17
Jun
Joe Barton Apologizes to BP
Winning the morning, Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Joe Barton (R-TX-6), says he’s “ashamed” of the “shakedown” of BP.
Update: Forgot to credit Oliver Willis for this. He’s got some pretty funny riffs in his Twitter feed, like “Sorry we got our ocean in your oil mr hayward, wont happen again” and “those pelicans are really gumming up your drills, sorry about that bp”.
BenA
It’s like the Republicans don’t want to get elected, as a whole, ever again…
Kryptik
But remember, Obama is in BP’s and big business’s and Big Oil’s pockets.
So don’t forget to vote Republican, because they’ll set those big bad businesses straight! No snacks after 10PM and bedtime on the dot!
CalD
The jokes, they write themselves.
Dave
Well…there’s a Democratic ad for this November.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
Barton went on to say that Roger Rabbit was framed, also, too.
Dan
@Dave: Marry the audio with the video of oily pelicans and shrimp boats sitting in the docks.
AxelFoley
@BenA:
And may they stay the course…
slag
Shake ‘em down!! Shake ‘em down!!
More shakedowns, pls.
Citizen Alan
I’m surprised he didn’t offer the BP exec a blowjob while he was at it. Barton’s a whore for big oil in every other sense.
raptusregaliter
@BenA:
Actually, the Republicans know that the best way to get elected is to parrot the party line espoused by Fox News—that’s the only “news” organization their constituents listen to, so it makes perfect sense to go along no matter how stupid the position. When you’re trying to win the votes of idiots, it helps to look like an idiot yourself.
ruemara
This will still mean Obama’s a corporate shill and a corporatist and the 20$bil is a giveaway to BP somehow and a soshulimarxipad Obummer and therefore the Republicans will gain majority in a landslide this november. I don’t think Idiocracy went far enough. Luke Wilson should’ve been shot, drawn then quartered for not loving Brawndo & guns enough.
Chyron HR
Putting the interests of BRITISH Petroleum over those of AMERICAN citizens?
Traitors gonna trait.
Alice Blue
I just saw a clip of this on MSNBC. What the hell is going on? Are they actually getting some traction with this meme? Sucking up to teabaggers? Are they really this insane?
Andy
He does not see why a company should pay for the damage they have caused, or only pay after years of litigation when a court decides how much they should pay.
Why are the press not headlining this prick on every new broadcast?
tomvox1
God bless these dumb bastards.
Comrade Dread
Wow.
I honestly have a hard time believing that any Republican would be that blatant about putting the interests of big corporations above their own constituents. And a foreign owned company, no less.
It truly shows that their allegiance is to money and not this country.
Man, what the hell happened to the Roosevelt Republicans? Or even the Eisenhower Reps?
Napoleon
Oh, please let the 3 major network newscast run with this tonight.
Terrell
This ought to be the easiest attack to respond to for the Dems if there ever was one.
Barton and the GOP wants you, the taxpayer, to foot bill and leave the BP, foreign company, alone.
Thank you Barton for making this so clear.
mistermix
@Chyron HR: As Barton says in the clip, it’s BP, not British Petroleum. You clearly don’t understand the subtleties that a political sage like Barton does.
El Cid
The good thing is that since about 2005, whatever political weaknesses the Democrats have, they’re pretty steadily assisted by Republican idiocy.
bkny
who is the brilliant republican strategist behind this effort to defend bp.
slag
Buy one shakedown, get a cloying apology FREE! More like this.
Jamie
when I hear from Congress Man Barton, I wonder if the people who elected Barton are sober when hey voted.
danimal
Exhibit #53 in why the predicted GOP landslide will be more like a trickle this November.
Scott
Are they actually getting some traction with this meme?
