Sunday Talk Shows All Start With BP Hayward's Yachting, Ignore Obama's Golfing

As NewsBusters previously reported, America's media on Saturday had a collective hissy fit over BP CEO Tony Hayward having the nerve to participate in a yacht race on his day off.

At the same time, no such outrage was expressed concerning President Obama and Vice President Biden going golfing.

This double standard continued Sunday as the three broadcast network political talk shows all began with Hayward's yacht outing while ignoring the President's R&R on the links.

What follows are videos and transcripts of the opening segments of ABC's "This Week," CBS's "Face the Nation," and NBC's "Meet the Press": 

JAKE TAPPER, HOST: Hello, and happy Father's Day. Joining me this morning, the president's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Emanuel, happy Father's Day.

RAHM EMANUEL, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Before we start the questions, I'm interested in your reactions to photographs from Saturday's BP CEO Tony Hayward at a yacht race off the Isle of Wight in the clean waters off southern England. What goes through your mind when you see those pictures?

BOB SCHIEFFER: Today on FACE THE NATION, the wind is pushing the oil to the Panhandle of Florida now. How much worse can it get? And while the oil keeps on gushing, Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, took a break and went yachting in cleaner waters off the coast of England. Is it time for him to go? Is the twenty billion dollars BP has put in escrow enough to meet the damage claims? Just two of many questions for Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, who toured the region yesterday; Florida Senator Bill Nelson; Congressman Joseph Cao of Louisiana and Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment Committee. I'll have a final word today on the high price of gas. But first, Day 62 of the Disaster in the Gulf.

ANNOUNCER: FACE THE NATION with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob

Schieffer. And now from CBS News in Washington, Bob Schieffer.

BOB SCHIEFFER: And, good morning, again. Senator Shelby is joining us today from Mobile. Senator Boxer is in San Francisco. Congressman Cao in New Orleans and Senator Nelson is with us here in the studio. Welcome to you all. Well, Senator Shelby, you were all over the Gulf Coast region yesterday. Did you run into any yacht racing down there? 

MR. DAVID GREGORY: This Sunday, disaster in the Gulf with no end in sight and a looming summer of oil. Was this the defining week in the Gulf Coast crisis? The issues: containment of the oil and cleanup, holding BP accountable, the impact on the Obama presidency, the future of offshore drilling, and will Washington think big about finding other sources of energy? This morning, our special discussion. With us, Kenneth Feinberg, the independent administrator of the BP oil spill victim compensation fund; Mississippi's governor, Republican Haley Barbour; Louisiana senator, Democrat Mary Landrieu; the chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts; the former president of the Shell Oil Company, John Hofmeister; and "BBC World News America"'s Katty Kay.

Announcer: From NBC News in Washington, MEET THE PRESS, with David Gregory.

MR. GREGORY: Good morning. After BP's Tony Hayward turned in a poor performance on Capitol Hill this week, he appears to have made matters worse by attending a yacht race over the weekend, drawing yet more criticism from many on the Gulf Coast and beyond who feel that the oil company's chief executive has been sorely out of touch since this disaster began 62 days ago.

That's what hockey fans call a hat trick!

Nice going, folks.

Of course, no one is defending Hayward's poor public relations move here.

Instead, if media are going to spend so much time on his yacht outing making the case that it shows how detached he is from his company's crisis, the same MUST be said of a President that is golfing as millions of gallons of oil slam into HIS nation's coast.

Without similar scorn, our press are just once again demonstrating their infamous double standard -- not that we're at all surprised.

*****Update: Hot Air's Ed Morrissey calls this the Obamateurism of the Day!

Normally, I'd say that Presidents deserve their occasional down time, especially considering the enormous pressures that come with the office. However, Obama himself put the Gulf spill on the level of 9/11 in terms of its impact on the US. If he wants to make that argument, then the President needs to act like he believes it. Golfing more days than Gulfing looks just as bad as yachting while others attempt to stop the damage. 

An Instapundit reader sent Glenn Reynolds a rather humorous picture concerning this matter.