Republican apologizes to BP CEO

[TheElusiveKyleOrton]

Hayward hearing: Republican apologizes to BP CEO
by Jed Lewison
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Thu Jun 17, 2010 at 07:47:09 AM PDT

Here's the first (and probably the biggest) jaw-dropping moment of today's hearing with BP CEO Tony Hayward: GOP Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy Committee’s subcomittee for investigations, apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward, saying he’s "ashamed" of the American response to BP’s oil spill.

According to Barton, asking BP to set up an escrow account to compensate victims of BP's disaster was a criminal action -- a "shakedown" as he put it. Barton's not alone: his comments echo those made by other Republicans in recent days, including Michele Bachmann, Haley Barbour, and Tom Price.

We'll be liveblogging updates as the hearing continues throughout the day.

Update 1 -- GOP Rep. Marcia Blackburn continues the "give BP a break" theme from the Republican Party, saying "the current administration deserves a significant portion of the blame for the oil spill." I guess BP would have loved an apology from her, but at least she told them that it really wasn't all their fault.

Update 2 -- GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey continues the "attack Obama, not BP" message from Republicans, saying he's looking forward to testimony from the administration. You could feel the GOP love from Hayward, pleased that yet another Republican was taking heat off his company.

Update 3 -- Over the course of his career, roughly 1 in 4 dollars raised by Joe Barton has come from the energy industry, a total of $3.3 million.

Update 4 -- CNN and MSNBC both replayed Barton's apology to BP at the top of the hour. Fox completely ignored it. Go figure. CNN also played Markey's response.

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[Smiling Assassin27]

Wow, how Pelosi-like of him.

Look, let's be serious. The human error of BP employees, possibly in conjunction with negligence on behalf of its management with regard to operations, is the reason for this incident. The government was not operating the rig, providing support, or staffing the project, and so it bears no responsibility for the explosion, collapse or subsequent spill. BP is culpable and deserves no apology for government response or lack thereof. Does the government bear some blame for the inadequate and incompetent response? Yes. But that is a separate issue from BP's responsibility for their failed operation, and so this guy has no grounds for apologizing to them for poor government response or anything else, as he does not speak for anyone but his own electorate.

His position that BP was shaken down is right on, though. Since when does the Executive Branch have consitutional authority to extract a sum of money from a private corporation for damages? Answer: NEVER. As President, Obama's responsibility is to enforce the rule of law, which has due process as its foundation. There exists no law that requires BP to hand over a penny until a US court finds them guilty of charges. As much as it kills me to see the devastation in the Gulf, the Executive Branch has essentially formed a lynch mob bent on strong arming BP in order to influence public opinion. Sorry, but the Federal government cannot demand an arbitrary sum of money from a party and then inform them that if they do not obey, they will face the full wrath of the government. This is what happens in fascist nations, not republics. Does this warrant an apology to BP from the Executive Branch? You bet. As grave as this situation is, it does not warrant wanton disregard of the rule of law, plain and simple. It's right there in the 5th amendment.

Under this Administration, all claims under $500K will be determined by one guy--Feinberg. Where does the constitution give the Executive Branch authority to establish an arbitrary claims process that dictates what individuals will accept as restitution for their losses?

BP, for its part, is probably dowright giddy about this whole thing. A single claims process protects it from what could be decades of lawsuits, which would might bankrupt them, but would certainly make its stock prices fall and stay low. Check out the tobacco settlement. It enabled Big Tobacco to survive and move on while the Federal government became their partner and was gracious enough to put a dollar amount on lives of those affected.

No apology necessary for the financial arse-kicking that BP has brought on itself with this malfeasance and violation of the law. But for the Executive Branch's unilateral 'cowboy' attitude (gee, where have we seen that before?) and disregard for the law, BP deserves an apology, but the American people are the ones who deserve the REAL apology from the President.

[TheElusiveKyleOrton]

I'd say the American people deserve a real apology from BP... and some responsibility from the company itself.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that someone had to tell BP that they should be paying this bill. Whether it's the president or not doesn't interest me. Whether or not the debt is paid -- by someone who is responsible, BP -- is what interests me.

[Popcorn Sutton]

Wow, how Pelosi-like of him.

