Barton's Apology to BP Opens Door for Opponent

[tammywammy]

Cross Posted in GD:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8616257

Barton's Apology to BP Opens Door for Opponent

By David Cozad’s own admission, hardly anyone knew his name before last week. And that’s still mostly true, though it may not matter. For all practical purposes, he is That Guy Running Against Joe Barton.

Two little words — “I apologize,” uttered by Barton, the Republican congressman representing Arlington and a large swath of the Fort Worth suburbs, to Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, the company daily soiling the Gulf of Mexico with crude oil — have upgraded the status of Cozad’s campaign from Sure Loser to Longer-Than-Longshot. Calling himself a Green Dog Democrat focused on reforming the energy industry, he newly brims with optimism. “I may be the only freshman Democrat in Congress next year,” he said on Monday.

Before Barton’s roundly rebuked comments at a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Cozad’s campaign had been a study in anonymous futility. At his local Democratic Senate District Convention in March, the pale, bearded 62-year-old was asked to keep his remarks to two minutes. As brevity does not come easily to him, he subsequently turned to YouTube to post the nine-minute speech he would have given, covering such arcane subjects as mid-term elections of 1934. Uploaded May 3, his soliloquy, which he says he considered "too important to throw away," hasn’t exactly gone viral: A total of seven people have viewed it to date, including this reporter.

Cozad hopes the Barton backlash will mushroom into an anybody-but-Joe uprising from the grassroots. A 25-year incumbent previously considered unbeatable, Barton stepped in a pile of political backlash in expressing his view that BP had been the victim of a government “shakedown” from the Obama administration, which worked out a deal with the company to put up $20 billion as a down payment on the oil-spill damage.

Calls to Barton’s congressional office for comment on Cozad's campaign were not returned, and his campaign voicemail box isn’t taking any more messages.

-snip-

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/texas-political-news/bartons-apology-to-bp-opens-door-for-opponent/

http://www.cozadforcongress.com/

Defeat Sorry Joe Barton
http://www.actblue.com/page/sorryjoe

[sonias]

1. Love it!

I do hope that the anti-incumbent wave takes out a few idiots like Joe Barton and Rick Perry. Hey it sort of happened in SD-22. The endorsed Republican candidate, former state Sen. David Sibley was defeated in a special election by a novice. Mind you he's another conservative Republican but heads are spinning about this upset win too.

http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2010-legislative-races/birdwell-win-could-mean-return-of-averitt-to-sd-22/">Texas Tribune 6/23/10
Birdwell Win Could Mean the Return of Averitt to SD-22
Heading into Tuesday’s special Republican runoff in Senate District 22, former state Sen. David Sibley, the favorite, said the big question would be the size of the turnout. High turnout, he figured, would bode well for his chances.

And turn out voters did — but for Sibley’s opponent, Brian Birdwell, a political novice with a personal narrative apparently compelling enough to put him over the top. The race was not close: Birdwell won with 58 percent of nearly 25,000 votes cast.

Nothing is for certain this fall. :popcorn:

Go David Cozad!

[sonias]

2. And the Rs close rank behind Smokey Joe

AAS 6/23/10
Barton to keep seat as top Republican on committee

WASHINGTON — Rep. Joe Barton will retain his position as the top Republican lawmaker on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after expressing remorse to his fellow GOP lawmakers for his apology to BP chief executive Tony Hayward.

House Minority Leader John Boehner said Barton apologized to his colleagues at a closed-door meeting Wednesday for "in his words, his poor choice of words."

A House Republican aide confirmed that Barton, a Texan in his 13th term, would not lose his position over his remarks to Hayward.

"He retracted the statement last week and apologized," Boehner said. "I think that the issue is closed."

No they can not fathom holding anyone accountable for anything! :eyes:

[white cloud]

3. It was not a poo chose of words

It is there generally policy that is at fault. Capitalism stick to the working taxpayer and give BB all the tax breaks that got us this State and Federal deficit our grand kids are looking at.

[tammywammy]

4. Of course they can't hold him accountable!

BTW, I haven't gotten a reply to my email, and I actually live in his district.

[sonias]

5. Your e-mail is in his trash

You know he pretty much trashed every message he got that week, good or bad. It was a geyser of some sort of spill that he could not cap. He tried everything and still the messages kept pouring in uncontrollably.

Ah he must have felt like BP that week, a disaster of his own making and he had no plan for the clean up.

:hi:

[tammywammy]

6. He's disgusting

I can proudly say I habe never ever voted for that man, and he most definitely does not represent me!

:)