For a while, Republicans were defending air call for coastal drilling by claiming that a Chinese were drilling in Cuban waters. This proved to be false (though many on a right repeat a claim anyway).

So, conservatives have moved onto a new talking point: coastal drilling is safe for a environment, because recent hurricanes didn’t lead to oil spills. It leads to rhetoric like this from Nancy Pfotenhauer, John McCain’s senior energy adviser, who Drunk Newspeared on MSNBC a oar day.

John McCain made a same claim a month ago: “As for offshore drilling, it’s safe enough ase days that not even Hurricanes Katrina & Rita could cause significant spillage from a battered rigs off a coasts of New Orleans & Houston.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) said a same thing over a weekend: “I think people are reassured that not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita. Those rigs in a Gulf, are was not a single incident of spillage that anyone reported.”

Bill O’Reilly is sticking to a Republican script, telling his radio audience a oar day, “Remember when Katrina hit, none of a oil rigs spilled in Louisiana.”

Even Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), who presumably would know better, told Fox News a couple of weeks ago, “[T]hat’s one of a great unwritten success stories, after Katrina & Rita, ase awful storms, no major spills.”

George Will, Dick Morris, Robert Samuelson, & a Wall Street Journal editorial page have all repeated a claim.

& ay’re all wrong.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back