I’m sure the traction they’re getting from their fellow legislators, oil execs, Fox News anchors, teabag luminaries, and William Kristol is overwhelmingly positive. David Broder nods sagely and assures them that Real Americans love mega-rich oil companies, so there’s no downside…
wvng
@ andy – Because he’s a republican, silly boy.
cleek
@Comrade Dread:
they’re now called “Blue Dogs”
South of I-10
So depressed. As I sit here, 30 miles from Vermilion Bay, which is separated from the Gulf only by Marsh Island, and listen to the stupid fuckers discuss the “shakedown” and complain because the media is reporting the spill in gallons instead of barrels “so it will seem larger”, I really just want to put my head down and cry. All I hear is people spouting whatever Fox tells them, and now we are apologizing to BP?
El Cid
For a couple of minutes, not having my iPod, I listened to faux-libertarian jackass Neal Boortz, and he and his callers were all upset at the unfair, oppressive blame that the evil Washington Democrat establishment was putting on BP, and his indignant caller mentioned that since some people would be boycotting BP, he’d go out and fill up there right now!
Ash
I’ve been avoiding all this shit lately. I had no idea that the CEO of BP looks like Michael Sheen when he’s playing Tony Blair.
Allan
Barton also apologized to BP because American workers are so fragile and flammable. “I hope their corpses didn’t add to much fuel to the fire that damaged your private property.”
Allan
@Dan: Marry the audio with video of the memorial service for the 11 Americans murdered by BP’s criminal negligence.
Elisabeth
@South of I-10:
And Haley Barbour feels sorry for BP, too. $20 billion is too much money. Leave BP alooooooooooooone.
JCT
Wow, this is just amazing. The Democrats should host a competition to come up with the best ad using this clip.
The Republicans are irretrievably stuck in the past, completely tone deaf.
I guess the only time the Republicans want to hold anyone responsible for their actions is when they are poor.
Bill Section 147
Has Obama apologized to ACORN?
I am trying to get in here to defend Barton because the Republicant Apologists will be in short supply in this thread.
Elisabeth
Apparently, Jeff Markey gave Barton the whatfor later on. I’d like to have seen that.
MMonides
Many thanks to Joe Barton for writing the DNC’s fall election ads for them, and even providing some great video. He’s a team player.
CalD
@Comrade Dread: Off the top of my head, I can think of only only two sitings of those breeds outside the state of Maine in the last 20 years. One of them went down after a bruising primary fight with the Club for Growth in 2006. The other defected to the Democratic party briefly, before being primaried out by Democrats earlier this year. Other than that, we’re pretty much fresh out of anything but John Birch and George Wallace Republicans at this point.
norbizness
The most glaring factual error in his comment was when he added the “I’m not speaking for the Republican Party” disclaimer.
BruceFromOhio
@Andy:
Because President Obamafascist isn’t emotional enough in his speeches. Where’s your priorities?
Legalize
... And up goes Obama’s approval rating, and the Dems now have another issue to hammer in the midterm – hand delivered to them by the Neo Confederate Party. Whether they will make use of this gift is dubious of course.
Wasn’t Barton the fella who called Bart Stupak a baby killer on the House floor? You know, the guy who made me feel ok about Bart Stupak?
Comrade Javamanphil
Shorter GOP: If the DFHs are ag’in it, I’m for it.
someguy
They got on the wrong side of the environment and the government, and we can take their toys.
What doesn’t Barton get?
It’s just a shame we aren’t applying the same standard to Goldman and Citibank.
TR
Seriously, are they trying to throw the election?
eemom
godammit, I knew I shouldn’t have wasted my “last straw” outrage on Michelle Bachmann.
Somebody fuck this guy up the ass with a rusty oil pipe plz. kthxbai
Sheila
No wonder nothing is heard about “black comedy” any more in literary circles. It’s migrated into real life and there is no writer, no matter how imaginative, who could improve on it in literature.
CalD
mmm… better make that 10 years.
Calouste
@raptusregaliter:
The problem for the GOP is still that 20-25% are great ratings for a television network, but not so much for a political party in a two-party system.
Bill Section 147
@Alice Blue: True believers believe. That’s what they do.
Teabaggers are for big organizations controlling their lives unless they are big organizations in which they actually have a say.
