The Grand Oil Party/BP Love Fest

Harry Hope

unread,

Jun 22, 2010, 7:12:27 AM6/22/10

to

From The Washington Post, 6/22/10:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/21/AR2010062103699.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

A GOP chorus of Joe Bartons on the BP oil spill

By Eugene Robinson

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.

But no.

Let's slow down and crane our necks.

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.

While the party leadership has managed to squelch members of Congress
who might have been tempted to weigh in on Barton's side, the
conservative amen chorus can't help itself.

Rush Limbaugh called the agreement on the $20 billion escrow fund
"unconstitutional" and accused the administration of acting like "a
branch of organized crime."

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."

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol said that "I have no sympathy for
BP," but then proceeded to be sympathetic, offering that "it's not
helpful for the country, for the economy as a whole, for the president
to bully different companies and different industries."

I'd advise these people to get a grip, but they're just saying what
they believe.

It just happens that what they believe is absurd.

There is ample evidence that BP, one of the biggest and most
profitable oil companies in the world, cut corners in operating the
Deepwater Horizon rig that resulted in the worst spill ever to despoil
U.S. waters.

BP's assertions about its ability to prevent, contain and clean up any
oil leak turned out to be patently false.

If we were not dealing with such a tragic situation, the company's tin
ear for public relations would be comic;

the unforgettable line from BP's chairman -- "We care about the small
people" -- sounds like something Mel Brooks might dream up for a
sequel to "The Producers."

Meanwhile, thousands of fishermen, shrimpers, oil-rig workers,
restaurant owners and others along the Gulf Coast are suffering the
economic effects of the spill.

The environmental damage, still worsening, will be felt for decades.

A mile beneath the surface, that noxious plume of gas and oil
continues to billow.

Yes, President Obama used the power of his office to pressure BP to
set money aside for compensation.

If Republicans believe he shouldn't have, then by all means they
should speak up.

Come November, the voters will be able to decide who's right.

______________________________________________________

Republicans and BP go kissy kissy.

Harry

Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking head

unread,

Jun 22, 2010, 10:06:04 AM6/22/10

to

They fuck up the Gulf...And the OilBama party of "Yes Sir Master"
wants to make em rich.

-----------
Once a government pet, BP now a capitalist tool

As BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig was sinking on April 22, Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., was on the phone with allies in his push for climate
legislation, telling them he would soon roll out the Senate climate
bill with the support of the utility industry and three oil companies
— including BP, according to the Washington Post.

Kerry never got to have his photo op with BP chief executive Tony
Hayward and other regulation-friendly corporate chieftains. Within
days, Republican co-sponsor Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., repudiated the
bill following a spat about immigration, and Democrats went back to
the drawing board.

But the Kerry-BP alliance for an energy bill that included a cap-and-
trade scheme for greenhouse gases pokes a hole in a favorite claim of
President Obama and his allies in the media — that BP’s lobbyists have
fought fiercely to be left alone. Lobbying records show that BP is no
free-market crusader, but instead a close friend of big government
whenever it serves the company’s bottom line.

While BP has resisted some government interventions, it has lobbied
for tax hikes, greenhouse gas restraints, the stimulus bill, the Wall
Street bailout, and subsidies for oil pipelines, solar panels, natural
gas and biofuels.

Now that BP’s oil rig has caused the biggest environmental disaster in
American history, the Left is pulling the same bogus trick it did with
Enron and AIG: Whenever a company earns universal ire, declare it the
poster boy for the free market.

As Democrats fight to advance climate change policies, they are
resorting to the misleading tactics they used in their health care and
finance efforts: posing as the scourges of the special interests and
tarring “reform” opponents as the stooges of big business.

Expect BP to be public enemy No. 1 in the climate debate.

There’s a problem: BP was a founding member of the U.S. Climate Action
Partnership (USCAP), a lobby dedicated to passing a cap-and-trade
bill. As the nation’s largest producer of natural gas, BP saw many
ways to profit from climate legislation, notably by persuading
Congress to provide subsidies to coal-fired power plants that switched
to gas.

In February, BP quit USCAP without giving much of a reason beyond
saying the company could lobby more effectively on its own than in a
coalition that is increasingly dominated by power companies. Theymade
out particularly well in the House’s climate bill, while natural gas
producers suffered.

But two months later, BP signed off on Kerry’s Senate climate bill,
which was hardly a capitalist concoction. One provision BP explicitly
backed, according to Congressional Quarterly and other media reports:
a higher gas tax. The money would be earmarked for building more
highways, thus inducing more driving and more gasoline consumption.

Elsewhere in the green arena, BP has lobbied for and profited from
subsidies for biofuels and solar energy, two products that cannot
break even without government support. Lobbying records show the
company backing solar subsidies including federal funding for solar
research. The U.S. Export-Import Bank, a federal agency, is currently
financing a BP solar energy project in Argentina.

unread,

Jun 24, 2010, 2:23:42 AM6/24/10

to

On Jun 22, 7:06 am, Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking
head <messiah2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Read more at the Washington Examiner:http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-a-government-pet-BP-n...
Bump

Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking head

unread,

Jun 24, 2010, 6:51:45 AM6/24/10

to

On Jun 23, 11:23 pm, Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking

Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking head

unread,

Jun 24, 2010, 9:26:00 AM6/24/10

to

On Jun 22, 7:06 am, Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking
head <messiah2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Read more at the Washington Examiner:http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-a-government-pet-BP-n...
Bump

Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking head

unread,

Jun 24, 2010, 10:17:46 AM6/24/10

to

On Jun 22, 7:06 am, Anonymous Infidel - the anti-political talking
head <messiah2...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Read more at the Washington Examiner:http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Once-a-government-pet-BP-n...
Bump