UPDATE: Palin has made her first comments on the spill, scroll down to see.
More than a week has passed since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers, injuring over a dozen more, and causing a massive oil spill that may eclipse the Exxon Valdez.
Yet the two most prominent political champions of offshore drilling -- Sarah Palin and Michael Steele -- appear not to have uttered a word about the incident.
Not that either one of them has been completely silent. Sarah Palin has published four new messages on her Facebook page since the initial explosion, including a post on Thursday titled "The Straight-talking 'Hockey Dad' with a Message for Reform" and another defending Rev. Franklin Graham after he was asked not to attend a Pentagon prayer event.
Likewise, Michael Steele has issued at least six statements over the past week, including one on a new Republican National Committee web video, "Mr. Obama's Wild Ride."
And yet, if they do comment, it's hard to imagine that Palin and Steele would take the same tone that they've typically used when discussing offshore drilling.
"Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!" Steele memorably chanted at the Republican National Convention in 2008. "Do you want to put your country first? Then let's make decisions about our security based on what keeps us safe and not on what's politically correct," he told the crowd.
And during that year's vice presidential debate, Palin told Joe Biden, "You even called drilling -- safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore -- as raping the outer continental shelf. There -- with new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that."
UPDATE: At 10:40AM ET on Friday, Sarah Palin made her first comment on the oil spill, posting the following on Twitter: "Having worked/lived thru Exxon oil spill,my family&I understand Gulf residents' fears.Our prayers r w/u.All industry efforts must b employed"
