Emmanuel Promises Rep.Joe Barton's "IM Sorry BP" Is Not Forgotten

 

As the political aftershocks from Rep. Joe Barton’s expression of sympathy for British Petroleum continue, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel promised Sunday that President Barack Obama hopes to make sure that voters don’t forget the gaffe anytime soon.

Emanuel tore into the GOP over Barton’s apology for the government’s treatment of the company responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, saying on ABC’s “This Week,” that “in case you forgot what Republican governance was like, Joe Barton reminded you.”

“There is a choice that Joe Barton has offered the American people, a philosophy for the Republican Party, which is that BP is the aggrieved party,” Emanuel said. “In the coming weeks, you'll see the president speak to the country about these competing different philosophies. That is, do you have only the energy executives in the room, or do you have energy executives, environmentalists, and other people from the venture capital community to come to a consensus on energy policy? Do you think that BP is the aggrieved party here? Do you think that Wall Street should be left alone and not have any reforms? Elections are about choices. Those are what is fundamental. There is a difference in our philosophies. And not only in our philosophies, (but) how we make sure that America strengthens its economy.”

In his prepared remarks during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the oil spill with BP executives, Barton, a Texas Republican, said he was “ashamed” of the White House’s pressure on BP to create a $20 billion escrow fund to compensate business owners and residents along the Gulf Coast who are facing economic hardship because of the spill. “I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporate can be subjected to what I would characterize as a ‘shakedown.’ In this case a $20 billion shakedown,” Barton said.

Republicans have distanced themselves from Barton’s comments and immediately pressured him to apologize. But Democrats are trying to make the comments stick.

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