The search for Joe Barton’s testicles
In London, where I am at the moment, the BP oil-spill melodrama is just as big a story as it is in the States — bigger, in fact, since BP dividends have been paying £1 in every £6 paid by FTSE 100 companies. That winds up being about 12 percent of dividends paid to British pensioners. So Brits, who should still be smarting from President Obama’s calculated rudeness to them — practically his first act as president was to send back a bust of Winston Churchill which had been in the White House — now have another reason to dislike the former Chicago machine politician.
Pursuing the Alinsky policy of never letting a crisis go to waste, the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress have greeted the BP oil spill with an access of glee wrapped up in watercress of stern moralizing. The president’s televised speech on the subject the other day got nearly unanimous bad marks, which is not surprising since it merely expanded on the embarrassing “I’m-looking-for-some-ass-to-kick” (but whose? whose?) motif he announced last week.
Even more nauseating was the spectacle of various U.S. congressmen falling over themselves to find new ways to insult BP CEO Tony Hayward and declare their high-minded, selfless concern for Gulf fishermen and “the environment” while pronouncing anathema upon evil “unregulated” oil companies, etc., etc. (Where, I wonder, do they think the gasoline that fuels their limos comes from?)
One shaft of light in this malodorous comedy came from the Texas lawmaker Joe Barton who treated the kangaroo-court grilling of Hayward with some of the contempt it deserved. “I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday,” Barton said to Hayward during the hearing. “I apologize. It is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case, a 20-billion-dollar shakedown.”
Speaking as a Briton, I agree with you completely — you should always put the profits of our oil companies over the interests of your citizens.
We are of course disgusted by Obama’s pro-American stance — how dare he love his country more than ours? And naturally we applaud Congressman Barton’s staunch antipatriotism. Truly, he is the greatest American since Benedict Arnold.
All together now:
RU-U-U-ULE BRITANNIA! Britannia, rule the waves …
Is that an example of British humor — jejune sarcasm? If so, I must say humor has deteriorated since my last trip there.
It’s not, I can assure you.
This type of Guardian reading, BBC adulating idiot is why we’re in a financial oil slick of our own back here.
Probably a public service worker now facing the nemesis of reality.
Yes, a Congressman had the courage to speak the truth. Or… a congressman so beholden to his big oil sponsors that have given millions to his campaign, that he felt it necessary to grovel and apologize to them for agreeing to compensate the “small people” who’s lives have been destroyed by their clear negligence?
Free Market system right? That’s what the right is always talking about. If the “pensioners” get financially hurt because they invested in a company that totally neglected safety protocol for the sake of profits then I’d say the free market system is working. Obviously the Federal regulations weren’t enough to make BP and other oil companies to do the right thing, maybe financial pain will. Isn’t that the free market you are always talking about? Or should the taxpayers bail BP out from the mess that they created?
“Or… a congressman so beholden to his big oil sponsors that have given millions to his campaign”
Unlike, say, Barack Obama, the biggest single recipient of BP campaign largesse.
Seriously, are you really trying to pretend Obama’s slush fund wasn’t a shakedown, ACORN extortion gone big-time?
I regret Barton didn’t just make the talking point, but ask some probing questions: Mr Hayward, what were you threatened with if you didn’t cough up?
You need to educate yourself about Obama’s campaign finances, or you are deliberately trying to mislead others. He did not accept a single cent from B.P. The donations you are speaking of were from B.P. employees. This is in no way evidence he would be in the corporation’s back pocket. Try again you failure. :p
Actually, the biggest recipient of BP donations in 2008 was — wait for it — Barry Dunham. Wonder how much of that $20 billion will get siphoned off to community activists?
Roger is correct. This is not and should not be an international issue. It is a technical one about how to stop an oil leak that could have hit a rig of any flag, including American. Had we been hit we would be asking BP what to do. Transforming it into a nationalist frenzy makes not sense and is destructive. As for responsibility, instead of the kangaroo court of posturing politicians, how about a real court, using testimony, precedents, etc. with real impartial judges, laws, etc. to see that justice is done.
