Posted on 06/17/2010 4:36:15 PM PDT by tobyhill
Under pressure from Republican leaders who threatened to remove him from a ranking committee position, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) late Thursday retracted his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the way his company has been treated by the U.S. government -- a comment that had drawn heavy criticism from both parties.
Barton made that apology to Hayward in his opening statement Thursday morning before Hayward's testimony to the House subcommittee, in which Barton decried the Obama administration for pressuring BP to open a $20 billion escrow account and to suspend dividend payments for the rest of the year.
The ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said such arrangements have no legal basis, and that the political pressure exerted on the corporation in the midst of an investigation is a "tragedy of the first proportion."
"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said in the morning. "I apologize."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The GOP are the Democrats door mats and they don’t even care. They are just Democrat-lite. dummies.
Can someone please explain this obsession with taking back the OP(formerly the GOP) when they have no intention of ever advancing the Conservative cause?
Perhaps they need some more pain. Like hearing from folks who do think this was a shakedown.
The leaders suck!
Barton may have been right, but you can just see all of the righteous indignation of the MSM whooshing over to Barton because of this. He may have been right, but he gets in the way of Obama being ineffectual and incompetent in the news.
I’m wondering what level of ineptitude and outright incompetent behavior would warrant harsh criticism of a coporation that’s done so much damage? Is there one?
Cowards. They are embarrassing.
That’s why it’s always the same people in Washington. It only switches back and forth between Democrats and Republicans depending on who lies the best for that election cycle. I’m ready for a strict Conservative Party, even if it splits the GOP, otherwise it will continue to be the same back and forth.
They just want to head the committees and have nice offices. Honestly, that’s all it is.
“Can someone please explain this obsession with taking back the OP(formerly the GOP) when they have no intention of ever advancing the Conservative cause?”
Yes, because the alternative is revolution. Let’s take a chance on restructuring the Republican party first...it is much less bloody. I am serious about this. Try to remain patient.
“GOP leaders forced Rep. Barton to retract apology to BP (Long past time to ditch the wimpass GOP!)
Did you ever take logic courses in school?
Example:You live on a river that floods from time to time. Should you build a dike of straw or should you move to higher ground?
The dike of straw is the Democrats. A few feet higher are the Republicans.
Your choices are to expect floods, and accept the consequences or to minimize your risk even if slightly. The reality is a very small number of people in the middle determine the political direction of the country. Lose the higher land and face the flood is certainly an option.
Your turn genius.
“GOP leaders forced Rep. Barton to retract apology to BP (Long past time to ditch the wimpass GOP!)
Did you ever take logic courses in school?
Example:You live on a river that floods from time to time. Should you build a dike of straw or should you move to higher ground?
The dike of straw is the Democrats. A few feet higher are the Republicans.
Your choices are to expect floods, and accept the consequences or to minimize your risk even if slightly. The reality is a very small number of people in the middle determine the political direction of the country. Lose the higher land and face the flood is certainly an option.
Your turn genius.
” Barton met with House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) Thursday afternoon,
and was told, “Apologize, immediately. Or you will lose your [subcommittee] position, immediately.
Now that he has apologized, we’ll see what happens going forward.”
Ah..isn’t this also a shake down ?
Maybe we should rename the Republican wimps- Minos-men in name only.
We know Palin and Bachmann and Liz Cheney and Gov Brewer would have stood their ground.
I don’t blame Barton, I blame the Republican “ leadership “ for always running scared.
I don’t need to explain why it’s time to ditch the GOP because if you don’t see it by now then you never will. Nothing is going to change with the GOP.
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