It is funny that they believe the Reagan crap about Government running like a business but forget the biggest Government as Business issue. Our government is the only large enterprise in which every citizen has the same number of Shares regardless their economic background or status. Everybody gets only one vote to elect the members of the board.
But the righties consistently let their vote be proxied by international corporations. They worry about shit like the Amero while actually subsidizing an international energy and natural resource currency that is beholden to no government body. Nothing to see here Teabuddies…look over there the UN is internationalising our boarders
Bill Section 147
@eemom: You just gave a Republican a stiffy with that comment.
Kryptik
It’s just…fucking fucking fucking fucking amazing how much traction the ‘Leave BP alone!!’ mindset actually IS taking traction amongst Republicans. Apparently, the fact that BP fucked up means it’s gov’t problem and taxpayer’s problem, but don’t dare force BP to foot some of the bill. Because that’s unfair to businesses.
I just…god…
eemom
@MMonides:
dunno, I hear you guys all saying this and I certainly hope you’re right—but even if the Dems win every election this November, it still doesn’t make up for the fact that we live in a country where vermin like this are elected to federal office.
eemom
@Kryptik:
yeah. That.
Nellcote
Well, Pat Buchanan thinks Barton was “courageous”.
slag
@Allan:
You’d think Republicans would want BP to take some personal responsibility for not hiring more flame-retardant workers in the first place. But I guess the only people who are ever victims of “shakedowns” are multimillionaire oil executives. Not the people who work for them.
Maude
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
#5
WIN
Midnight Marauder
@El Cid:
I, for one, am grateful that Peak Wingnut is nothing like Peak Oil.
Emma
eemom: I had exactly the same thought when I heard about this. How the hell do people actually con themselves into believing this man is representing them and working for them?
Kryptik
@El Cid:
I don’t…terribly see that as a good thing. Since most of Democratic weakness has come from either emulating or kowtowing to further escalating Republican idiocy. Sure we won some elections, but they’re still essentially running the policy side.
NickM
Now that is how you do an Apology Tour.
scav
come come, campaigns don’t fund themselves and this is a brave step forward for transparency in government. would you rather have this kind of deal-making be done in smoke-shrouded rooms? clearly, the man is a hero!
wengler
Cue the Washington reporters claiming that anyone who criticizes Rep. Barton is “playing politics”.
I do think it was inevitable that teabaggers defend a British company from the American government. It just seems so appropriate for the “4 legs good, 2 legs better” crowd.
Chris Johnson
Somewhere, the Onion is weeping, for there was no snark left to snark.
LD50
And he’s even from Texas. Talk about your walking stereotypes.
eemom
oh my effin Gawd…..this was even too much for Orange No-Boner:
Kryptik
@eemom:
Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll have something different to say by this time tomorrow depending how it plays with the usual suspects.
David Hunt
I have to thank Barton for reminding me why I am grateful that he is no longer my Congressman (Redistricting has made it Chet Edwards). Also, before Barton, it was Phil Gramm. Those a-holes make me realize how much worse my representation could be.
Napoleon
Well NPR at the noon news ran with Barton but they paraphased him and did not run an audio clip.
Sirkowski
These fucking guys…
Alice Blue
It’s days like this that I long for Molly Ivins . . .
ed
Life imitates art (stolen from a comment at O-Dub’s joint):
El Cid
@Kryptik: I didn’t say it was the perfect scenario—it has just pulled many Democrats’ asses out of the fire. Harry Reid is fairly likely to win now that Republicans chose Sharron “We might need the 2nd Amendment to take him out” Angle.
Sir Magpie De Crow
People shouldn’t be so hard on him. As an escort he is obligated to be very accommodating and must service all the wishes of his client (the oil industry). Remember… he is paid handsomely by the hour which on occasion may require him to perform humiliating/degrading acts. I hear tomorrow he is participating in a “private party” for the executives of Exxon.
Pangloss
Did the Whigs get this nutty before they imploded as a political party?
