Joe Barton, Republican asshole of the day

Once again this wasn't BP's fault. It was the governments fault.

Those parts that were used, are required by law to be inspected by the government once a month. Not only that but the manufacturing of the parts is also required to pass government inspections. The government certified the parts and also passed their inspections. Yet the failure is BP's fault? Why? If the government says the parts are good and they are passing their monthly inspections, then why is it BP's fault when they fail? If the parts were faulty it was the governments responsibility to determine that, since they were the one's who said BP had to have certified parts. But like usual the government has done a fantastic job of redirecting the blame onto the corporation and will inevitably get the people to think more government is needed so problems like this won't happen in the future. It's a perfect plan for government to get more control, more power, but also being the one who caused the problem to start with. They forced BP out into deeper waters because there is a ban on shallow water drilling.

Government win win, corporation loss and government was behind it all along.

Top Corporate Donor to Barton Is Partner of BP on Deepwater Horizon
(by Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight.com, June 17, 2010)

Ordinarily, it's not that shocking to see a Republican from Texas defend the petroleum industry. But Rep. Joe Barton's comments to BP CEO Tony Hayward today, in which he described it as a "tragedy" that a "a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown", has obviously touched something of a raw nerve, with Republicans already seeking to distance themselves from the comment while Democrats look for ways to exploit it.

Making matters worse for Barton is the identity of the top contributor to his election campaigns. Since 1989, it has been the company Anadarko Petroleum, from which he's received $56,500 in PAC donations and another $90,000 in individual contributions.

Anadarko has been making a lot of news lately, and none of it is good: they're a 25 percent partner in the Macondo Prospect, which was the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that is causing oil to spill into the Gulf of Mexico. Anadarko has also been sent a bill by BP and asked to pay its share of the cleanup costs.

GOP is really in a bind here on their messaging. They don't know whether to take the populist angle and attack Obama for not doing more, or protect their corporate and oil interests by attacking Obama for doing too much

Is this a sick joke of some sort? I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here or not.

Suffice it to say that you are completely and totally wrong, sir, and quite uninformed as to the actual facts of the situation.

Cycloptichorn wrote:

Is this a sick joke of some sort? I can't tell if you are being sarcastic here or not.

Suffice it to say that you are completely and totally wrong, sir, and quite uninformed as to the actual facts of the situation.

Yeah I'm uninformed?

How about the fact that congress capped the insurance cost for BP to 70 million?

Hmm, why would congress cap the insurance that BP would have to pay for potential disaster? Congress went a long with it, passed the resolution and BP didn't have to pay more than 70 million for insurance.

I guess i am just making all that up right. That I am misinformed.

A Texas Republican's apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward that the company had to agree to a $20 billion fund for oil spill damage claims nearly cost him a key House committee position on Thursday.

Rep. Joe Barton was forced to recant by House minority leaders outraged at the vision of an American lawmaker apologizing at a congressional hearing to a foreign head of a corporation that had caused great hardships for millions of Gulf Coast residents.

They most certainly are not, any more so than State governments are responsible for keeping your brakes on your car in good working order.

Rep. Joe Barton was forced to recant by House minority leaders outraged at the vision of an American lawmaker apologizing at a congressional hearing to a foreign head of a corporation that had caused great hardships for millions of Gulf Coast residents.

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They most certainly are not, any more so than State governments are responsible for keeping your brakes on your car in good working order.

Well, they're a bit more responsible than that, Cy. There's been a good deal of talk about how cozy the regulators are with the oil companies.

Even more so, you seem to have this idea that the government was primarily responsible for safety and for following established drilling procedures on BP's rig. They most certainly are not, any more so than State governments are responsible for keeping your brakes on your car in good working order.