I have nothing against BP.  BP was our biggest advertiser last year.  I think BP is generally one oil company that generally cares about the future of energy and reasonable use of the planet's resources.

But it must be at the VP level and down that people have a clue.  Because at the top they are Klondike Kops.

BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, not learning any lesson at all from Tony ("I want my life back") Hayward's many public relations misfires, decided to rescue his company's reputation by responding to a reporter about President Obama's comments that BP should "keep in mind those individuals, that they are desperate, may lose business that have been in their families for two or three generations" by saying ...

"We care about the small people." 

 Whew.   In case you thought that kind of term from the British energy giant would not resonate in the heartland ... well ... you are right.   The 'small people' aren't big fans of his comment ... 

"But BP does not care about us. They are so far above us. We are the nickel-and-dime folks of this world, " replied Terry Hanners, who has a small construction company in Gulf Shores, AL.

BP spokesman Toby Odone, who has been working overtime in hopes that senior BP officials would JUST STOP TALKING,  told The Associated Press in an e-mail that "it is clear that what he means is that he cares about local businesses and local people. This was a slip in translation."

I heard the guy.  He speaks better English than I do.   They need to stop talking and start spending.