Quote-nology: Key Comments About BP Oil Spill

(June 2) -- The Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster has dominated the national conversation for weeks. With every failed attempt to stop the crude from gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the tone of what's being said changes.

If nothing else works, relief wells due to be completed in August are expected to halt the flow of escaping oil. So the catastrophe may well remain the "most significant event shaping the mood of the U.S. public throughout the summer," according to The Atlantic's Chris Good.

No single item in the following chronology of quotes (call it a quote-nology or even a quote-knowledgey) sums up the complex situation. But taken together, these snapshots illustrate how the story has developed. (And click here to see time-lapse images from NASA showing how the oil slick has spread.)

April 21
The incident occurred April 20, 2010, at approximately 10 p.m. central time in the United States Gulf of Mexico. ... The cause of the fire and explosion is unknown at this time. An investigation into the cause of the incident and assessment of the damage will be ongoing in the days or weeks to come. -- First statement from Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean

April 23
I don't honestly think it opens up a whole new series of questions, because, you know, in all honesty I doubt this is the first accident that has happened and I doubt it will be the last. -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

April 29
I've been receiving frequent briefings from members of my Cabinet and White House staff, including an update last night on the additional breach and another update this morning. And while BP is ultimately responsible for funding the cost of response and cleanup operations, my administration will continue to use every single available resource at our disposal, including potentially the Department of Defense, to address the incident. -- President Barack Obama in his first public remarks about the spill

You do survive these things. I'm not advocating don't care about it hitting the shore or coast and whatever you can do to keep it out of there is fine and dandy, but the ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and was left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is. -- Rush Limbaugh on his radio show

May 2
So our job is to keep the boot on the neck of BP to ensure it meets its obligations. -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar

May 3
This is exactly what they want, because now [Obama] can pander to the environmentalists and say, 'I'm gonna shut it down because it's too dangerous.' This president has never supported big oil, he's never supported offshore drilling, and now he has an excuse to shut it back down. -- Michael Brown, FEMA director during Hurricane Katrina, on Fox News

May 11
There's not somewhere on a dock in Annapolis a secret submarine that will fix this leak. I don't mean that to be funny. I mean that it is -- the president has asked that everything in our power be done. Everything in our power is being done. The frustration that the president has is that, despite all of that, and despite the efforts of others, there still continues to be a very large oil leak. -- Gibbs

May 14
The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume. -- Tony Hayward, CEO of BP, which leased the oil rig

May 16
There's a good question today if you are standing on the gulf, and that is: Where is the oil? ... It's not on -- except for little of chunks of it, you're not even seeing it on the shore yet. -- Fox News political analyst Brit Hume

May 19
The oil is here. It is on our shores and in our marsh. -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after touring southern Plaquemines Parish

May 21
What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP.' I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business. ... And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be someone's fault instead of the fact that sometimes accidents happen. -- Rand Paul, GOP candidate for U.S. Senate from Kentucky.

I don't know why all the submarines in our fleet aren't down there. It would seem to me that Captain Nemo back in the 19th century in fiction would have been able to get down there and fix it with soldering irons and blow torches and filling up that pipe, or with cement or gravel or whatever it takes to put on top of that, just start dumping it there with our big tankers. I don't know why we're not doing it. -- MSNBC's Chris Matthews

May 26
The political stupidity is unbelievable. -- Democratic strategist James Carville, criticizing the Obama administration on ABC

BP is not the equal of the United States government. This president needs to tell BP 'I'm your daddy, I'm in charge, you're going to do what we say.' -- Carville on CNN

May 27
You know, when I woke up this morning and I'm shaving, and Malia knocks on my bathroom door and she peeks in her head and she says, 'Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?' -- President Obama

In case you're wondering who's responsible, I take responsibility. It is my job to make sure that everything is done to shut this down. -- President Obama

May 29
I am disappointed this operation did not work. The team executed the operation perfectly and the technology worked without a single hitch. -- Hayward in a statement about the failed "top kill" attempt

May 30
We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives. There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back. -- Hayward in a CNN interview

June 1
If laws were broken, leading to death and destruction, my solemn pledge is, we will bring those responsible to justice. -- President Obama