I thought parody sites are normally meant to have disclaimers in the header.
P.
Thank you Mr. Kimball,
It’s about time for all to call BS BS. Joe Barton was right. While the President, Congress, media, and NRO are raking this guy over the coals, he, his lieutenants, his lawyers, his staff are not “plugging the damn hole”.
Best post I’ve seen on this problem, though I’d move #3 to #1.
1. Plug the hole
2. Clean the water
3. STFU
If we want to have the rule of law and not of men, we have to abide by the law on the books at the time of the incident. It is not perfect justice, but in order to maintain a working system, we need leadership willing to accept the trade-offs that come with it. If the law said oil companies could only be held liable for $75 million (a foolish law that distorts realistic incentives and risks, but a law nonetheless), then the government must prove criminal negligence in order to demand more. Under normal circumstances, this should go to court, where objective, previously known rules would be enforced, rather than political considerations (like the President’s reputation as an ass-kicker). It is, of course, in BP’s long-term interests to spend much more than the amount they are directly liable in order to clean up the spill and make this right. Their reputation depends upon it. But it is an infringement of the powers granted to the executive branch for the Obama administration to force any private enterprise to adhere to their political will (although this is far from the first or last time this administration will bully big business into heeling before its agenda). These extra-legal manipulations, while emotionally appealing to the short-sighted, set a horrible precedent for a system of law. While this incident is serious stuff to those of us living in Louisiana, Obama is treating with his usual self-absorbed political calculation, hyping up a villain and using a crisis to promote government power expansion beyond the normal boundaries of legal and economic precedent (especially if he uses it to garner support for cap-and-trade and his wasteful energy planning regime), rather than coordinating all the little things that could make the cleanup easier. He is trying to bolster his image after taking a P.R. beating over his response to the spill by taking some kind of direct action, any action really, to show that he is useful (although the fact that neither he, nor anyone else, has the technical ability to fix the gusher means that his options for appearing engaged are limited). However, instead of clearing all regulatory paths (like the Jones Act, and Coast Guard and EPA rules, etc.) and making sure the needs of local government responders were well coordinated and quickly facilitated, his administration has publicly focused more rhetoric on the many ways that they will keep a boot on BP’s neck. Now, at first, I thought that Obama should not be held so responsible (even despite his entire misleading campaign being based upon the power and effectiveness of big government and his own competence), but he has continually shown his priorities to be misallocated and his efforts disengaged from those things that he could actually contribute. Now his administration wants to bully BP rather than deferring to the system of objective law that has long maintained order in our society and enabled private enterprise. This might make for a few nice soundbites now and a guarantee of some cash to deal with this particular incident, but it ignores the long-term impact of political interference in adjudicating the financial liabilities of a private company. What future company can trust that the government’s current legal commitments will hold true for them if an accident occurs? Does this amount to some kind of an executive bill of attainder, in which the manner of enforcement of the law concerning financial liability will be changed after the fact by the administration depending on the situation? Will BP now become beholden to a political administration, rather than the courts (just as components of the American auto and banking industry now are)? The stultifying effect this will have on business investment is only part of the point (although making business more insecure about the arbitrariness of government controls during an employment slump would not seem advisable). Allowing the government’s actions to be driven entirely by public emotion rather than objective laws will, in each instance, bend and twist the constitutional order more and more out of shape until it is eventually unrecognizable and useless. When the precedent for arbitrary usage of power becomes accepted, the rights of businesses and individuals that make them up are no longer sacrosanct or protected. Sure, this all seems only fair that BP pay as much as the clean-up costs (and they will definitely be inclined to clean up as much as they can afford anyway), but it is defnitely not worth disrupting our long-held and effective social contract.
