Texas Senator Barton's Apology

Gah, the Daily Show, and America at large, has lost almost all respect in my eyes. I mean this following brilliant statement and the following completely idiotic backlash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDc0n79BdLs

Everyone is losing their shit over this, and they don't understand what's being said! Barton is right! He's not saying that BP shouldn't have paid money for damages they've caused, suffered for their failures, or even that they shouldn't have to deal with the consequences of their actions. He's not saying the 20 billion was intrinsically wrong as a punishment. If you actually bother to pay attention and think about this, you'd realize that he's following the law and the strictest legitimate interpretation of the Constitution.

If you're confused, and therefore probably not accustomed to thinking, all he's saying is that while BP is without a doubt completely responsible for this colossal environmental fuckup, they were still charged for the $20 billion prior to this very hearing where the apology took place. Why is that bad? Because this was the hearing where Congress was supposed to determine if/how/why/when BP fucked up. They were on trial. He was apologizing for that slush fund because it completely and utterly violated due process. They were being punished and sentenced before being legally proven guilty. This would be like if you were being charged with theft and were forced to pay a fine before your court date.

This is major! Don't you get it? Barton describes it as a shakedown because it's a legitimate criticism. Congress and the Executive branch know very well what a horrible mess BP is in. They have no one on their side. Every single oil exec that was asked to go to this meeting from every other major oil company all said "This spill is all BP and we have much better security measures in place than they do." BP has no friends right now and are completely at the mercy, politically, of the government. Imagine for a second if they bothered to leap to their defense against the 20 billion. How exactly would that impact what little is left of their image? The fund is, of course, being handled independently by an Obama administration official, some dude they call the "pay czar."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100616/ap_on_bi_ge/us_gulf_oil_spill

*sigh*

I mean, can't you imagine what sort of precedent it sets? Does the government now have the power to take money from anyone who is publicly indefensible? That's why it's a shake down, there's no way to say 'no' without things getting violent. And don't get me wrong, BP is a horrible and atrocious, criminally incompetent cheapskate corporation. They totally fucked up and I hope Congress takes many more billions of dollars from them. I hope they are completely financially crushed and cease to exist. AFTER A BLOODY TRIAL! You know, that THING guaranteed in the Constitution? You might be familiar with the concept, they write TV dramas about them all the damn time.

The really sad part is that he even went out of his way to openly state he wasn't speaking on anyone else's behalf except his own. He divorced himself completely from his party when he made that statement. Not that anyone won't use this as some lame diatribe against those greedy Republicans, but none-the-less, it's really impressive. I mean yes, the Republicans are a horrible, horrible organization full of corruption and racism and homophobia, etcetera. But he went out on a limb with no support and spoke his mind, the legal truth. That's pretty damn honorable. Isn't this the shit we always want to hear about? Isn't this a quality we usually want in our leaders?

Maybe we secretly have a somewhat competent government, and no one notices? Maybe our officials have realized that they can only be elected if they act as stupid as possible?