. BP Response No Different than Katrina

"We saw the same thing though with Katrina didn't we, so I'm not going to point fingers and make this a partisan issue at all. That is the problem we have in government, not necessarily being prepared, because our priorities are wrong."

National Security, Safety Should be Top Priority

"National security, safety of the people needs to be the top priority. That's what we need to be funding, instead of funding these other things on the periphery that get in the way of private enterprise to produce, thrive and prosper," Gov. Palin said. "Our priorities in national government have been screwed up," she continued.

Gov. Palin estimated that she spent 75% of her gubernatorial time on energy issues.

I had to set up our Petroleum Systems Integrity Office so that we could be there on the front lines making sure what the oil companies were telling us was legit, when they were dealing with their corroded pipes that we found out and other lax maintenance issues. It took us putting that as our highest priority to protect our resources, protect our environment, including not just the physical, but the human environment in the final frontier, she said.

"We cannot demonize the energy companies to the extent that they go under. We have to work with them to verify everything that is and hold them accountable for all that they have done in this situation," Gov. Palin concluded.