By now you have all seen the video of Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologize to BP for the “shakedown” at the White House. He has now issued an apology for his apology.
“I apologize for using the term ‘shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP,” Barton said. “As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico. BP should fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt by this accident.”Ugh, what a hot mess! Calling the $20 billion escrow account a shakedown was correct. The White House does not have the authority to demand such a thing. What it did do was to make it known to BP that government would abuse its power if BP did not comply. This is no different from the Bush administration demanding banks participate in TARP. However, Barton totally botched up making this point by apologizing to BP! BP deserves no apologies. They have not been honest brokers throughout the entire Deep Water Horizon spill. Heck, they just admitted that they did not follow federal law regarding blowout preventers! BP pretty much earned the shakedown they got. Barton only had to call out that a shakedown took place.
As some of my long time readers know, I cannot stand all these meaningless political apologies. Say what you mean and mean what you say. If Barton believes that BP is owed an apology, and then he should give it them but for crying out loud, be man enough to deal with the consequences. But issuing an apology for an apology is beyond wuzzy!
Speaking of wuzzies, the Republican leadership could not be bigger members of the Pussies R Us Club. They scrambled away from Barton’s apology to BP so fast they forgot to actually speak out about the shakedown. Never mind that the very first thing Barton says is that he is speaking for himself and not for all Republicans. Maybe it is time for Chris Christie to visit DC Republicans for a pep talk.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: Politico
Via: NOLA
Via: The Last Tradition