Terrell
@South of I-10:
Isn’t this like the battered wife syndrome? BP has abused us and now the GOP wants us to apologize to the abuser.
Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up!
jwb
@raptusregaliter: That only works if the Faux News base is sufficiently large to win an election. In fact, in most places it’s not.
eyepaddle
Does anybody have the video to Tony Hayward’s response?
To me he kinda had that “shhhssshhhhhh—we’re not supposed to do this in public” look of unease at this public fellating.
jwb
@Terrell: “This ought to be the easiest attack to respond to for the Dems if there ever was one.” Never underestimate the Dems’ ability to hit a hanging curve into a double play.
Stooleo
I’m impressed with Barton’s enunciation, considering he has Tony Hayward’s cock in his mouth.
JasonF
Barton’s opponent in the fall is a guy named David Cozad. Anybody know anything about the guy? If he’s a legitimate candidate, I’d like to throw a few bucks his way, but if he’s one of these “The Democrats have no chance, so some kook got his name on the ballot because nobody else cared” types, I won’t bother. Anyone?
Martin
The GOP really doesn’t know what to do with this. Again, Obama leaves everyone flummoxed. This is exactly the kind of solution the GOP should be cheering. There’s minimal government involvement in the reimbursement effort and yet there’s quite a bit of assurance from government that it’ll work fairly. At the same time, the left isn’t sure what to make of it because there isn’t a big government involvement and they don’t trust that it can work without that.
It’s pretty much an ideal solution, and a remarkable one that Obama used the big stick to accomplish. It’s only a part of the problem needing to be solved, but it’s a rather elegant, fair, and effective solution that both sides should have no ideological opposition to – but someone needs to rail against it, because we’ve completely given up on the idea that some solutions are just good solutions from all viewpoints. In our political culture, that’s impossible, but the instinctive need to declare everything that Obama does as horrible is too strong.
jwb
@Chris Johnson: Maybe the Onion will just take up reporting the news.
Chris Johnson
Today at the offices of the Onion, rending of garments and tearing of hair ensued.
“We try harder and harder to come up with a new article,” sobbed one despairing staffer, “and then pow! It’s on the news, verbatim! We used to be able to stay on top of the wave, but now… but now…”
“Jesus fuck!” added another staffer. “Jesus FUCK!”
Jesus could not be reached for comment. His handlers declined the suggestion of a photo op in the place of an interview, citing grave damage to his styrofoam.
roseyv
In fairness, he does make a valid point. I mean, I don’t recall one single word being written or spoken in the past two months about all the pelicans that aren’t coated in oil. Jeez, people. Lighten up.
Joe Bauers
Look how he rolls over for his master! What a good, loyal dog Ole Joe is! Who wants a belly rub?
Redshirt
I wish I could join in with the laughs, but at this point, I’m a bit despairing that there’s anything a Repug could do or say that would actually cause them a problem. The double standard is overwhelming. So, this issue will just slip away, and instead the press will focus on whatever issue the Repugs want to gin up.
RalfW
If the DCCC isn’t up with a smash-mouth ad featuring Joe Barton in all his glory by tomorrow, they really are not in it to win it.
This steaming pile of crazy is being served up on a platter!
r€nato
In other news, congressional Republicans will hold a press conference tomorrow on Capitol Hill on behalf of the Big, Bad Wolf to denounce the ‘mob violence’ committed against him by the Three Little Pigs.
Ella in NM
For all of us who can’t believe Barton and the others are handing us campaign commercials for the fall, please think again.
Noted at GOS’s live blogging posts just after Barton’s apology:
That is the deal folks: THERE WILL BE NO OUTRAGE ON THE PART OF THE FOLKS WHO VOTE FOR THESE MORONS. They are literally falling all over themselves in contortionist fashion, calling in to radio shows as we speak with new rationales for why they love and defend BP.
They are mindless lemmings. They ONLY watch Fox, listen to Rush, et. al. They have been made to be literally AFRAID to turn on any other info sources lest their brains burst into flames from having to deal with the cognitive dissonance.
