The above tweet appeared from Joe Barton (GOBP-TX) today. It seemed to retract the apology for Barton’s apology to BP, which had saved Barton’s job (see “Who’s sorry now?“). It was quickly removed and then Barton’s press secretary fell on his sword to protect his boss. TP has the story:
Shortly after Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for what he called a White House “shakedown” of the oil company, the Texas congressman apologized for apologizing. “I apologize for using the term ‘shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House this morning, and I retract my apology to BP,” he said in a statement.
But today on his official Twitter page, Barton appeared to take back that apology, linking to an article on the conservative American Spectator website saying “Joe Barton Was Right” [see tweet above].
As Dave Weigel notes, the Spectator article “is a robust defense of what Barton said, knocking the Obama administration for ‘Alinsky’ tactics and hatred of business.” But Barton has since deleted the tweet. Greg Sargent reports that a Barton spokesperson is claiming responsibility: “Guilty as sin, your honor. Without thinking about it much, I added a headline from one of the daily news clips to a website that is, in turn, linked to the congressman’s Twitter account. I won’t be doing that again.”
A new survey from Public Policy Polling finds that Barton’s fellow Texans are overwhelmingly siding with the President:
Texans think that Barack Obama’s right and Joe Barton’s wrong when it comes to BP’s responsibility for cleaning up the oil spill, and a plurality of voters in the state think Barton should lose his leadership post on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Only 18% of voters think that BP deserved the apology Barton sent its way last week to 65% who think it did not. Barton doesn’t even get much support from Republican voters on that front – only 23% of them say it was right to apologize to BP. With Democrats and independents the numbers are even lower at 17% and 12% respectively.
The poll also found that the “episode is having a negative impact on how Texas voters perceive Barton overall. Only 21% have a favorable opinion of him while 28% see him negatively.” Meanwhile, 64% of Texans think Obama was right to ask BP to compensate victims of the oil spill with only 27% opposed to that move.
“[I]f you’re scoring at home,” ABC News’ Rick Klein tweeted, “Joe Barton has now unapologized for apologizing for his apology.”
Barton is one sorry dude.
Related Posts:
- Fact-checking Sarah ‘The Qwitterer’ Palin: Joe Barton reflects the philosophy of over 115 Republicans
- BP and its apologists
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Barton is probably safe in his district, unfortunately, which starts west of Dallas, touching on the suburbs of Fort Worth, and then south past the NASCAR oval and into cattle country. This is the most rabidly ignorant part of the state, and faces competition only from Amarillo and Midland. The rest of Texas is not that bad- Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, and Houston are almost human.
The whole state’s politics are something else. When he ran for Congress, Lyndon Johnson once told his campaign manager to accuse his opponent of having sexual congress with every animal in the barnyard. When the manager said “But he didn’t do that!”, Johnson interrupted to say: “I know, but I want to hear him deny it”.
I listen to the Dixie Chicks who are from down his way and a lot of their music is about regret. Maybe he just likes sorrow and wants to wallow in it any way he can.
Pathetic!
Kennedy: We need a national marketplace that rewards good behavior (efficiency) and punishes bad behavior (inefficiency and waste)!
The good folks in his district are getting what they voted for. I’ve friends who live in the area and they are not surprised by anything this gentleman comes up with.
Well, he didn’t retract his apology, his staffer screwed up with an automatic twitter post of a news article. But, that doesn’t mean that his apology for apologizing wasn’t insincere, and it doesn’t mean he’s not a jerk. It just means his overzealous staff echoes his value system, which, apparently places a high value on corporate profit and a low value on major ecosystems that sustain life.
If you want further proof that the news is shaped by whatever the GOP says is news and what is not, look no further than the Joe Barton BP apology thing.
Truth-out.org has a story from 6/22 which reveals that mobster/chicago etc. variants “shakedown” was an official GOP talking point prior to Barton’s statement. Apparently GOP that much out of touch with even their own voters, including in Texas.
Excerpts: (more at the link)
“But Barton was only echoing a statement that Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., had issued a day earlier in the name of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of House conservatives whose website claims more than 115 members. The statement groused that there is “no legal authority for the president to compel a private company to set up or contribute to an escrow account” and accused the Obama administration of “Chicago-style shakedown politics.”
{The Republican Study Committee is] “A group comprising roughly two-thirds of all Republicans in the House….”
“Barton’s remarks were no spontaneous gaffe. They came in a prepared statement…”
“Newt Gingrich said the White House was “extorting money from a company.” Stuart Varney of Fox News claimed — falsely — that Obama had moved to “seize a private company’s assets” and complained that the action was “Hugo Chavez-like.”
http://www.truth-out.org/eugene-robinson-all-shook-up-bp60649
How generous of Mr. Roddy to say Austin is “almost human.” And the anecdote about LBJ? Johnson’s been dead for 40 years. If only the ignorance and stupidity (and corruption and greed) were limited to Texans. Unfortunately, ignorance, stupidity, corruption, and greed are spread throughout the country, and nasty, underhanded campaigning goes on everywhere–and crosses state lines. Texas’s current Republican governor retained his seat in the last election with a plurality rather than a majority of the vote. (There were six candidates on the ballot.) For the upcoming election, OUT-OF-STATE conservatives have funded an initiative to get the Green Party on the ballot in Texas to take votes away from the Democratic candidate because the Republicans aren’t certain their candidate can get a majority of the votes. The Dems caught on to this cynical scheme (it’s not the first time the Green Party has been used in this way), and are challenging it in court today in (perhaps fortunately) “almost human” Austin. Initially, the Green Party, which couldn’t fund its own spot on the ballot, didn’t know the real source of the funds. Now that it knows, some members have the integrity to oppose a place on the ballot; nevertheless, an attorney for the Green Party will be in court today arguing that the Green Party should be allowed to place a candidate on the ballot. Once again, certain corporate and moneyed interests prey on ignorance and naivete to gain political power–and those particular corporate and moneyed interests take a toll on the environment. (And, ironically, use the Green Party to help them do it.)