Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) listens to testimony during a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington in this May 27, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Posted on 06/17/2010 11:45:20 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first apology that rang out in a congressional hearing about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Thursday was not from BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward.
It was from Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton, who apologized to Hayward for BP's having to agree to a deal with President Barack Obama to set up a $20 billion fund for Gulf damage claims.
"I'm speaking totally for myself, I'm not speaking for the Republican party ... but I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said.
He called it "a tragedy of the first proportion, that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, a $20 billion shakedown."
Barton's point was that BP should pay for damage claims but should be allowed to follow the "due process and fairness" of the American legal system.
...
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly denounced Barton and called on members of both parties to repudiate his comments.
"What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction," said Gibbs.
BARTON NOT ALONE
Barton is not alone among Republicans holding this view.
Georgia Republican Representative Tom Price, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, issued a statement on Wednesday arguing the same point.
He said the White House does not have the legal authority to compel a private company to set up and fund an escrow account. The White House has dismissed such criticism.
Price said BP's willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama administration is "hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NO earmarks for you, Joe.
Sic ‘em!
I agree!
Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) listens to testimony during a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington in this May 27, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
How will these funds be administered under Feingold? A separate agency/commission? Who/what will function as a Trustee?
Feds in the middle of paperwork. Gee. Who’d’ve thought.
They want their cut. If this isn’t a protection scheme, I don’t know what is. Who’ll be the guy coming around for the money.....
It’s both a shakedown and a protection rackett.
obama = Al + Jesse + Hugo
_________________________
Chicago thug politics
***”What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction,” said Gibbs.***
Barton has concern for the Constitution!
BTW Gibbs - how has your boss actually helped in this crisis?
“What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction,” said Gibbs.”
The Pill-bury Doughboy demonstrates the psychosis of the left...WE WILL DECIDE WHICH BUSINESSES HAVE RIGHTS.
And it will be a VERY popular shakedown until people discover the money didn't go to the people affected but rather to democrat cronies.
Hey Gibbs we do have a rule of law and a court system in this country. Your man constantly seems hell-bent on bypassing all that. Maybe he is in it for the shake down as the good Congressman stated.
Celery!
LOL - Excellent! Thank you.
We are no longer a nation of laws.
We do have existing laws, courts, and means to deal with these matters.
Extortion is illegal.
Hmmm, ya think it might have been deliberately set up that way?
During a time when the regime in the White House seems intent on a "Chicago Way" mode of governance, it is really refreshing to have a member of Congress remind us that the American Legal System is, in fact, one of due process and fairness.
... "White House spokesman Robert Gibbs quickly denounced Barton and called on members of both parties to repudiate his comments."
No surprize there. The regime's mouthpiece doesn't want people reminded that there is an alternative to "the Chicago Way".
""What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused this disaster than the fishermen, small business owners and communities whose lives have been devastated by the destruction," said Gibbs."
What Gibbs was really saying was this:
"We gots lots and lots of friends, see. And our friends want a piece of the action, see. And so we shake down BP for a minimum of $20 billion, AND WE GET TO DECIDE whose claims are legit, see. We don't need no stinking due process to decide which of our friends to give money to. So we don't want no Congressman getting in the way of us helping out our friends."
Don't you just love the Chicago Way of politics?
What a great graphic!
What is the story behind it?
Do I think it's some kind of deliberate hit on BP? No. They seem to be doing a fine job, all by themselves. If you were to write a book on PR disasters, BP's handling of this would be chapter #1.
Even if was intentional, it still is what it is - which is politically stupid to be seen defending them. Republicans have to be smarter than this if they want to take back either chamber this fall.
It was a shakedown.. Even James Carville knows it...there wasn’t one thing lawful or Constitutional about it.
on CNN former Clinton Administration message man James Carville said:
‘It looks as if President Obama applied a little old-school Chicago persuasion to the oil
executives.’ Making ‘offers you can’t
refuse’ may be a great way to run the mob, but it is no way to run a country.”
It’s a slush fund for Obama’s union buddies.
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