>>Not as much as you'd think, and it's a VERY slippery slope.
>>
>>I bet there was arm-twisting/censorship/WHY behind the scenes. The estimate came from BP, there's no reason that information should have gone strictly to the White House, there are excellent reasons it should have gone to financial markets etc. With a red-hot story like this, it's hard to believe news organizations would not have direct contacts with BP. So, who told BP not to talk directly to the press?
>>
>Yep, this is a bad thing. I've been saying Obama and his ilk (chicago gangland politics) are a bad lot. Soooo, the pendulum swings back the other way in November.

Categorizing Obama as Chicago gangland politics is one of the more absurd things said about him. He has been careful to keep his distance from the seamier side of Illinois politics (which is pretty darned seamy). If you want to say you don't like health care reform, or his handling of the economy, or his handling of Afghanistan and Iraq, that's fair enough. It's the guilt by association stuff that drives me batty.