thoughts on the BP oil spill. The paper reported that Flores said BP and the government should have aggressively tried to kill the well and used berms to protect the coast but he cautioned about rushing to judgment."
Flores added I dont think its helpful at this point to be having a bunch of Congressional hearings and trying to make victims out of the companies involved until weve got the well killed weve got the oil spill cleaned up and then we begin to do the post-mortem on what happened and try to make sure that we have the right kinds of regulations in the future."
Though somewhat convoluted Flores answer seemed reasonable and innocuous. Subsequent congressional hearings predictably amounted to political grand-standing doing nothing to stop the leak nor lessen the damage of the on-going tragedy…no news flash there.
Though for incumbent Chet Edwards early in a general election cycle it was enough to slice up and launch into a smear campaign.
Seizing on a segment of Flores statement I dont think its helpful at this point to be having a bunch of Congressional hearings and trying to make victims out of the companies involved" the Edwards camp intentionally misrepresents Mr. Flores.
On June 7 Edwards said
…it is shameful that Mr. Flores is worried about protecting BP from being seen as a victim. As a recently retired Houston offshore oil executive Mr. Flores might not know who the victims of this tragedy are but the American people certainly do. Mr. Flores might spend his time worrying about BP being victimized but I am a lot more interested in helping the true hard-working victims along our Gulf Coast.
The entirety of Edwards press release is more of the same manufacturing political opportunism out of thin air. The rather obvious idea is to associate Flores who happens to be a former CEO of an oil and gas exploration company with BP. Paint BP who is in the oil business as bad. Bill Flores was in the oil business thus he is bad too. Interestingly the release which was titled Flores looking out for BP Rather Than Real Victims of Oil Spill Tragedy" was originally credited to Phillip Martin. (The link to the PDF file has since been changed on Edwards website.) The same day Martin also posted the release word for word as a story on the popular blogsite The Burnt Orange Report leaving it unclear as to who provided the story to whom. Martin one of BORs primary contributors added Bill Flores defending BP? Good luck explaining that one for the next five months Bill..." By June 9 the story was spreading picked-up by the left leaning Waco Tribune-Herald. Their version begins "U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards D-Waco hammered GOP opponent Bill Flores this week for warning against Congress trying to make
victims out of the companies involved" in the BP oil spill."
From there as happens by design the story is picked-up by not only the blogosphere but by national news outlets in this instance CNN and USA Today among others.
Now that a narrative has been created Edwards and his team clearly intend to continue using it they need only wait for more ammo. On June 15 in an interview with KBTX in Bryan Flores approached the subject further and Edwards got his next chance.
KBTX reported Tuesday the Republican…criticized the oil company at the center of the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico as well as the Obama administration for its response."
Referring to BP Flores said I think they have done a reasonably good job in trying to kill that well under very adverse circumstances. On the other hand the clean-up efforts that theyve gone through have been woefully inadequate at this point. Further the station stated he said oil companies are supposed to have plans in place for bad spills but the response they have shown is not adequate in his opinion."
Okay now that we now the system and can play along finding Edwards next opportunity waiting in Flores overall statement is relatively easy.
Edwards press release of June 17 in response? Bill Flores Is Wrong to Say 
BP Is Doing a Reasonably Good Job" of Stopping Oil Spill".
This one includes these gems; Mr. Flores is sounding more like the CEO of BP rather than someone who will stand up for our district and the people of the Gulf Coast." And He seems to be putting the interests of BP and those who caused this tragedy above the interests of everyday citizens who have been hit so hard by this terrible oil spill." Huh???
Note the artful use of language such as might spend his time" sounding like" and seems to be" interlaced with the constant drumbeat of Bill Flores equals BP and all that is evil. Once again the Waco paper and various blogsites pick-up on the story" and the cycle is repeated. Each time the false narrative being reinforced built up for the battles ahead.
For good measure the Edwards team also put a video on their website showing Flores repeating the reasonably good job" line while flashing ugly scenes from the spill though it is rather amateurish.
As for the BOR though at a glance it may appear a simple enterprise by a few UT-Austin students it is reported to be a well funded full-time operation. The site is known for pulling a tremendous amount of links and is rated as one of the top political blogs in the country.
The BOR and other sites like it are linked into what I like to call The Web of 
Communication and Manipulation" serving a critical role in creating and distributing what passes for information to the public.
Hopefully voters in the 17th are savvy enough to reject being played down to by Edwards.
Not to mention the manipulation of the leftist enterprises involved in his shenanigans.
