Rahm Emanuel: Joe Barton's BP Apology Represents Difference Between Democrats And Republicans

[onehandle]

Source: Huffington Post/ABC



WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's chief of staff is warning about what might happen if Republicans -- who have defended BP over the Gulf oil spill -- were to run Congress after the fall election.

Rahm Emanuel says the GOP philosophy is to paint BP as the victim, pointing to Rep. Joe Barton's apology to BP for what the congressman called a White House "shakedown."

"That's not a political gaffe, those are prepared remarks. That is a philosophy. That is an approach to what they see. They see the aggrieved party here as BP, not the fishermen," Emanuel said on ABC's "This Week."

Barton and Kentucky Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul, who recently called Obama's criticism of BP "un-American," are a reflection of the Republican party's governing philosophy, Emanuel said. "They think that the government's the problem."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/20/rahm-emanuel-joe-barton-bp-apology_n_618646.html

[madrchsod]

1. oh ya...the unions can go fuck themselves...

[pezDispenser]

8. hahaha

[happygoluckytoyou]

29. fucking shrimp getting in the way of our oil... goddamn fish huggers...

[Kingofalldems]

2. K and R for the teabaggers and freepers to see

[TerribleLarryDingle]

18. +1

[UpInArms]

3. from CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/06/20/democrats.barton.bp/?hpt=C1

Now the Democratic National Committee is promising a television ad focusing on Barton's comment, and Emanuel made sure to keep the issue alive on Sunday. While Murkowski shot back criticism at Emanuel, her Republican colleague Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama called Barton's comment a "dumb mistake" and declared on the CBS program "Face the Nation" that his party believed the oil disaster was a "man-made incident, a big mistake" by BP.

"They tried to do it on the cheap, I believe, made some shortcuts and they paid for it, and now we paid for it," he said of the massive oil leak. Shelby also invited two of the Republicans cited by Emanuel -- Barton and Paul -- to visit the Gulf Coast region and witness for themselves what is happening.

However, Shelby also added that Barton "only spoke for himself -- that is not mainstream Republican thought."

On the same program, though, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said Barton's comment was "illustrative that the oil industry rules the roost." He noted that senators from major oil-producing states were trying to prevent the chamber from voting on a bill that would greatly increase the liability of oil companies for damages from spills.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

4. Bi-partisanship is nearly a myth, everyones seen it at work now lets win the midterms and get things

done and fixed. Now we have to think careful about losing lincoln sure we could hope for a whole lot better, but given the tight movement 100 senators gives us, we're probably wiser to be with her than against her. So much to do somethings it's inevitable she will vote with the party. Sure plenty she's disappointed us on, but the choices we make in the Senate lock in for 6 years.

[opihimoimoi]

5. The Revolution the Baggers wish for...is turning into the opposite...total DEFEAT

Bullshit can only take you so far...

[Tempest]

7. The tea baggers were never a threat

The entire movement was orchestrated by GOP insiders with the media as co-conspirators.

They'll win a few races in extremely conservative districts, but their kind of crazy will get no attention on the Hill let alone any serious consideration of any legislation they sponsor. Their constituents will get tired of being the butt of jokes and vote them out in the next election.

[Rageneau]

11. Word!

[Andy823]

24. Actually

I see the tea baggers as a threat, but not to the democrats, instead they are not a threat to the GOP! If more tea baggers get on the ballot in November it will hurt the GOP, and help the democrats. I agree with you that a few might get elected, at least to local positions, maybe even a few at state levels, but I don't think there will be many, if any at all, that make it on a national level.

The GOP created a monster with the tea baggers, and that monster is going to turn on them! Many tea baggers are already upset with Palin for backing the establishment republican instead of the tea party candidates. The really crazy crowd, the Beckerhead bunch, will do as they are told by Heir Beck, but any republican with half a brain will see the folly in backing the tea party candidates, and will be upset that the GOP has been trying to cleanse the party of moderate republicans, ones that could actually win an election. All I can say is it will be fun to watch the melt down in the next few months. Does the GOP continue to cater to the nuts in the tea bag movement which in turn will piss off moderate republicans, or do they try and gain back the moderate republican voters and throw the tea baggers under the bus? Both choices could be bad for them come November!

[Tempest]

6. Emanuel should have pointed out how much Burton got from big oil

And then ask if Burton was shaken down for his support of BP.

[ashling]

9. Barton?

[GoCubsGo]

10. Barton was the one doing the shake-down

As in the hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars he got from BP.

