just sent Joe Barton an email regarding his apology.

[ladywnch]

Dear Rep.Barton,




I wanted to send this thank you note. I'm sure you've already received several on this topic.

I wanted to thank you for your apology to Mr Hayward. You've given the Democratic Party a real boost today! You've once again demonstrated just how out of touch you personally and your whole party really are. You've once again demonstrated that the Republican party has not yet encountered the corporate disaster/treachery it will not rise to defend. Your Republican corporate master must be very proud of you indeed. You were the first one to parrot back the taking point of "shakedown". Did you get a special prize for you efforts? ....maybe a little extra something for your campaign fund????? If not, have no fear, I'm sure they'll you something real soon.

I'm sure if Texas were in the crosshairs of this mess you would still be lending your full throated support for BP and telling the 'small people' of your state to just 'suck it up and get over it'.

I know, why don't you just organize a parade for BP.....maybe arrange for Mr Hayward to receive the Congressional Medal of Freedom for consenting to drill our resources and selling them for insane profit to line his (and your) pockets.

How you can defend a corporation who, during the last 2 years of the Bush administration (you remember, when Republicans ran everything) has been sited for well over 800 safety violations, 760 of which were deemed as 'willful and egregious' in sharp contrast to the next 4 major oil companies in the same time period had about a dozen COMBINDED?!!! Only a true corporate whore could look at that data and this disaster and cry/whine 'shakedown'. Only an IDIOT would 'trust' that BP will make good on ANY promise it makes.

Once they declare bankruptcy it will be a little late to try and get a fund created. By forcing them to put money into the escrow account Obama has assured that those poor people ravaged by this wholly preventable disaster get full compensation.

And by the way, did you really not think that NOBODY would uncover that your top corporate donor is a partner with BP on Deepwater Horizon?????? You people REALLY need to be educated on how technology works in the 21st century. It just keeps making you look like complete fools………and not in an laughable Palinesque way.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, ladywnch.:thumbsup:

[spanone]

2. in case anyone would like to join in, here's his contact info

DC Address: The Honorable Joe Barton
United States House of Representatives
2109 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-4306
DC Phone: [phone]
DC Fax: [phone]
Email Address: http://joebarton.house.gov/ContactJoe.aspx?Type=Contact
WWW Homepage: http://joebarton.house.gov/Default.aspx
Twitter: @RepJoeBarton

[Booster]

3. Perfect. Happy to kick and rec. Good job.

[lunatica]

4. I'd forgotten the Congressional Medal of Freedom Bush used to give out like candy

Aah! The memory of the bad old days just twisted my gut again.

It reminds me that today things are a lot better and going in the right direction.

[Angry Dragon]

5. You show fine etiquete in sending thank you notes

[Spazito]

6. Well done!

:thumbsup:

[dgibby]

7. Damn, you are GOOD!

Proud to K&R!

[HughMoran]

8. Good letter!

You lost him (and me actually) at "corporate master", but the sentiment is right on target. I want to thank him as well - the Dems couldn't have asked for a better present today.

[Laelth]

9. "Only an IDIOT would 'trust' that BP will make good on ANY promise it makes."

You don't want to say that. President Obama personally guaranteed that BP would live up to the commitments they made to him.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Laelth]

13. Here's what he said, exactly:

"The people of the Gulf have my commitment that BP will meet its obligations to them."

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/25902fff4af847c5b48682ddc7f467ca/US--Obama-Text/

:dem:

-Laelth

[RagAss]

10. K&R.....This Assclown just bought us November !!!!

[sendero]

11. Very nice..

..... well said.

[Las Vegas Mixx]

12. Esquire - Politics Blog on Joe "Big Oil $$" Barton

http://eforum.reviewjournal.com/lv/showpost.php?p=679473&postcount=25
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/joe-barton-apology-061710


BP CEO Tony Hayward and Texas GOP Congressman Joe "Big Oil $$" Barton

Esquire, the Politics Blog

Now, it was puzzling enough that the Republicans would think it wise to attack a deal that seeks to make American citizens whole from damages caused by a foreign corporation. But it is incomprehensible that even a lobby puppet such as Barton would place the Republican Party squarely on the side of the corporation and against the people of the Gulf Coast.

In so doing, in one five-minute opening statement in a hearing that otherwise seemed to be yielding nothing meaningful, Joe Barton may have changed the calculus of this fall's elections.

His party will protest and say otherwise, but Barton has revealed something quite extreme and very ugly about what he and his colleagues truly believe.

We always knew that Barton was headed for greatness.

When I was but a tike, playing in the fetid sandbox of Texas politics, Joe Barton was a newly elected member of Congress, where he was but a glimmer in the eye of the oil-and-gas industry. Oh, but soon Barton would get big and grow strong. He would more than exceed all expectations that the industry had for him. In their wildest dreams, Big Oil could not have imagined a more obsequious servant. And when he became chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he would stifle all efforts for the people of the United States to find out what was happening inside Dick Cheney's secret energy task force, amid much other bidding. What a helpful valet Joe Barton was. If only all Members of Congress understood their proper roles as he did. And his other constituents — the small people back home — did their part, too, and meekly returned Barton to congress every two years. They didn't even have to think about it.

Now Barton is pink-faced and soft, an elder in the Congress, and with a head like a country ham is the very face of corruption in Washington. If ever he had a moment's conflict about what interests it was he was to be looking out for, any such tensions fell away long, long ago. For Barton it was reasonably simple and predictable: the private interests would trump the public interests, virtually every time. Because in Texas the public interests are regarded as something radical to be feared, Barton's corruption was applauded as evidence of something good. As if to affirm this fact, Barton was rewarded handsomely, collecting $1.5 million from oil and gas interests alone in the past two decades. And in an entrepreneurial side gig, he has raised more money from these same interests for a "foundation" that has forgotten to fund much more than its own staff and Barton's activities. That Boys and Girls Club that he promised to support will just have to wait.

So today, in Washington D.C., Joe Barton has placed himself and his party so far outside the bounds of decency that he has even Tony Hayward shaking his head.

It is important to note that Joe Barton is not popularly regarded in his caucus as a whackjob. Rather, as the ranking Republican on Energy and Commerce, he is well-respected. He cannot be marginalized as an outlier. This moment cannot simply be allowed to pass. And its importance cannot be overstated.

[donheld]

14. k & R