Rep. Barton apologizes to BP for Obama 'shakedown'
 

Rep. Barton apologizes to BP for Obama 'shakedown'
52 mins ago

Well, that was fast. Barely 10 minutes into Thursday's landmark congressional testimony — where BP CEO Tony Hayward and other leading company executives are revisiting the Gulf Coast oil spill before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — the first controversial statement has entered the record.

And no, it didn't come from the gaffe-prone BP brass. Instead, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas — the ranking member on the House Energy Committee — made a decisive splash in his opening remarks. A staunch conservative who has a long record of backing oil industry interests, Barton apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the "shakedown" the Obama White House pulled on the company. (Barton has received more than $1.5 million in campaign donations from the oil industry, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan watchdog group.) You can watch the video here—the apology occurs at the 1:45 mark:







"I'm not speaking for anybody in the House of Representatives but myself," Barton explained, "but I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. I think it is 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."

[Photos: Obama meets with BP executives]

Wrapping up, Barton said: "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, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown, so I apologize."

— Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News.

Barton is a fool. So if I were to go to his house with, oh I don't know, 40 thousand of my closest friends and we all dropped a steamin duece on his lawn, he wouldn't want some sort of restitution for the damage and the shear stink of it?

This guy is a Jackass of Epic proportions that just wants to spout off about how he doesn't like Obama. Not that I am a big fan any more with his Obama-care BS. But BP should have to pay for all the damages and the clean-up efforts after this debacle. There has been release that there was shady work and the high-uppity-ups knew it was goin on and didn't make things right. That is called, NEGLIGENCE, class.

I hate politicians. WHat a bunch of FUCKTARDS

I LOVE my country, but FEAR my government

Then how about voicing those opinions privately?

Dumbass is just jockying for an industry or lobbyist job once his term is up.

I wouldn't call Barton a fool. I would call him bought and paid-for though.

New, I really think that he looked at the situation and layed his chips down on a bad hand. In this case he thought he could make a statement against Obama. He doesnt care what he says as long as he gets a 30 second sound bite that gets him on the news, and in this case he got what he want, just not the way he wanted it

I doubt it....I think it's FAR more likely that he looked at his campaign financier checklist and saw BP on the list to the tune of $26,000+.....he's clearly bought and paid for by Big Oil.

Shit, they all are. I'm sure at the moment many big companies (including Big Oil) are contributing to the Democrats AKA the people in power. I wouldn't be suprised if Obama got a fat check from BP when he was running.

I do not disagree. :/

I didn't see anyone on his list who seemed to be connected to BP, or oil for that matter, but these days that just means his reigns are held by different masters.