Look, let's be serious. The human error of BP employees, possibly in conjunction with negligence on behalf of its management with regard to operations, is the reason for this incident. The government was not operating the rig, providing support, or staffing the project, and so it bears no responsibility for the explosion, collapse or subsequent spill. BP is culpable and deserves no apology for government response or lack thereof. Does the government bear some blame for the inadequate and incompetent response? Yes. But that is a separate issue from BP's responsibility for their failed operation, and so this guy has no grounds for apologizing to them for poor government response or anything else, as he does not speak for anyone but his own electorate.

His position that BP was shaken down is right on, though. Since when does the Executive Branch have consitutional authority to extract a sum of money from a private corporation for damages? Answer: NEVER. As President, Obama's responsibility is to enforce the rule of law, which has due process as its foundation. There exists no law that requires BP to hand over a penny until a US court finds them guilty of charges. As much as it kills me to see the devastation in the Gulf, the Executive Branch has essentially formed a lynch mob bent on strong arming BP in order to influence public opinion. Sorry, but the Federal government cannot demand an arbitrary sum of money from a party and then inform them that if they do not obey, they will face the full wrath of the government. This is what happens in fascist nations, not republics. Does this warrant an apology to BP from the Executive Branch? You bet. As grave as this situation is, it does not warrant wanton disregard of the rule of law, plain and simple. It's right there in the 5th amendment.

Under this Administration, all claims under $500K will be determined by one guy--Feinberg. Where does the constitution give the Executive Branch authority to establish an arbitrary claims process that dictates what individuals will accept as restitution for their losses?

BP, for its part, is probably dowright giddy about this whole thing. A single claims process protects it from what could be decades of lawsuits, which would might bankrupt them, but would certainly make its stock prices fall and stay low. Check out the tobacco settlement. It enabled Big Tobacco to survive and move on while the Federal government became their partner and was gracious enough to put a dollar amount on lives of those affected.

No apology necessary for the financial arse-kicking that BP has brought on itself with this malfeasance and violation of the law. But for the Executive Branch's unilateral 'cowboy' attitude (gee, where have we seen that before?) and disregard for the law, BP deserves an apology, but the American people are the ones who deserve the REAL apology from the President.

I haven't had time to see how it went down but didn't the CEO of BP and Obama "agree" on setting up a fund? Wasn't it really just a big PR move on the part of both parties? I'm mostly curious about your statement saying Obama is "extracting" money from BP. Is this true?

[Rigs11]

fear not peeps. According to this repub the oil spill is not a disaster.

Don Young: Gulf spill 'not an environmental disaster'


After congressional hearings last week on the Gulf of Mexico oil blowout, Alaska Rep. Don Young downplayed the environmental effects of the massive spill and said the U.S. should focus instead on passing better laws and opposing the Obama administration's moratorium on new offshore drilling permits. Young's opponents for his House seat criticized his attitude, reports the Alaska Public Radio Network.



Young said: "This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a national phenomena. Oil has seeped into this ocean for centuries, will continue to do it. During World War II there was over 10 million barrels of oil spilt from ships, and no natural catastrophe. ... We will lose some birds, we will lose some fixed sealife, but overall it will recover."



Read more: http://www.adn.com/2010/06/02/1304209/don-young-gulf-oil-spill-not-an.html#ixzz0r8IkNIe3

[Mr.Meanie]

BP, for its part, is probably dowright giddy about this whole thing. A single claims process protects it from what could be decades of lawsuits, which would might bankrupt them, but would certainly make its stock prices fall and stay low. Check out the tobacco settlement. It enabled Big Tobacco to survive and move on while the Federal government became their partner and was gracious enough to put a dollar amount on lives of those affected.


Wait, what?

The Exxon Valdez spill, one of the biggest environmental disasters of all time, cost Exxon an estimated 2-3 billion in clean-up and compensation.

They were class-action sued and got a judgement for $5 billion, which they appealed several times, and had reduced to $2.5 billion. They appealed again, and had it tossed back by the Supreme Court... it's still in appeal.

Regardless, worst case Exxon is on the hook for about $5 billion, half of which has been deferred for over 2 decades so far... and is a total that amounts to about 3 months worth of profit last year.

Since a similar disaster of scope and nature occurred in recent history, we have a good benchmark to measure this one against. To say they will be "bankrupted" by lawsuits and cleanup efforts, and that they are "downright giddy" about only putting up $20 billion to be independently administrered is just ludicrous.

[peacepipe]

there is no cap on what BP will pay, the 20 billion is just a down payment.

[Rohirrim]

Lost in all the bs is the fact that Cheney and Bush let BP dismantle the regulations that led directly to this spill.