So enough with the optimism about Fall 2010, people
!
My God, Obama was right: there REALLY are two America’s now.
r€nato
Dear GOP: Obama is in favor of motherhood, baseball and apple pie. Have at it.
Legalize
@ed:
“Senator. Senator. This committee owes an apology! This committee owes an apology—apology, Senator!”
r€nato
@Ella in NM:
Yes, they are. It really is that bad.
We’ve gone from them forgetting about events of 10 years ago (remember the hysterical cries of, ‘rule of law! rule of law!’??? which does not apply to Rethuglican presidents)...
...to forgetting about events of 1 year ago (2009: “OMG Obama will nationalize the economy!” 2010:”Obama should seize BP’s assets!”)...
...to forgetting about events of 1 month ago. (May 2010: “Obama isn’t doing enough about BP oil spill! FAIL!” June 2010: “Obama is doing too much about BP oil spill! FAIL!”)
These people aren’t just on the other side; they are a malignant tumor.
jake the snake
The Republican killer Bs, Barton, Bachman, Barbour.
The stupid gives baby Cthulhu bad dreams.
Ailuridae
@JasonF:
His site reads more like a fringe Green site, isn’t professionally down and TX-6 is like R +17 or so.
Terrell
@Ella in NM:
This people would vote for Republicans even if Obama solved every problem on the planet. They are never going to vote against the GOP. No, the people to watch are independents. They are the ones that drive elections. And thanks to CNN and MSNBC, independents have seen this idiotic (and frankly anti-American) remark.
kommrade reproductive vigor
All this Kodak moment lacks is some input from Joe the Plunger Jockey. We need to know how twisting BP’s arm is bad for the ReaLAMErican small business owner.
SiubhanDuinne
@r€nato:
So very this.
Joseph Nobles
I just heard on the Twitter (so take that for what it’s worth) that Barton’s gotten $1.4 million from Big Oil contributions over the years. So obviously Obama was cutting in on his territory.
Elie
@Martin:
This.This.This.
Ella in NM
@Terrell:
So, you’re saying I can pull my head out of the oven and go have another cup of coffee? ;-)
El Cid
On “independents”, most polls (at least in prior elections, and I suppose now as well) show that so-called “independents” as far as registration and self-description either vote strongly Republican or strongly Democratic, and the number of truly equally undecideds is much smaller.
Gene108
I like Barton’s and the GOP strategy, not because I think it is stupid and will backfire, but it will shift the blame from BP to the Obama Administration and I think the narrative of “why Obama hasn’t done more” is catching on with both the left and the right, rather than the narrative of “it’s all BP’s fault”.
There is enough writing about how Obama didn’t get skimmers from Europe, force BP to be more transparent, etc., from both the left and the right that they dove tail nicely to reinforce the idea this is Obama’s Katrina and Obama’s fault.
Very few people are actually pushing the idea that this is BP’s fault and they should be entirely responsible for the costs of clean up and restoring the people hurt by the accident.
hntrr31
I can’t tell whether Barton looks like he just crawled out of the primordial ooze or that he resembles the product of vigorous inbreeding.
I get the same feeling when I see Spencer Bachus, though he looks a little more child molesterish in my eyes.
quarks
You know it’s bad when even Tony Hayward is looking a little uneasy while listening to this.
I mean, I was expecting someone to make an off-the-record comment to him about, yeah, sorry that we’re forcing you to cut dividends and pay out $20 billion for breaking the ocean, but I expected that conversation to happen in a bathroom.
Susan Kitchens
@raptusregaliter:
I have this sinking feeling in my stomach that you are right about this. It’s miserable to consider, but you make so much sense. Dammit. However (is there hope?) Fox News immediately went to Agent Orange Boehner, who didn’t tow to the line of the big oil people.
I guess that Fox News is the chatterbox thought control for the small people.
