Markos Moulitsas on ABC's This Week w/Jake Tapper:
TAPPER: Markos, I just want to give you one more last chance to weigh in. You've been suspiciously quiet on this roundtable so far. When the American people see what's going on in the Gulf and they see that it's not being solved, and they hold the president in charge -- the current president.
MOULITSAS: I would say that that's absolutely true, and I think the reason that sort of, Obama is slipping I think like I said is that they're afraid that yet another corporation is going to take advantage of lax regulation, it's going to take advantage of a pro-business climate and basically get away with -- maybe not murder. This is not Katrina. -- But with the defiling and the destruction of the economies and the beauty and the coastline of multiple U.S. states.
And that's the fear, because they've seen it in Wall Street. They saw Wall Street get away with it, and now they're afraid that BP is going to get away with it. Because certain companies are too big to be held accountable, and that's the problem, that's what people fear.
I don't think they want a temper-tantrum from the president. They want accountability and right now, we haven't seen that yet.
Is that true? Yep, it sure is. From the latest ABC/WaPo poll (MoE +/- 3):
In the new Post-ABC poll, those who see the spill as a disaster overwhelmingly advocate criminal charges against BP and its partners, and altogether 64 percent of Americans say the government should pursue such legal action. Most Democrats (74 percent) and independents (67 percent) support criminal investigation; Republicans divide 50 percent in favor, 44 percent opposed.
It's true even for Republicans.
Overall, the Feds do not get off easy, and BP comes across worse.
Overall, 69 percent of those polled now say the government has done a "not so good" or "poor" job handling the spill. More polled, 81 percent, give low marks to BP for its response. (Some 59 percent give negative ratings to both the federal government and BP.)
Criticism of the government and BP crosses party lines and spans the country. The Democratic discontent with the government's response today - 56 percent give it low marks - contrasts with majority GOP support for federal efforts a few weeks after Katrina stuck in 2005.
The GOP response in 2005 was nothing short of bizarre. Still, that especially speaks to today's numbers suggesting that even Republicans think BP should be the subject of a criminal investigation.
We have a name for that: bipartisanship.