Leonard Pitts Jr.: No apologies from the purchasers of influence

[marmar]

via the Detroit Free Press:




No apologies from the purchasers of influence

BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
McCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS


OK, let's make sure we have this straight.

An oil rig operated by British Petroleum explodes in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven people die. As much as 2.5 million gallons of BP oil gushes into the gulf every day. Fragile ecosystems are wrecked, sea life is slimed, fishermen and boaters who make their living from the gulf are facing ruin, and BP, we discover, had no real plan for handling a catastrophe of this magnitude.

So we should apologize to BP?

That was the astonishing, incomprehensible and galling conclusion of Texas Rep. Joe Barton last week in a congressional hearing. He was reacting to news that President Barack Obama had secured from BP a $20-billion escrow fund to help those whose lives were upended by the spill. You'd think that was a good thing, but Barton told BP CEO Tony Hayward, "I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where anytime a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that ... amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize."

Hours later, under fire from Democrats and his fellow Republicans, Barton apologized for the apology and retracted it. But the damage was already done.

Indeed, the gaffe was a gift to Democrats, who wasted no time hammering the GOP with it. Why not? The apology plays right into the narrative of a GOP snugly in the pocket of Big Oil. Barton alone has accepted more than $100,000 in donations from that industry just since 2009. And according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, oil interests have given him more than $1.4 million since 1990 -- more than any other representative.

As we can plainly see, he works hard for the money.

Still, it seems shortsighted to frame this only in the context of one politician -- or even one party -- in thrall to a single industry. To peruse the CRP Web site (www.crp.org) is to be forcefully reminded just how much sway business interests have over what are supposedly our elected officials. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100625/OPINION05/6250320/1322/No-apologies-from-the-purchasers-of-influence&template=fullarticle

[ellenfl]

1. kick for later. eom