Uloborus
@Ella in NM:
They ARE mindless lemmings. There is nothing the GOP can do that is so crazy that they won’t vote Republican. In fact, the only thing that makes them not vote Republican (and either vote third party or not vote) right now is a Republican acting sane.
And these people are about 28% of the population. A slavering, fanatical, mindless 28% of the population, but only 28%. That is not a good number in a two-party system. The point of something like this is that moderates who don’t know much about politics and have been wondering if Obama’s doing enough are now going ‘Oh, right, the other side is batshit insane!’ This is something their short attention spans lost track of after Bush was kicked out of office.
matoko_chan
Just read the poll results on Captain Stupids thread.
un-fuckin’-believable
these people are beyond stupid….they have a political deathwish driven by a hatred of Obama so profound that it makes them completely insane.
if i was really a souless evuul griefer i’d tell you all to go vote for the right thing to do.
:)
D0n Camillo
Shorter Joe Barton:
“You guys stop being mean to Tony Hayward. He’s a human being, he’s got fee fees.”
Mesmerized but not surprised
Wow! Just another strong argument for limited # of terms for these ceremonial windbags . . . . .if anyone should ‘go to jail’ it should be men like Barton.
Calouste
Btw, how long before BP shareholders sue the board and the directors? There might be a judge out there sensitive to the argument that they haven’t been looking after shareholder value. Not that there is going to be (relatively) that much to get. The BP top makes a few million a year each, not hundreds of millions like Goldman Sachs. It’s not going to add up to $20 billion.
Zuzu's Petals
Evidently the guy has a history of making, uhm, “colorful” remarks at hearings.
Of course, Barton’s district being landlocked, it’s entirely possible the only direct effect of the oil spill will be felt financially by the oil and drilling interests operating there.
Hey, isn’t T. Boone Pickens on the BP board? You know, the guy who bankrolls all those GOP causes?
Susan Kitchens
I think this is what is known as a gaffe—where a statement reveals the unvarnished truth (not gonna look up the definition of this, what do you think I am, one of those pajama clad blogger types who factchecks you? You can look it up. Or maybe gaffe can go into the lexicon, if it’s not there already)
What this reveals is breathtaking:
+ Barton believes that government serves the whims of big corporations. “Small people” be damned
+ All the talk about “personal responsibility” is just that—talk.
+ Corporate profits are so so so so so so so much more important than those nice little namby pamby things that are spoken of in the constitution
+ Barton is so bought and paid for.
+ The reality of the situation (huge) has no bearing on opportunities for party-based grandstanding.
+ Dissing the party in power, if it’s not your own party, trumps every other concern out there. It is priority number 1. America? If it’s republican, fuck yeah. If it’s a decision made by a democrat, fuck you.
+ Accountability is a mirage. It’s a talking point when convenient
+ The crisis/freakout news machine is working. We’ve had big reactions to so many things, that we cannot recognize the huge fuckups for the exaggerated fuckups that have been drummed up by the noise machine.
I wonder what all the small people in Barton’s district make of this?
P.S. I vote for “Apologies BP, that our American ocean messed up your foreign-owned oil drilling works” for the rotating tagline in the header. (or variation on same)
asiangrrlMN
@South of I-10: Yeah. That. It really depressed me that we have reached the point of this idiocy. I mean, I could somewhat laugh at the guy Dick Cheney shot apologizing to Cheney, albeit in a rueful way, but this? Sad. However, Politico (and no, I am not linking to them) is reporting that many of the other Republicans are furious about the remark and are deciding whether to strip Barton of his position on the committee.
@Legalize: Nope. It was a different asshole from Texas.
We are seeing the pure distillation of stupidity, venality, and hubris in the Republican Party, and it ain’t pretty.
Martin
@Calouste: I think this is one of the better angles from this solution – all the pain falls on the shareholders without the company being insolvent. It’s an honest-to-god conflict between shareholders and management, and that’s a good thing – that’s how this should work out.
I’ll be curious to see if anything actually comes of it, and even moreso, if anything comes of it from shareholders at other oil companies with equally worthless recovery plans.