This is a direct result of Right Wing politics (deregulate everything), ideology (dismantle taxes on the wealthy) and philosophy (corporate run economy) taking over America.

The paid media squeal keeps parroting "liberal, liberal, liberal" and the trogs fall for it, but the fact is that the smoking and oozing ruin of America that we see all around us is the direct result of the political shift that started with Reagan.

Right wing politics is destroying America.

Government is not the problem. Government owned by corporations is the problem.

Meanwhile, the tea bag trogs squawk about taxes when they are paying the least they've paid in fifty years.

One would think, in these days and times, that it would be politically incorrect to hold an idiot's parade, but Palin and Bachmann make such irrepressible baton twirlers. And who can deny Glenn Beck his moment in the spotlight?

Are we surprised at Right Wing politicians apologizing to BP? You think they don't know who's the boss?

[watermock]

good god.

[ghwk]

He just un-apologized. The party got to him qucickly and told him to "say this" then "STFU."

[kappys]

His position that BP was shaken down is right on, though. Since when does the Executive Branch have consitutional authority to extract a sum of money from a private corporation for damages? Answer: NEVER. As President, Obama's responsibility is to enforce the rule of law, which has due process as its foundation. There exists no law that requires BP to hand over a penny until a US court finds them guilty of charges. As much as it kills me to see the devastation in the Gulf, the Executive Branch has essentially formed a lynch mob bent on strong arming BP in order to influence public opinion. Sorry, but the Federal government cannot demand an arbitrary sum of money from a party and then inform them that if they do not obey, they will face the full wrath of the government. This is what happens in fascist nations, not republics. Does this warrant an apology to BP from the Executive Branch? You bet. As grave as this situation is, it does not warrant wanton disregard of the rule of law, plain and simple. It's right there in the 5th amendment.


Where does the Constitution grant rights to BP(or other corporate entities) that are the same as those of a private citizen?

That said the President certainly has the right to seize their assets provided there has been adequate "due process" Of course defining due process is rather quite vague, basically just the "law of the land" as the Magna Carta put it. There is no clear due process for situations like this. Since executive signing orders coupled with a refusal of Congress to do its job has essentially abrogated these responsibilities to the President then BP has had "due process" as seen fit by the POTUS which is the law of the land so to speak.

[gunns]

Hayward hearing: Republican apologizes to BP CEO
by Jed Lewison
Digg this! Share this on Twitter - Hayward hearing: Republican apologizes to BP CEOTweet this submit to reddit Share This
Thu Jun 17, 2010 at 07:47:09 AM PDT

Here's the first (and probably the biggest) jaw-dropping moment of today's hearing with BP CEO Tony Hayward: GOP Rep. Joe Barton, the top Republican on the House Energy Committee’s subcomittee for investigations, apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward, saying he’s "ashamed" of the American response to BP’s oil spill.

According to Barton, asking BP to set up an escrow account to compensate victims of BP's disaster was a criminal action -- a "shakedown" as he put it. Barton's not alone: his comments echo those made by other Republicans in recent days, including Michele Bachmann, Haley Barbour, and Tom Price.

We'll be liveblogging updates as the hearing continues throughout the day.

Update 1 -- GOP Rep. Marcia Blackburn continues the "give BP a break" theme from the Republican Party, saying "the current administration deserves a significant portion of the blame for the oil spill." I guess BP would have loved an apology from her, but at least she told them that it really wasn't all their fault.

Update 2 -- GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey continues the "attack Obama, not BP" message from Republicans, saying he's looking forward to testimony from the administration. You could feel the GOP love from Hayward, pleased that yet another Republican was taking heat off his company.

Update 3 -- Over the course of his career, roughly 1 in 4 dollars raised by Joe Barton has come from the energy industry, a total of $3.3 million.

Update 4 -- CNN and MSNBC both replayed Barton's apology to BP at the top of the hour. Fox completely ignored it. Go figure. CNN also played Markey's response.

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Well of course he did. His donations from the oil corporations are at stake.

And I don't give a **** if it's the President's right or not to demand, or call it a shake down, money for this disaster. Tony Howard looks and talks like he could care less. Maybe that's his demeanor but he's done nothing and said nothing to give us the belief he's capable for handling this thing. Kudos to Obama, as that is exactly what I wanted to hear in his speech the other night. **** protocol

[W*GS]

Barton is a ****ing scumbag, totally in the pocket of Big Carbon.

He needs to be tossed out of office ASAP.