Sometimes I wonder how much more freaky Republicans can get in their lust of Big Corporations, then we get comments by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologizing to BP for the treatment it got from the White House when it agreed to a $20 billion fund to pay for the damage their oil leak caused and will cause along the Gulf coast. What a douche!
“I’m speaking totally for myself and I’m not speaking for the Republican Party and I’m not speaking for anybody in the House of Representatives but myself, but I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it’s a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown. In this case, a $20 billion shakedown with the Attorney General of the United States who is legitimately conducting a criminal investigation and has every right to do so to protect the interests of the American people participating in what amounts to a $20 billion slush fund that’s unprecedented in our nation’s history that’s got no legal standing and what I think sets a terrible precedent for the future,” said Barton.
“I’m only speaking for myself. I’m not speaking for anybody else, but I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong and is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize,” he said.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) on June 17th 2010 hearing about BP Oil spill
Here is a video clip:
But it’s not a surprise since Barton is in the oil industry pocket:
(Nicole): Does it surprise you that Joe Barton’s largest campaign contributors come from the oil & gas industries? It shouldn’t. Nice that he so blatantly shows his bias against Americans and the worst environmental disaster to hit this country and for his own craven interests. Frankly, I think Nancy Pelosi should make him apologize to Americans on the House floor since he was also the chief architect of the Cheney Oil Act that deregulated oil industry, waived EIRs and allowed this travesty to happen.
GOP congressman apologizes to BP for $20 billion ‘shakedown’
Like I said the guy is a douche and anyone who holds his view on this issue shouldn’t be an elected official because they are too stupid to hold office.