Top five video moments from the BP oil spill

This summer's BP oil disaster was historic in both its scale and duration. But it was also a source of riveting public discussion, much of it captured on video that received lots of buzz. Here are, in our opinion, five of the more memorable video moments of the spill:

1. Rep. Charlie Melancon breaks down: Melancon -- whose district covers many of the coastal Louisiana parishes hit hardest by the spill -- broke down during a House Energy subcommittee meeting on May 27 while talking about the damage the spill has caused:

2. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao suggests BP officials should commit suicide: At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the BP oil spill, Cao -- another Louisiana congressman whose constituent's lives were disrupted by the spill -- spelled out to BP America President Lamar McKay the Japanese tradition of harakiri, while advising members of the BP brass consider the practice. Ritual suicide, the congressman explained, permitted disgraced high-ranking public figures to save face and stave off dishonor to their heirs and families:

3. Fisherman's wife speaks out: Kindra Arnesen, the wife of a fisherman from Venice, Louisiana, rose from obscurity to become the voice of outraged coastal citizens during the spill. This speech in particular -- detailing the health problems that she, her family and her neighbors all faced--became a viral hit on the web, registering hundreds of thousands of hits:

4. Nungesser blasts Thad Allen as "an embarrassment to this country": Plaquesmines Parish President Billy Nungesser became a rather ubiquitous presence throughout the spill, turning up on CNN several times a day. Here he is on "The Situation Room" unleashing a tirade against Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the man appointed by President Obama to head up the cleanup efforts in the Gulf:

5. The "Ragin Cajun" warns, "We're dying down here!": Former Clinton adviser James Carville, a Louisiana native and New Orleans resident, was also a regular media commentator on the spill. But out of all the many soundbites that Carville delivered during that long summer, this one from an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos seemed to resonate the most powerfully: