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 ...
Jamie Goreleck is one of them and I agree with you on the quick agreement by BP, the whole thing stinks.
Not to mention the fact the agreement was reached in a mere 20 minute meeting.
I disagree completely. Hayward is doing what he should be doing. If these bozos weren’t in such a hurry to get their ugly mugs on television they would have waited for the investigation to be complete before holding them. This is nothing but a political show for them. They know they aren’t going to get any answers to anything yet. And they aren’t interested in any answers yet. It’s showtime!! Look at how tough I am!! Re-elect me! I’ll get BP!
Boy, do I ever agree with this. This is inexcuseable behaviour. Can a president do that? Force money out of a private company? What the heck is going on here? Was this done with open doors? Did Obama take a little sweetener on the side? Corporations who deal around the globe with corrupt third-world countries are used to “sweeteners” and write it off as part of the business. This needs deep investigation.
That’s precisely the point, and one lost on dimocrats who have no love for rule of law, just rule.
Sorry, that's ridiculous. No one who's not a orthodox conservative is going to appreciate Barton's comments. People who are otherwise politically disengaged or uniformed - which is the VAST majority of the participating electorate - is just going to see this as another Republican protecting big, mean business.
Like I said, it's politically stupid. Maybe Barton's is a largely homogenized district that offers him no real challenger. But, to the Republicans out there competing in the more evenly divided districts or in slightly blue districts, this doesn't help.
You can't advance a political agenda without winning elections. There is a populist rage out there that is aimed at incumbents, but it's also aimed at big business - first it was the bailouts and banks, now it's BP. Clearly, Barton doesn't get it, or he doesn't care. Either way, he's not helping the team in the fall.
Why do democrats genuflect (and apologize for America) before foreign terrorists who behead and murder our citizens and then try to ensure they get constitutional rights to which they are not entitled?
No one apologized for America today. Apologize for congressional idiocy - perhaps.
Stick around more than three days here and you might learn something.
I’m one of those Republicans who so believes.
Not a shakedown, it is government extortion and Obama and his hoods should be in jail.
“Some Republicans”????!!!!
How about “Sane People”!!
My God in Heaven Above,
HOW LONG must we be forced to endure the unending distortions and outright LIES of these demoniacs in the media? HOW LONG before You rise and cull them from among the Sons of Men? HOW LONG before Your Arm is seen, and such as these who indenture themselves to Evil are swept away to damnation?
HOW LONG must all who cry out day and night for Your perfect justice be met with nothing but the ongoing harangues of the wicked and the vile??
HOW LONG will You remain unmoved??
HOW LONG will You hold silent before those who continually revile You, and trample Your righteousness underfoot?
Surely You see. Surely You hear. Surely nothing is done in secret that You do not know. And most assuredly You do not lack the strength to vindicate Your Holy Name.
HOW LONG before You do??
HOW LONG, O’ LORD?? HOW LONG??!!
I wonder how the Democrats will handle the questioning when one of those foreign owned wells off of Cuba blows out.
Correct. GOP once again with foot in mouth.
It's an election year, in the middle of a natural disaster with few parrels with a company that is solely responsible and DEEPLY unpopular, yet this guy thinks it's a smart political decision to make some theatrical political statement while the Committee is in sessions and while the hearings are being televised nationally.
Sorry, the man is a moron. Like I said just a few posts before, perhaps he represents a solidly conservative district and will have no legitimate challenger, so he feels safe making such a statement. Unfortunately, you can bet his words will be found in Democrat campaign commercials portraying Republicans as soft on BP and big-business friendly. The nuanced and principled position will be lost on the criminally uniformed electorate, no matter how much validity it actually has.
The liberals don't need "incrementalism" when they control both houses of Congress and the Executive Branch. Perhaps its best to wax poetic about the dangers of "genuflecting to the leftwing MSM" after we win a Congressional election - for the first time in four years. Until then, it might be best to make smart, calculating political decisions - you know, the kind that actually win elections, or have all the Republicans forgot how to do that?
They’re not “apologizing for America,” they’re apologizing for the crass thuggish behavior of Obama and his administration of Chicago thugs.
Is that the same court system that allowed Exxon to stall paying damages for almost 20 years?
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