I’m not holding my breath, but if there was a scenario in which shareholder responsibility ought to show up, this is it.
PaulW
To the residents of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that makes up a lot of the 6th District in Texas:
WILL YOU PLEASE VOTE THAT ASS-KISSER BARTON OUT OF OFFICE?
Thank you and good day.
South of I-10
@asiangrrlMN: Well, I just responded to you, but I seem to be in moderation?
Nickws
@Gene108:
Good luck with the magical thinking, my triangulating friend.
Perhaps you should pray to Jeebus to erase the videotape of Congressman Barton you just watched. That should go along nicely with your faith-based exoneration of BP, aka the process by which hundreds of thousands of conservative Southrons will virtuously follow your lead and decide they won’t want to make a very public spectacle of suing BP for that hundred billion dollars (on top of the escrow money) that legal analysts believe notBritish Petroleum is liable for.
Mebbe you think those Gulf residents should instead sue their fellow taxpayers for the extra $100 billion? Now that would certainly be a very attractive ‘Keep gubmint outta
mah MedicareBP!’ solution for your average USAmerican conservative intellect!Jenn
Just read over at Benen’s that there’s a Republican confab about what to do re, Barton’s outburst, & that there are Repubs calling for Barton to step down as ranking member of the House Energy Committee (yes, this douche would be leading the committee if the R’s retook the house!)
Dr. Morpheus
@Emma:
Simple. They watch no news, not even Fox. They watch American Idol and/or the various Survivor spin offs.
They read no newspapers.
The only radio they listen, if at all, is a Country music station.
When election time comes around they usually don’t vote and if they do they vote the same way as all their friends, coworkers and their parents do/did, straight ticket Republican.
Then they go back to ignoring everything else besides their bread and circuses.
asiangrrlMN
@South of I-10: Did you say sockulism or pen1s?
@Dr. Morpheus: Thanks for harshing my mellow. I really needed that, but you are depressingly correct.
Dr. Morpheus
Unfortunately I have a wingnut sister who does exactly that (except instead of country music she listens to dance club music).
She said to me after Obama won the election, “The news is too depressing. I don’t watch any of it anymore.”
So yeah, I know firsthand how wingnuts just tuck their heads in the sand if the news isn’t going their way.
AxelFoley
@r€nato:
“It’s not a TOOMAH!”
Gravenstone
I see this as very simple, Republicans are well known as the party of “personal responsibility”. Unless of course, that “person” happens to be a corporate “person”, then it’s “Get your fucking hands out of my friend’s pockets! That money in there is meant solely for me and my fine Repulican brothers in arms.”
Zuzu's Petals
@Martin:
I agree that it is an example of superb negotiating on the administration’s part. In addition, it appears to be to BP’s benefit to settle the question now:
As to Barton’s bloviating, it’s rather stunning that someone on Energy Committee could be so ignorant of existing law. He seems outraged that BP is being held liable for costs absent some sort of lawsuit proving liability, when the fact is BP is already liable for costs under the Oil Pollution Act. Oh, and parties settle for damages ahead of lawsuits ALL THE FRICKIN’ TIME.
Gregory
@JCT:
I’ve seen this movie already. Some jackass will submit a video with a picture of Hitler that’s up for all of ten minutes before it’s yanked, but the Republicans will whine and cry all over the so-called “liberal media.”
JCT
@Gregory:
Good memory!
Actually it’s even better because now they somehow feel “liberated” and can use their very own Hitler imagery because the libs already did it.
Sigh.
Zuzu's Petals
And three, two, one …
Joe Barton has apologized for apologizing to BP
Chris Johnson
Was that a scream I heard from the Onion offices? They were working that up as a joke :D
That boy is going to have to do his apologizing for apologizing to apologize in PRIVATE this time around, you betcha!
The Other Chuck
@South of I-10:
I was just complaining about this yesterday when I was buying a barrel of milk at the supermarket.
