Memo To Right-wingers: Gulf Spill Isn't An 'Excuse' To Suspend Drilling Permits -- It's A Reason

[Cross-posted at Crooks and Liars.]

As part of his press conference yesterday, President Obama announced that he was suspending drilling permits for offshore oil temporarily, until environmental officials were able to assess the safety of these operations, now that the consequences of failing to do so are manifesting themselves in the Gulf.

This had Neil Cavuto and Eric Bolling at Fox News in a tizzy yesterday, complaining that the price of oil had already risen on the Obama's news, and fearing that we might again see $5-a-gallon gas this summer as a result.

Cavuto: I don't want to sound too jaded or cynical, but -- do you think a lot of this was baked into the energy cake. In other words, this accident happened, horrific as it was and is, and it -- it provided a very good excuse to just say "no, no" to "drill, baby, drill".

Evidently, Cavuto still believes "drill baby drill" is a good idea.

But maybe he can explain to us the difference between "an obviously sound reason" and an "excuse".

Because with Obama's decision on drilling yesterday, those twenty-mile-long plumes of oil now in the Gulf are clearly the former.

Most of all, it leaves the proponents of "drill baby drill" without the latter.