Everybody -- Even John Boehner! -- Hates Oil-Industry Whore Joe Barton
It was hardly agoodday for BP CEO Tony Hayward, who mumbled "I don't recall" and "I was not part of that decision making process" enough times to qualify for the Iran-Contra Memorial Bullshit Award. But Tony must be resting a little more comfortably tonight knowing that one of his own supposed tormentors on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee ended up being themost hated Oil Industry goon of the afternoon. Texas Rep. Joe Barton reached new heights of national douchebaggery when, in the space of a few sentences, he managed toapologizeto BP and declare that he would no longer live in America, because of the inconveniences suffered by the oil company that has fouled the entire Gulf of Mexico.
Barton should go ahead and start checking the Internet for whatever country the grumpy old Texans retire to, for cheaper meds, because not even the House Republican leadership wants anything to do with him now:
Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, and Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, summoned Mr. Barton and he “was told to apologize, immediately, or he would lose his spot, immediately,” a senior aide said. “We’ll see what happens going forward.”
Ha ha, so this means Joe Barton won't chair the energy committee when the Republicans easily take the House back in November, right?
And as the White House piled on Barton, with Robert Gibbs tearing Barton a new one onTwitter Thursday evening, the watchdog groups dug up the dirty records of Barton's campaign contributions, showing he'd taken more than $1.4 million from the Oil Industry since 1990.
Of all the U.S. states along the Gulf Coast, only Texas has been spared devastation from the BP oil spill. [ New York Times ]