[DonCoquixote]

12. Even the blind can see

Not that Obama would not score MAJOR points by firing this guy.

[theFrankFactor]

15. Double negatives there? LOL, Emanuel is an Asshole - TOWARD DEMOCRATS

We must be smarter than this. Do you REALLY believe someone with Emanuel's temperament and experience doesn't know the game?

[JDPriestly]

13. Thank you, Rahm Emmanuel. You have finally crossed over to

the people's side. Well, just a little bit anyway. Whew! I was getting worrieder and worrieder. Maybe the Obama administration has finally figured out that the Republicans don't want to play fair.

I commend Obama on his patience, but the fact is that the interests of big corporations and the interests of ordinary people don't always coincide.

The Republicans may argue that what is good for corporation X is good for all Americans, but it just isn't always so.

[theFrankFactor]

14. Bullshit! These career insiders are USING this as another oportunity to fool Democrats.

Emanuel, "fucking stupid."

[stuart68]

17. hate to disagree, he is anything but stupid

self-serving, calculating, egotistical, twisted - but not stupid. all of this works in his favor, regardless of whether it works in our favor. As for the unions, shut up ad sit down. Rahm will let you know when it is time to start thinking. Just take your orders and like it...

[theFrankFactor]

19. No, I was quoting Emanuel's famous critique of Democrats that aren't Republicans...

Rahm Emanuel: Liberals Are “Fucking Retarded”

I misquoted, sorry.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/01/26/rahm-emanuel-liberals-are-f-king-retarded/

Barack Obama and his cabinet are hardly Liberal but are becoming the picture perfect "Democrats".

[saigon68]

25. You forgot a POS

[stuart68]

31. implied...

[Ken Burch]

16. It's A difference...but it's not so MUCH a difference

that it vindicate's Rahm's obsessive campaign to blur all the other differences. Nor does it justify his insane hatred of progressives, none of whom have done this party any harm.

[dotymed]

20. If this statement had come from

anyone but (pink pony) Rahm, it would have been encouraging. That bastard and Barton probably were playing grab-ass before the speech. Grab-ass is fine, but Rahm and Barton are cut from the same bolt of cloth.

[theFrankFactor]

21. +1

[meowomon]

22. Unregulated corporations is the problem

[lobodons]

23. Correct

This is what Rahm was saying. Republicans are corporate whores and Dems for the most part want to have have basic regulations in order to safeguard the public from corporate greed and corruption.

Republicans = Corporate Whores
Dems = voice for the people

[Critters2]

26. Wow! When did Rahm become a Democrat? nt

[Maccagirl]

33. He isn't

He only plays one on TV.

[Beartracks]

27. Silly Rahm!!

Republicans don't "govern"!!! They hate it.

-----------------------

[PFunk]

28. It looks to me like Rahm and the DLC are trying to look like there for the 'average' person

While at the same time trying to patch up the rift they caused with the dem base-without being overly covert about it. I think they'll finally realize that base may just sit home in '10 (and maybe '12) if they don't and are now trying to play the 'fear' card (both overly/and covertly) of a repug gain in '10 to keep them from doing so. Still on the whole he's right. Rahm just is hidding how close he actually is to many of those repugs (including their dislike of the dems progressive base).

He's also trying to save his job by not becoming so much of a liability (as he's now hated by many progressives/liberals) that Obama and the dems might have to dump him (to keep those progressives from not 'ditching' them in '10/'12).

(note: this does not mean I want a repug gain in '10/'12, far from it. I just don't want someone using the fear card to push me to vote dem)

[jgraz]

30. Exactly. Democrats are smart enough to only prostrate themselves behind closed doors.

Plausible deniability and all that...

[Lil Missy]

32. It's about time Democrats started getting nasty! Time to spank the pukes with their own words!!

[joe black]

34. Fuck you Rahm.

Youi arn't fooling me again.

[newtothegame]

35. Yeah but we hate Rahm Emmanuel so everything he says is wrong. nt

[No Elephants]

36. Hey, I hate the right even more than Noodle hates the left; and I do hate

to inject reality into the "What if Rahm were one of us?" reveries, but a fact is a fact:

the Republicans immediately made Barton apoogizw for his comment. Granted, he mae one of the most half-assed apologies in an era full of half-assed apologies, but that was his doing, not theirs.

Good luck to anyone following Rahm's advice and trying to run on this in the Fall. His or her opponent can disprove it in seconds.