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Rep. Barton apologizes to BP for Obama 'shakedown' - Yahoo! News
I wonder what he thinks of car accidents. It must be a "shake down" when somebody hits your car accidentally or otherwise and you expect them to pay for the damages.
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.
[The latest coverage of the hearings, updated continuously throughout the day, is available from the Associated Press and from Reuters.]
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 (from which Republican leaders immediately began distancing themselves). 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 begins at the 1:45 mark:
I wonder what he thinks of car accidents. It must be a "shake down" when somebody hits your car accidentally or otherwise and you expect them to pay for the damages.