JDubs, excellent. Very well said. The pity is the vast majority of people won’t understand any of what you’ve said, and will want only to satisfy their emotions that those “dirty oil companies” are getting it good and hard. I expect this to become more and more a line of Democratic campaigning as we go into the Fall. The meme is already “see what happens when you don’t regulate big business, like those dirty Republicans?” Despite the fact that, of course, oil companies are regulated up, down and sideways.
The meme will be repeated and repeated, and people will believe it. I think while this event is making some previous supporters question Obama — what, he’s not a god? — it’s going to be played up by Democrats and will help them in many ways in the 2010 election cycle. We can already see by the way Barton was demonized. You don’t dare speak truth to this event. You can only wail in agony and cut throats seeking revenge. This is what our politics has come to.
I believe that political concerns had a greta deal to do with Barton’s recantation. The Republican party has the Dems on the ropes, and Barton’s clarity immediately divided the faithful.
Bobby Jindal, for example, is not in the mood to cut BP any slack.
I’m having a hard time identifying the good guys in this tradgedy. The gulf coast residents have my sympathy, people who invested in BP less so but they’re not the villans either. I can’t see images of the wildlife struggling for their lives without thinking of the military horses in WWI. They’re helpless and just don’t know the enormity of what they’re involved in. Pitiful. Meanwhile many of their environmental and celebrity saviors appear to have abandoned these creatures in support of their own political savior. The dead rig workers were just trying to earn a living trusting that those giving the orders knew what they were doing.
Ants toil, bees make honey and politicians and pundits are drawn to disasters to choose sides, point fingers and lay blame. That’s just what they do. Somebody has to get some political mileage out of this I guess. The president has another crisis that he can’t waste and an escrow fund that he can. $20B can’t buy you a sense of empathy but it will pay for a lot of golf.
I’m sure the worlds finest brains in engineering, geology and the oil industry are working 24/7 to stem this disaster, yet two months later the oil still flows. That scares me. It may only be the beginning of this calamity. God bless everyone who is trying to help. And somewhere in BP’s decision-making chain someone has a lot to answer for.
I have information about this that is not in the press. Barton is my Congressman. He was misunderstood by both the left and the right. It is Boehner, Cantor and Pence that have no testicles. They threatened him. They are the wimps. Barton had to make the decision whether or not to be the ranking Republican now and the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee when and if the Republicans win back the majority. The changes he can make in that top position and the plans he has to fight Cap and Tax were at stake. This is deeper than most see. I also know that Boehner has negative feelings about Barton since Barton ran against him for majority leader. There are many things going on underneath the surface that is not publically known. Joe already made his point, and everybody with half a brain knew he was right. And anybody with half a brain knows that his apology for the true remarks was forced by the wimpy Republican leaders. He made his point AND he kept his position on the committee. We need him where he is. At first look, it may appear that he lost, but in the big picture we will all realize that he was the “boy who pointed out that the emperor was strolling around buck naked.” Here is a good article about this by Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/barton’s-shakedown-comment-tone-deaf-and-correct/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook
That does it for me with Mike Pence; I’d already written off Boehner and Cantor as being more concerned with their career goals than with their job responsibilities, i.e., just two more RINOs. But for me, the jury was still out on Pence, despite that I’d heard he’s been paling around with the open-borders types. I’ve been watching him very closely since then. Now he goes on my in-the-dog-house list — from which no dogs escape
.
Republicans are either going to FIGHT for our country as Founded, or it’s bye-bye Charlie, and we’ll get a third party in to do the work you won’t! We are holding you ACCOUNTABLE. Get used to it.
I agree.
And well will Nicole appologize for getting blood all over my nice clean knife!
-OJ Simpson
Mr. Kimball: are you in lala land? insulting BP’s CEO?
so we should welcome him with open arms, thank him for f….ing up our coastal waters, thank him for destroying the local economy, thank him for
creating the biggest environment disaster, so their stock
stays in tact so the British can get their pension.
