State of the Union: Candy Crowley's Crib Sheet for June 13

[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/04/art.candycribnew0404.cnn.jpg caption="In her Crib Sheet, CNN's Candy Crowley wraps the news from Sunday's political talk shows."]
Message:  All Right Already. He’s on it.

The White House, in the person of David Axelrod, would like you to know that the president will address the nation Tuesday evening about the oil spill.  That’s right after his third trip to the Gulf in 18 days, and right before his (Wednesday) first meeting ever with BP executives where he intends to tell BP it needs to ante up into an escrow account, to be controlled by an independent panel to pay people and businesses economically hurt by the oil gusher. Reassuringly (we think), Axelrod says he’s not going to make any judgments about the soul of BP execs.

Message:  Not Working For Them

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) can’t figure out why it took the president 7 weeks to talk to BP’s CEO because everybody else knew from Day Two whose “A-double-S” should be kicked.

Oil is washing up on Alabama’s shore and that’s not good for business, any business. Governor Bob Riley says BP ought to reimburse everyone for everything, from lost ice-cream sales on the beach to falling tax receipts to the state. This could get expensive.

Riley is no more pleased with the Obama administration than he is with BP. As it turns out, the government bureaucracy is, well, bureaucratic. Venting his frustration, the governor complained there are 14 agencies with veto power. So many people things aren’t getting done.
e.g.: Beach cleaners are sent to the scene, but OSHA holds their schedule to 20 minutes an hour in the oppressive heat. He’d like to see the 14 people making decisions be reduced to precisely …one.

Other Stuff On Sunday TV

Carly Fiorina regrets saying Barbara Boxer’s hairdo is so yesterday.

Republican House Leader John Boehner talked budget and Elvis.

Rep. James Clyburn talked elephant dung and the surprise win of an unemployed veteran with no money and no campaign to be the democratic nominee for a South Carolina senate seat.

You gotta love a Sunday when Elvis, elephant dung and “A-double-S” come up in the conversations.

David Axelrod, Senior White House Adviser, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”
“Our mission here is to hold [BP] accountable in every appropriate way, and that is what we're going to do. …I don't consider them a partner. I don't consider them - they're not social friends …I'm not looking to make judgments about their soul. I just want to make sure that they do what they're required to do.”

Rep. Mike Pence (R- Indiana), on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“He could have picked up the phone and called the CEO of BP sooner than 50 days. I'm glad he is meeting with the chairman of BP next week. But I think the fact that he never spoke to the CEO of British Petroleum for the first 50 days of this incident is emblematic of the kind of detached style of leadership that we're seeing here. Look - and this business about the president looking for somebody's A-double-S to kick this week - you know, as the New York Times this morning, I think - I think everybody in America knew on day two whose A-double-S ought to be kicked.”

Gov. Bob Riley (R- Alabama), on CNN’s “State of the Union”
Candy: “Give us an idea of who gets money from BP. Everybody?”
Riley: “Every one of them. …I don't think there is a dividing line. I don't think you can say that one group is going to get it and another one doesn't. If a restaurant in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is off 50 percent because the tourists didn't come, I think he is owed 50 percent of his revenues from last year. The same thing with anyone in these areas, because the whole economy is based on the tourist market. And when it goes away, someone's got to compensate them, because most of these people are not going to be here next year if we don't.”

Gov. Bob Riley (R- Alabama), on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“I guess the biggest concern I have today, Candy, is this, quote, unified command. What we have is a committee. It's a committee that essentially consists of all of the different federal agencies sitting down here, and as a committee, each one has a veto over whatever policies we have. You can't continue to do that. We're going to have to have one person who makes the call on what we do and where. …You can't have a committee making the decisions that are going to impact this entire coastal area. You can't have someone come in and say, well, if it gets onto the beach, we'll clean it up and we'll clean it up rapidly, and then OSHA come in and say, well, the people can't work but 20 minutes out of an hour or two hours a day, and get it cleaned up. Someone is going to have to be in charge of each one of these operations. They're going to have to make a determination about what we're going to do, and they're going to have to set priorities.”

Carly Fiorina, Senate Candidate (R-California), on “Fox News Sunday”
“Well, I was quoting a friend of mine. But look, I regret this whole situation. I gave people the opportunity to talk about something petty and superficial. And this is a very serious election year about serious issues.”

Rep. John Boehner (R- Ohio), on ABC’s “This Week”
“Every family knows that in a tough time, it's more important to have a budget, not less. If you think they're going to move a budget on Capitol Hill, you must obviously believe that Elvis is still alive.”

Rep. James Clyburn (D- South Carolina), on CNN’s “State of the Union”
“I don't see myself getting behind Mr. Greene. The fact of the matter is, of course, Candy, I never said he was a Republican plant. I said he was someone's plant. And it turned up after the elections, we found out, as I said earlier, something untoward was going on. Now all of a sudden, we see that Congressman Joe Wilson – his campaign manager, was, in fact, managing the campaign of my primary opponent. I saw the patterns in this. I know a Democratic pattern, I know a Republican pattern, and I saw in the Democratic primary elephant dung all over the place.”