GOP STEPS ON ITS OWN 'SHAKEDOWN' TALKING POINT....

[ProSense]

GOP STEPS ON ITS OWN 'SHAKEDOWN' TALKING POINT....

It's hard to see how Wednesday's meeting at the White House could have gone much better. President Obama met with BP executives, told them how it was going to be, and BP quickly agreed. The result: a $20 billion pot of money that will bring much-needed help to workers, businesses, and families who've been victimized by a devastating oil spill.

The Republican response was quick: the relief fund is outrageous. The matter, the GOP said, should have been resolved in the courts. Obama pressuring BP on Americans' behalf was evidence of a "shakedown" and "extortion," which might have even been "illegal." How dare the president step up to secure needed funding for struggling families and small businesses in the region. The nerve. Hell, one key Republican official even apologized to BP for Obama strong-arming the oil giant into setting the money aside.

Yesterday, though, the Republican message seemed to shift a bit, at least in some corners. What was initially deemed an outrageous presidential abuse turned into a GOP idea that Obama shouldn't take credit for.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), for example, issued a statement yesterday implicitly arguing that there couldn't have been a shakedown, since BP intended to put $20 billion into the escrow fund before the White House meeting. "The true outrage," Franks said, "is that this was never the President's idea at all."

It wasn't just Franks.

On Thursday, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao told me that he pressed BP on the fund idea a month ago, inspired by the example of Exxon after its 1989 spill off the coast of Alaska. And on Friday I talked with Ray McKinney, another engineer, who is running for Congress in Georgia against Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.). McKinney stressed that there was no serious disagreement about the escrow issue, and said Democrats were concocting a political debate when all that mattered was making BP pay and investigating the disaster.

First, there was considerable disagreement about the escrow issue, since the entire Republican establishment quickly rose up to trash the agreement, loudly and publicly.

Second, this new message completely invalidates the first. Simultaneously, we have Republicans saying Obama extorted the money out of BP and that BP agreed to the payment before Obama walked into the room. The president's efforts were scandalous, some Republicans are arguing, but the effort was a GOP idea.

Can't anybody here play this game? Just pick a message and go with it.

[droidamus2]

1. Traditional

They are just reverting to the traditional Republican/wacko line which is 'Anything good that happens is because of what a Republican did or what Republicans kept the Democrats from doing. Anything bad that happens is because of a Democrat or because of something the Republicans couldn't stop the Democrats from doing or because the Democrats wouldn't do it the Republican way'. Therefore if they thought somethine was bad then it was Obama's fault but if the public decides it was good then it was a Republican idea to begin with. Don't forget Republicans/Conservatives are perfect and the world would be a utopia if everybody would just get out of their way and let them run things.

[4lbs]

2. Yeah, sure, ok, BP had planned the $20 billion escrow account before the meeting with the POTUS.

Because after all, big greedy corporations do this responsible thing all the time without being prodded into doing it. :sarcasm:

If BP had already decided to do this, what were they waiting for? They could have made the announcement weeks ago.

[Empathic_1]

4. OMG!

My eyes are bleeding!!!!


Please post a warning "GRAPHIC IMAGES AHEAD"!

[Kber]

8. In a strictly literal sense, BP probably did agree prior to the meeting.

I don't believe that Obama would have gone on national TV and stated that he was going to demand that BP put the funds aside if he wasn't darn sure that the deal was already largely done.

However, I also don't believe that BP wouldn't have done it without substantial pressure from the Federal Government, and maybe even from the British government, too.

If anyone believes that, I have a beautiful home in Alaska with a stunning view of Russia from the living room to sell. :)

[Arkana]

3. "It's highway robbery, but we thought of it first, fuckers!"

[dccrossman]

5. ROFL, +1

K&R
:kick:

[Jennicut]

9. LOL. Exactly. Is there any low they won't resort to? Or any original idea they won't try and steal?

[dyingnumbers]

6. This isn't a shakedown...

Hell, one key Republican official even apologized to BP for Obama strong-arming the oil giant into setting the money aside.

This is a stick-up!

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. Strange, isn't it, how the language of the underworld sounds so

natural on their lips? 'Shakedown'. Top marks. Very evocative.