It took a few hours, but Congressman Joe Barton, a blithering ass if ever God squeezed one out, has finally come out and retracted his apology to BP for having had to put up $20 billion in an escrow account for claims. After stating that his comments, in which he said he was “ashamed” of the White House for “shaking down” BP were ‘misconstrued,’ he announced that “I want to apologize for that misconstruction.” In other words, homeboy couldn’t weasel his way out of this one so he might as well tell the truth. Jayzuz.
Given the passion with which he initially commiserated with BP CEO Tony Hayward this morning on being forced to establish a “slush fund,” and the clarity of the language he used, it’s hard to imagine where exactly the “misconstruction” lay, though it appears from further statements that he believed the misconstruction involved the belief that he did not think BP should be held responsible. Oh horse dung. He retracted the entire apology because he didn’t make any sense even to Republicans and it became clear there wasn’t aything to clarify. Just some rambling jazz that had to be incinerated. Here’s the incineration:
“I apologize for using the term ’shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP. As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico. BP should fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt by this accident. BP and the federal government need to stop the leak, clean up the damage, and take whatever steps necessary to prevent a similar accident in the future.”
Now go away.
