Posted on 06/17/2010 7:56:42 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes
WASHINGTON Who's sorry now? Rep. Joe Barton, that's who. The Texas Republican, the House's top recipient of oil industry campaign contributions since 1990, apologized Thursday for apologizing to the chief of the British company that befouled the Gulf of Mexico with a massive oil spill. His double mea culpa plus a retraction, executed under pressure from fuming GOP leaders, succeeded in shifting attention from the tragedy, BP's many missteps and the stoic British oil chief at the witness table, to his own party's close connection to the oil industry. Barton started the ruckus at midmorning when he took aim at the $20 billion relief fund for victims of the spill sought by the White House and agreed to by BP. "I apologize," Barton said to BP CEO Tony Hayward, who was sitting at a witness table for another of Congress' ritual floggings of wayward corporate heads. "I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that is again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown," Barton said. "So I apologize."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The stupid ass should have just kept his mouth shut in the first place.
I caught a repeat of one of the old "Sopranos" shows on A&E this afternoon - two thugs holding a defenseless guy in a chair while a third beat the crap out of him - reminded me of this congressional "hearing" - Stupak:"How long do you think you'll be CEO of BP?" - shameful.....
Get a spine to do what? Let BP off the hook because that is how the vast majority of the public views Barton’s comments.
Are you suggesting BP should not be made to pay for their mess? Who do you want to pay? The taxpayers?
I understand the government dropped the ball on this rig. But if you go into a restaurant and get sick, do you blame the health department? Of course not. You blame the restaurant.
This is why the GOP is always at a disadvantage. The Dems are relentless at going for the jugular; Pubes crap themselves when they see shadows....
Absolutely true, the vast majority, including most Republicans, think Barton is an oil company shill. You don’t apologize to the company which is responsible for this tragedy. People have lost lives, many more are losing their livelihoods.
If anything this demonstrates stay away from RNC adnauseum and work for candidates who mean what they say\
screw the RNC
Being locked in IN -1 I have decided a fellow reejin guy Gunny Popaditch in CA 51 He deserves all the support he can. He is lagging in $$ behind Rep Filner but is on the ground every day.
Take a look at who DIRECTLY deserves your support and starve the clueless wussies who run things from Wash DC
What a great show.
Cowards, cowards everywhere!
Every time a Republican speaks out he turns to the left and apologizes for it, WTF?
Who is making these guys apologize, and why?
What a show! What a scam!
The Feds’ ScamWOW! - Turn off your brain now! Cuz, we can’t do this all day...
I am with you, my fellow FReeper. The RNC will not *ever* again get another penny from me! I decided this in Spring 2007 when GWB, Juan McShamnesty, Lindsey Grahamnesty, et al, were trying to shove “pathway to citizenship” down our throats.
My dollars now go directly to candidates. FU, RNC!!!
Yes, it is always a problem when you stand up for the Constitution! Of course his problem was thinking that the GOP (asshats all) would ever support him.
We have NO leaders in the GOP. They are all PC performers and worry about their image in the news. Right has become whatever the PC folks push...
Thank goodness for the Tea Party - at least they won’t be cowed by the media...(fingers crossed)...
What was wrong with the original apology. Bummer was not helping bring any real resolution to the problem, he was mostly being an ass. Why should the GOP wimp out over that?
If Rats succeeded in bending his message out of shape, he needed to issue a “clarification” not an “apology.” Unless it was to apologize that people have to put up with those doggone Rats and the way they distort everything.
If Barton had conspired with Pelosi and Waxman to caricature the GOP as Big Oil's lapdog, they couldn't have done any better. Barton failed. Big time.
It's not like lighting a cigarette and inadvertently giving the enemy a fix on your position....this was like e-mailing the enemy artillery your GPS coordinates.
He could have used a better choice of words but he was right about the slushfund, IMO.
Obama is a failure...the feds should have been in charge of protecting the coast.
They are disgusting...Barton least of all, IMO.
oops!
I'm with you...there must be something in the water in DC. Either that, or Barton's been there too long and way full of himself.
Hmmmm...sounds like Kerry...He was for apology before he was against apology...
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