WaPo - Eugene Robinson - "A GOP chorus of Joe Bartons on the BP oil spill"

[TomCADem]

A rare article that calls out Republicans for their bold support for oil companies and BP over the needs of the American public. Sadly, with a corporate dominated media driving an anti-Democratic narrative, most Republicans get a free pass.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062103699.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Joe Barton is not alone. The Texas congressman's lavish sympathy for BP -- which he sees not as perpetrator of a preventable disaster but as victim of a White House "shakedown" -- is actually what passes for mainstream opinion among conservative Republicans today.

The GOP leadership came down hard on Barton after he apologized to the oil company for the beastly way it was being treated by the White House, saying he was "ashamed" that BP was being pressured to put $20 billion into a "slush fund" to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Barton was reportedly threatened with losing his powerful position as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee if he didn't retract his words, and pronto.

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 Web site claims 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." Just to review: A group constituting roughly two-thirds of all Republicans in the House takes the position that President Obama was wrong to demand that BP set aside money to guarantee that those whose livelihoods are being ruined by the oil spill will be compensated. In other words, it's more important to kneel at the altar of radical conservative ideology than to feel any sense of compassion for one's fellow Americans. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how today's GOP rolls.

To be sure, there are Republicans who realize that this is not the message the party should be sending as the midterm election nears. "I couldn't disagree with Joe Barton more," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Party leaders insisted that there was nothing to see at the cliff where Barton went through the political guardrails and that everyone should just move along.

[Skittles]

1. it's good; here's another good smack-down

:D
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/opinion/editorials/stories/DRC_Editorial_0619.b843ada7.html

[jaxx]

2. Smokey Joe.

That's going to stick. Two very good opinions on the apology, I hope the whole country reads them.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Joe the Barton (R - Corporate Groveler)

No one likes a Republicon Brown Noser who takes a stand against the citizens of these United States.

Ptoooey on Republicon philosophy against Americans.

[Scuba]

5. They don't think of us as 'citizens', to them we're 'consumers'

[Ganja Ninja]

7. I believe the word is "suckers". n/t

[Scuba]

8. Yeah, but they only use that in private.

[ashling]

10. and here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8591032

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8599480

[unblock]

4. hey, bp's giving those fishermen all the oil they can scoop up ... for FREE!

what more do they want??

ingrateful basterds!

:sarcasm:

[Ganja Ninja]

6. Perhaps they should have run those talking points by a larger focus group...

before they made it the GOP line. :rofl:

[quaker bill]

9. Once again, New Orleans brings forward

the weakness of republican philosophy. Under Bush, it was not the job of government to marshall a fleet of busses and evacuate the city prior to Katrina. Models and simulations predicted the failure of the floodwalls during a storm that large, considerable loss of life was understood as the result if the city was not evacuated. Yet, Bush on the eve of Katrina basically said that the people were responsible for their own safety. In short, he said it's "not my job man".

In this case, it apparently is not the job of government to intervene with a multi-national mega corporation on behalf of the people, to secure their property, lives, liberty, and promote the general welfare of the public.

Of course on Wall Street, they found it to not be the job of government to prevent speculators from stealing our pension funds with bogus paper. A bunch of SEC guys watching porn and saying "not my job man".

At MMS they found it not to be the job of government to actually review the potential impacts of deepwater drilling, thus the "catagorical exclusions", which is a fancy legal way of saying "not my job man".

At the ACOE they found it not to be the job of government to regulate the removal of mountain tops and the filling of miles of streams in the search for more coal. Thus the "nationwide 21" permit, another fancy legal way of saying "not my job man".

The list goes on and on, and each coming crisis will reveal more.

When you elect people to government who don't believe in government, this is the government you get. I will grant them points for consistency, but none for compassion.

[malaise]

11. Excellent

Jon Stewart dealt with this rather well last night.

Love these from Eugene:

In other words, it's more important to kneel at the altar of radical conservative ideology than to feel any sense of compassion for one's fellow Americans. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how today's GOP rolls.

Barton's remarks were no spontaneous gaffe. They came in a prepared statement and represent his genuine view of the situation: that the rights of a private company are absolute even when weighed against the clear interests of the public.

--
In other words they are fascists.

[Jester Messiah]

12. You can usually count on Robinson to tell it like it is. [nt]