Hotline After Dark -- Spill, Baby, Spill

"World News" led with Obama on the oil spill. "Evening News" and "Nightly News" each led with the Gulf oil spill being the biggest one ever in the U.S.

The Gulf oil spill was the talk of TV last night.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), on Pres. Obama saying "we are in charge" on day 38: "I think that's about 38 days too late. I think the point here, this is not a BP tragedy, this is an American tragedy. And I think what we should have done from day one is tell BP and every engineer and oil company in the world, we need your help to put a stop to this horrendous spill" ("Ed Show," MSNBC, 5/27).

Dem strategist Paul Begala, on Obama's Gulf visit: "I think he's got to be really careful about the bubble. This is a president who is very worried about being trapped in the bubble, that's why he kept his own blackberry. But he needs to break out and not just go where BP or even the Coast Guard suggest that he goes. They have these things ... called OTRs which is off the record, an unscheduled stop. Boy, I would do that tomorrow. I'd fire up that chopper and go to a place that nobody has any idea he's going to so he can surprise them and see what's really going on whether or not ready for him" ("Situation Room," CNN, 5/27).

Dem strategist James Carville: "I didn't think it was a good press conference, I will be honest with you. And I don't think anybody else did either" ("AC 360," CNN, 5/27).

After the jump, more on the oil spill.

More Carville, on Obama's visit: "He needs to go out there and see that and tell people that they are not going to be abandoned and tell people that the United States government is coming down with force on BP. And he is going to have them by the neck and he is not going to let them go until everything is compensated down here, until their way of life is maintained. And that's what the White House doesn't understand. They don't understand that people don't have any faith. They feel like that this government is abandoning them and is not going to stick with them through this. That's the problem" ("John King, USA," CNN, 5/27).

Washington Post's Robinson, on what Pres. Obama succeeded in doing at the oil press conference: "He succeeded in conveying a seriousness of purpose, his own engagement with the ongoing catastrophe. He eliminated any ambiguity as to what he sees his role in this, I am responsible, to me, it is my responsibility to solve this."

More Robinson: "What I think he failed to do is explain why any of the way this is working or all of the way this is working makes sense. Why does it make sense that BR is able to essentially blow off the US government when it comes to the use of the dispersants? We understand that BP, they may be the only ones who can work at the wellhead a mile down, but why is BP running the containment operation that's supposed to be trying to keep the oil from getting to the shore. That was not, I think, fully explained and I think there will be a lot more questions" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 5/27).

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Ex-FLOTUS Laura Bush went "On the Record" 5/27 p.m.

Bush, on whether female candidates like Sec/State Hillary Clinton and ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) are treated "like the men": "I don't think so, not yet. ... I hope that a Republican woman will be elected first, as president. And of course, I'd like to see a woman president in my lifetime. I'd like for my girls to get to see a woman elected to highest office."

Bush, on whether female candidates get the same media treatment as the men: "They do, except the media talks about how they look to some extent, and you don't hear that as often about the men. There's a lot of pressure on the spouse of the president to look great, to always have their hair fixed perfectly, and to have really nice clothes. It is still a little bit of lookism, I think."

Bush, on the "role" of the FLOTUS: "It is everything. You're supposed to be a great hostess. You are supposed to be informed about policy of all sorts. You're supposed to be a terrific mother, and, you know just a lot of other things, decorator who takes care of the White House."

More bush: "And actually those were all roles that I really liked. I loved living in the White House. I loved and I wrote a lot about my stewardship of the White House, how interesting it was to be able to live there with the furniture of other presidents and how much fun and how rewarding it was" (FNC, 5/27).