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GOP leaders forced Rep. Barton to retract apology to BP (Long past time to ditch the wimpass GOP!)
Washington Post ^ | 6/17/2010 | Aaron Blake and Paul Kane

Posted on 06/17/2010 4:36:15 PM PDT by tobyhill

Under pressure from Republican leaders who threatened to remove him from a ranking committee position, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) late Thursday retracted his apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the way his company has been treated by the U.S. government -- a comment that had drawn heavy criticism from both parties.

Barton made that apology to Hayward in his opening statement Thursday morning before Hayward's testimony to the House subcommittee, in which Barton decried the Obama administration for pressuring BP to open a $20 billion escrow account and to suspend dividend payments for the rest of the year.

The ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said such arrangements have no legal basis, and that the political pressure exerted on the corporation in the midst of an investigation is a "tragedy of the first proportion."

"I'm ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday," Barton said in the morning. "I apologize."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: barton; joebarton; rinos
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To: bushwon

When are the GOP gonna stand toe to toe and scrap for their country instead of employing the “smart, disciplined politics” of a permanent minority?


41 posted on 06/17/2010 5:45:55 PM PDT by roses of sharon (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Barton’s words, he apologized for an American President behaving like a 3rd worlder, he did not apologize for PB’s spill.

[Barton] complained that “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, [is] 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 which sets, I think, a terrible precedent for the future.”

“I apologize,” Barton added. “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.”

“I’m speaking now totally for myself,” he noted. “I’m not speaking for the Republican Party.”


42 posted on 06/17/2010 5:48:14 PM PDT by roses of sharon (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)
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To: roses of sharon

Long,long, long after hell freezes over.


43 posted on 06/17/2010 5:54:56 PM PDT by sport
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To: CharlesWayneCT

I agree, it wasn’t phrased good but he was right on the point, it was a shakedown.


44 posted on 06/17/2010 6:32:33 PM PDT by tobyhill
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To: tobyhill

The GOP is falling into obama and the rats’ trap of demonizing and putting ALL the blame on BP to deflect it from their chosen one.


45 posted on 06/17/2010 6:34:11 PM PDT by jersey117
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To: madison10

I don’t believe I can force myself to vote for another republican. There are none in my area that have any balls. They’re all cashing in and don’t want to upset the apple cart.


46 posted on 06/17/2010 6:43:33 PM PDT by Terry Mross (I weep as America gasps for breath.)
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To: dtrpscout

Barton would have gotten a lot more support if he’d stuck to his guns, gone out and held a press conference and say “My party leadership just attempted to shake me down by threatening to take away my chairmanships. I told them to go to hell.” Then the party leaders would have gotten the damned message a little louder and a little clearer.


47 posted on 06/17/2010 6:47:50 PM PDT by Terry Mross (I weep as America gasps for breath.)
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To: tobyhill

Proof-positive a vote for the GOP is just more of the same...WE NEED TO THROW ALL OF THEM OUT!!!

Time to start over!


48 posted on 06/17/2010 6:49:44 PM PDT by surfer (To err is human, to really foul things up takes a Democrat, don't expect the GOP to have the answer!)
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To: tobyhill

Barton should have told the Republican ‘leaders’ to shove it! I know I would like to tell them that!


49 posted on 06/17/2010 6:51:17 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: tobyhill
Boehner and Cantor are chickenshit moral cowards. They had the perfect opportunity to educate the public on the lawless, highhanded, dictatorial actions of the Usurper. Instead they wet their pants and hid behind their mommy's aprons. If you're afraid of flatus from the likes of Robert Gibbs, then you're just no damn good.
50 posted on 06/17/2010 7:14:42 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: tobyhill

Anybody know the fax numbers for Barton, Cantor, and Boehner?


51 posted on 06/17/2010 7:28:39 PM PDT by Mad Dawg ("Be kind to everyone you meet, for every person is fighting a great battle" -- St. Ephraim)
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To: roses of sharon

“smart, disciplined politics” of a permanent minority?


Well put! Their motto seems to be the infamous Rodney King “Can’t we all just get along?” comment!


52 posted on 06/17/2010 8:27:22 PM PDT by Freedom56v2 ("If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait till it is free"--PJ O'rourke)
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To: tobyhill

And this is how tone-deaf Republicans have become.


53 posted on 06/17/2010 8:36:08 PM PDT by Tempest (I believe in the sanctity of life... As long as you can afford it.)
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To: tobyhill
GOP leaders forced Rep. Barton to retract apology to BP (Long past time to ditch the wimpass GOP!)

First I have heard of this. It pi$$es me off. I used to understand what happens in politcs. No more

54 posted on 06/17/2010 8:41:34 PM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: bushwon

If the entire MSM were replaced with Rush Limbaugh clones except for one last reporter, the GOP leadership would still play to that last Dem reporter’s demands and expectations.


55 posted on 06/17/2010 8:44:41 PM PDT by roses of sharon (I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13)
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To: hinckley buzzard

Mark Levin ripped them both, and said if we take back the house, they should not be in charge or there will be a third party.


56 posted on 06/17/2010 8:46:59 PM PDT by Brimack34 (President Palin let it be said let it be done.)
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To: hinckley buzzard
Was it not Cantor that was not too long ago praised to the sky on this site?
57 posted on 06/17/2010 8:47:39 PM PDT by Irish Eyes
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To: tobyhill

“I don’t need to explain why it’s time to ditch the GOP because if you don’t see it by now then you never will. Nothing is going to change with the GOP.”

Here we are back to logic, or lack of same. The Democrat party would become even stronger in such a case and the country would be permanently lost, as I believe you currently are.


58 posted on 06/18/2010 6:34:21 AM PDT by billhilly
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To: Mad Dawg

“Anybody know the fax numbers for Barton, Cantor, and Boehner?”

All things are known by google.


59 posted on 06/18/2010 6:40:43 AM PDT by billhilly
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To: billhilly
We don't always have to settle for lesser of two bads. Eventually all the people will get tired of the Rats and RINOs destroying the country so we need to be ready to be the alternative, even if it means the Rats get a temporary leg up on the country.
60 posted on 06/18/2010 6:56:02 AM PDT by tobyhill
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