This is a great solution,
I guess you didn’t know, miriam, that the President refused help from foreign countries — with expertise and equipment for cleaning up the mess — and all because the President was more concerned about placating unions than doing his job.
Please permit yourself the luxury of expanding your knowledge on this issue by visiting here:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/06/17/all-the-legality-of-a-car-jacking/
and here:
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/06/18/the-helpless-titan/
darcy
All those three month a year workers will now be employed full time cleaning up the mess for the next ten years. Thank you BP.
Well, at least Roger Kimball has them!
Roger, with a bowtie like that, you really shouldn’t be asking about the search for other people’s testicles.
Atta boy! What a cogent argument to whitewash a $20 billion shakedown handed over without accountability to the Washington thugocracy.
BP may have enough loose change to buy off our historic first Islamic apostate president, but his nickel and dime extortion laid upon the rest us to support union pensions, health welfare bureaucrats, green energy Potemkin villages, and nihilist propagandists in our schools will leave us only with the fond memory of a past when we could still afford a suit and bow tie.
What is it about Roger Kimball’s bowties that brings out the gay-baiting and homophobia in his otherwise oh-so politically correct left wing critics? (Not that there’s anything wrong with it!) Almost makes me want to add a bowtie or two to my wardrobe.
In the NY Times today it was reported the Rahm Emanual thinks Hayward should have dropped out of the yacht race. These guys never learn. Maybe he could join Obama on the golf course.
No one is going to say that BP isn’t sitting between a rock and an extremely hard, hot place. However, a rose by any other name smells as sweet and so it is that extortion remains extortion no matter where one learns the arm-twisting ropes.
IMNSHO, Joe Barton was spot-on. No matter how you slice it, BP has done far more than the administration since the tragic blowout and continuing to bash them for political gain holds some serious risks.
This little tidbit was found in last week’s Detroit News and bears careful consideration: “Obama’s incessant bashing of BP also isn’t helping get the oil out of the Gulf. The company’s stock has plummeted, its bond rating has been downgraded and there are whispers on Wall Street of a hostile takeover or break-up.”
Think about this. If a hostile takeover were to happen, there goes the money, period, as any obligations would go with the takeover. In fact, if it was a hostile country taking over BP they could walk away from both funding that $20 billion slush fund AND walk away from any further effort and expense to plug the leak in the Gulf of Mexico, too.
Leaving the American taxpayer holding the whole, gigantic, greasy bag.
But then, maybe that’s exactly what His Transparency wants? I’m just curious as to how he’ll find a way to blame Bush for it.
Okay Joan, so let’s say Oil Company X decides to attempt a hostile takeover, with the intention of walking away from the oil spill cleanup in the gulf. Don’t you think this would be a stupid move considering walking away from the oil spill would anger your biggest consumer, the American public? Doesn’t even make sense to consider it, now does it? I’m sure glad you’re not running any of the corporations I own stock in.
Try thinking beyond point B from point A. Do you honestly think a country like Iran or Venezuela (either one supported by Russia) would give a hoot about losing America as a customer when their intent aligns with this administration’s intention to bring America to her knees and convert Her to socialism? What better way to hold the United States hostage to, oh, say, nuclear proliferation demands or annhilating Israel than to threaten to walk away from any obligation in the Gulf?
Barton was right and so is Roger. BP will have to be responsible for the mess they have made but it is simply incorrect for Obama to get too involved in controlling private corporations (i.e., GM, Chrysler, Health Insurance Companies, etc.) I lived in Argentina when Peron was President and have seen close up the damage that can be done to private institutions and the market system by an arbitrary intromission of the government.
If nothing else, one man, Tony Hayword, showed Congress up for a bunch of braying jackasses, pre-selected by the media to run in the first place, and not surprisingly performing like the media puppets they are. Paraphrasing Kant, these Congressional jackasses demand what they cannot themselves supply, censure what they cannot improve, and propose what they know not where to find. Congress is itself public theater created by the media, which is its real constituency.