Comedy of Errors at Gulf Oil Spill Commission's First Hearing

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 14, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: The commission established by the president to get to the bottom of the Gulf oil spill seems to be off to a slow start. Now setback by allegations that its members have a left-wing environmental agenda, the commission finally held its first hearings this week.

Now, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar sent the commission into a tizzy when he indicated in a statement that he would look for them for information to back up the administration's offshore drilling moratorium. It turns out the commission was explicitly told by the Interior Department that it would not be asked to provide such information and commission co-chair, William Reilly, said, quote, "We're 10 minutes old. The idea we'd have a near-term responsibility to make recommendations on policy was not our understanding."

So, three months after the oil spill began, the commission is going back to the Interior Department to, quote, "try and clarify what is our responsibility and how we're going to carry it out."

Now, the meanwhile, commission hearing itself devolved into a series of ridiculous moments with one witness who claimed to represent the communist party and another who took it upon themselves to pull out his guitar and sing a tune about the spill.

So, is the commission anything more than a comedy of errors? And if so, what are its members up to?

And joining me now with reaction is the author of the number one New York Times best seller, "The Culture of Corruption," Michelle Malkin, is back.

I like the guitar thing the best. Michelle, your reaction?

MICHELLE MALKIN, "THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION" AUTHOR: Well, yes, they're turning this oil spill disaster into eco Woodstock now. I thought you're going to play some video of it — which I think every taxpayer should see where their money is going.

I don't think there was any doubt from the very beginnings of this commission that it was going to be a dog and pony show. And so, why should these members be shocked that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is coming to them and telling them to bark and neigh like the dog and pony farm that he thought that they would be. I mean, that's — that's what they wanted out of this all along.

And I have to say, the last time we visited this subject of — this moratorium, we pointed out the junk science that undergirded Ken Salazar's power grab in this. And now, of course, he's been rejected by the judge in New Orleans, as well as the fifth circuit court of appeals. And they're still pressing ahead with this so-called modified moratorium that neither Republicans nor Democrats in that region support.

And that to me is what is so important here, is that now he's trying to use this commission as his new voodoo doctors to try and back him up on it.

HANNITY: Did you prepare this statement? I mean, that is well stated, well said.

All right. But the fact — the fact that they are now going back and specifically looking for something from the commission that they initially told them they weren't going to do, tells me that, you know, like with everything else involving this oil spill, is we're now going to hit the 100-day mark that this is all about an environmental agenda. So, isn't that what we got to be concerned about?

MALKIN: Absolutely. And you have to look at the members of this panel which, by the way, as I said, is both Republicans and now some Senate Democrats who are objecting to the whole make-up of this panel because what you have essentially is an entire group of people who have zero expertise in engineering, zero expertise in the nuts and bolts of what's going on here. And you have to look at the staff, which is filled with environmental nitwits and eco radicals who have long opposed offshore drilling.

HANNITY: All right. But now, when we look at the individual backgrounds of these commission members, they all have this extreme environmental agenda.

My only problem here is, how does this help us clean up the beaches? How does this help us — you know, we don't know if BP is going to be successful with this new cap. We hope that they are successful. The oil still come ago shore. Wildlife is being destroyed, the fishing industry, the tourism industry. It seems to me like, you know, their focus — their agenda ought to be the cleanup. It ought to be stopping the oil spill. Why aren't we focused on that?

MALKIN: Well, because this is environmental kabuki theater — as we all knew it was from the very start. I mean, you look at the make-up again of this panel — you have somebody there who was a big official in the NRDC, the National Resource Defense Council. For decades, this far left radical group has opposed corporations, industry, has ginned up environmental hysteria over so many issues and is opposed squarely to any offshore drilling. There are other members of this panel who have written books and who have crusaded publicly for years against drilling offshore.

HANNITY: So, now the big question is: We are 111 days out of an election. What impact will their lack of response have on the election, in your view?

MALKIN: Well, I think we're seeing it already, and that is — it's not just something that redounds to the benefit of conservatives or Republicans. This is not a partisan issue. And that's why you have someone like Mary Landrieu, the Democrat senator, who is out there complaining about the effects on jobs and the economy in that area of this ill-considered and illegal moratorium.

HANNITY: Yes. Well, I think it's going to be devastating. I think it sort of adds to this narrative that maybe Barack Obama ran a great campaign, maybe he reads a good teleprompter. But when it actually comes to governing and solutions, they're not so effective, which is why you don't see Democrats coming up with a strategy for the campaign where they're going to run on their record. They're not going to run on their record on job creation, they can't. They're not going to run on their record on efficiency, look at the oil spill. They're not going to run on a foreign policy record because they haven't accomplished anything. So, I think this —

MALKIN: Yes.

HANNITY: Go ahead.

MALKIN: That's right. And much to the horror of Democrats in the House, they are finally realizing that Obama is for Obama only and that's why you see this dysfunction and this complete chaos on Capitol Hill now and the infighting that is now marking the left in the Democratic Party.

HANNITY: Yes, which is why I think Republicans should avoid it like in the case of Michael Steele.

But, Michelle, always good to see you. Thank you for being with us.

MALKIN: Thanks, Sean.

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