Richard Chogyoji
Hmm…I wonder if there are some deep-water oil wells off Barton’s state’s beaches.
Andre
Remember, this is the guy who smugly asked Stephen Chu where oil comes from, then snarked about it on Twitter when Chu treated him like the moron he was.
How these people get elected at all is something that America needs to ask itself.
zubra
WAIT. Are people really surprised that Joe Barton leaked his shill side? Rewind back to 1999 when – as new member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee – this former consultant from Atlantic Richfield CHAMPIONED OILCO MERGERS. Instead of ‘oversight’ – he was the Astroglide that smoothed the way for Exxon-Mobil and many Oilco mergers that followed. “IT IS IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST OF THE US TO SUPPORT THIS MERGER”, spilled Joe (The Free Lance Star, May 10, 1999. http://tinyurl.com/2fqm9se )
Then in 2005 Joe pumps out the Astroglide again to grease the way for monster telco consolidations – which ultimately put us behind much of the globe in both broadband and mobile service and led to massive lay-offs. Verizon swallowed MCI, SBC ate up AT&T, and Sprint ‘merged’ with Nextel. Joe frothed: “The United States needs to have a vibrant communications industry with strong national players. I believe that the companies before us today are creating such players and that U.S. economic growth and consumers will benefit as a result.” (Washington Post, March 3, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/435uy )
Of the disastrous Sprint Nextel ‘merger’, Joe gushed: “The Sprint/Nextel merger will create a “broadband giant”. (ComputerWorld, March 3, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/23lbjq2 )
WHY DOESN’T ANYONE HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE? WHY DO THE FOLKS IN WACO KEEP RE-ELECTING HIM? DOES HE BRING HOME THAT MUCH PORK???
The best was in 2006 – when Joe Barton successfully BLOCKED the “COMBATING AUTISM ACT”. Autistic kids just aren’t big donors…
pat
Guess we all now know what bp anatomy part Senator Barton is Sucking
Carol
I heard that Joe Barton apologized to the spinach industry after a government law required a recall of e.coli spinach. It was such an imposition on them.
I heard that Joe Barton apologized to Bernie Madoff for being taken away in hand cuffs…after all he’s a dignified man.
I heard that Joe Barton apologized to the car industry for the seat belt requirement ….people should just drive more carefully.
I heard that Joe Barton apologized to his family for being a jerk.
I apologize for the people of Texas who voted for him. What were they thinking?????
PS. Joe Barton has received more “oil” money than anyone in congress and he’s a former oil exec. BUT he’s a man who knows how to apologize…
binzinerator
Joe Barton, Backpfeifengesicht
Xboxershorts
I think this was career ending.
But never fear, he gets a taxpayer funded pension for life and a full time job at the wingnut welfare parade….
Buckhead Boy
Let’s don’t be too hard on Oily Joe now. He’s got to have those big oil contributions so that he can pay salaries to his campaign staff, like his wife, daughter and mother. And, then there’s the Barton Family Foundation run by his son’s wife that needs those contributions too.
liliane
@SiubhanDuinne:
So true.
As someone upthread said, the kneejerk to find fault in everything Obama is doing is so strong, that if he cured cancer , they’d say he was making oncologists redundant!
Oh and to the Repugs, I’m not saying Obama’s always right or perfect, but really, when you consider Bush’s NOT finding Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, SQUANDERING a big budget surplus, ignoring Katrina, and the EXPLOSION in the financial sector during his WATCH, well, Obama hasn’t done anything nearly as bad to America yet.
Can you imagine what Dick Cheney is thinking right now? He of Haliburton and big Oil connections?
LOL
SmarterThanYall
@Kryptik:
Let’s see…
Obama, the President of the United States and arguably the most powerful man in the wolrd, did indeed take $27,000 of BP’s money.
Joe Barton, a congressman from Texas, one of several hundred congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives, has taken $146,000 dollars from Andarko alone. So who is more thoroughly owned by the oil industry?
Puh-leeze…