On Friday's Early Show, CBS's Jeff Glor played up West Virginia Democrat Jay Rockefeller's browbeating of an oil company executive during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee. The Senator interrupted Chevron Corporation CEO John Watson with a sarcastic reply: "Lovely statement, but do you understand how out of touch that is?"
Glor first noted during his news brief 12 minutes into that 7 am Eastern hour that "rising energy costs are likely to be a key issue in next year's election. So on Capitol Hill yesterday, leaders of the five largest private oil companies were grilled by Senate Democrats, who want to repeal the tax breaks that oil companies get." He then played a clip of Watson's testimony right as he was cut off by the liberal politician:
ROCKEFELLER: Oh, just no- lovely statement, but do you understand how out of touch that is?
GLOR: The oil executives argue that raising their taxes could cost jobs, and they say lead to even higher gas prices.
One wonders if CBS caught on to the irony of a senator with Rockefeller as his last name acting like a populist firebrand towards the CEO of Chevron, a company which was originally known as Standard Oil Company (California).
