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Movie of the Week...starring Joe Barton...

...and in the interest of fairness to the man's character and image, here is the feature presentation.

YouTube - Rep. Joe Barton Apologizes To BP For $20 Billion Claims Fund

If you want to start a discussion, you should do so out of an interest in honesty, education, intellectual debate, and integrity. His issue was with due process not being followed, not with the amount of money taken from BP. He also did so of his own accord, not for anyone else. Don't take things like this out of context and defame a man like this. I am sure anyone could do the same to you and destroy your reputation as well.
 
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Please...Barton is owned, lock, stock and oil barrel, by the oil industry. If he was correct on the issue, he wouldn't have been forced to back down by his own party.

First off, since I sense a hint of an implication that I think he was right, that is not necessarily true. I posted that on principle that information should be presented in context. I understand that there is a bigger context here that can't fully be represented, but it offers the entirety of what he was saying instead of just "I apologize".

Second, his party made him back down because they knew political ads like this would be produced. That doesn't necessarily make him wrong. Just a poor political strategist.

I don't think this was anything to gain favor for BP or the Republican party. I think this was just him stating what he believes in. It would make no sense to potentially kill your political career with the elections coming up in November if you don't have a reason behind it. It would make more sense for BP to have this guy carry public opinion away from them and have him in office after the water settles than for him to kill his career and have a Democrat elected.
 
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I doubt there is anything bizarre Barton could say vis-a-vis his pro-oil company stance that would haunt him at the polls in his district.

Well we could very well see a Democrat in the governor's mansion come November, so you really never know. Also, don't be surprised if this does bite him in the ass. Texans are really fed up with BP right now (don't forget the Texas City explosion a few years ago), so you never really know.
 
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Well we could very well see a Democrat in the governor's mansion come November, so you really never know. Also, don't be surprised if this does bite him in the ass. Texans are really fed up with BP right now (don't forget the Texas City explosion a few years ago), so you never really know.


You think there's a chance Perry won't be re-elected? I dunno...I would bet that he gets another term.
 
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You think there's a chance Perry won't be re-elected? I dunno...I would bet that he gets another term.

Yes because Bill White is an extremely good opponent. I am not saying the odds are stacked in his favor, but there's a shot. You have to remember that we're in an 18 billion dollar deficit under Perry. We have never had an 18 billion dollar deficit. Republicans who supported Hutchison are flocking to White steadily but surely. The only thing Perry has against White is that White is a Democrat. If White can convince the people that he is a moderate, fiscally conservative Democrat, Perry will be grasping at straws.

What it comes down to is that Texans are tired of Perry. All White has to do is convince them that Perry is not fit to lead Texas and that he is. And with a record he has with Houston (which is pristine, by the way) it is going to be really hard for Perry to stop him if White gains momentum.
 
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Where's Kinky when you need him? :) I find Perry offensive for many reasons, but, not being a Texan, there's nothing I can do but contribute to his opponents. Ms. Hutchinson is certainly smarter and farther upthe evolutionary scale than Perry. I hope he loses.

There's only one Republican on our ballot this fall I can support, and that's the sheriff. He does a good job, and I haven't heard of any significant scandals in his department. Once when I called his office to request his help in getting a traffic signal placed (the state highway department does that, but a sheriff's recommendation is important), he called back and suggested we meet at the site.

That's my kind of local politician.
 
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Where's Kinky when you need him? :) I find Perry offensive for many reasons, but, not being a Texan, there's nothing I can do but contribute to his opponents. Ms. Hutchinson is certainly smarter and farther upthe evolutionary scale than Perry. I hope he loses.

I would vote for Hutchison, but she seems to be more worried about her political future than what's best for Texas. Case in point, she endorsed Perry's candidacy when her views are much more aligned to White's. We have a lot of prominent Texas businesspeople endorsing White though, so it's really anyone's game at this point.
 
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I'll admit to never having understood Texas politics. I never paid any attention to George W. Bush as governor until he declared "Jesus Day" in Texas and until he smirked about and otherwise made fun of that woman the state executed...Karla Faye Tucker... At those moments, I concluded there was something really wrong with Bush, and I wondered just how bizarre the state's voters and politics really were.
 
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Besides Joe Barton's comments, there was the so called "Study Group" of republicans in the house of representatives; about 100 republican representatives basically supported Barton's comments.

Rohm Emmanuel appeared on Meet the Press, I think it was, and advised the American people be careful what you vote for or you might get it, that is, they may end up with the repubublicans back in power in the house and in control of all the oversight committees. He went on to say that it's clear what the republicans believe in and who they are for and it's not the residents of the gulf coast.
 
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Besides Joe Barton's comments, there was the so called "Study Group" of republicans in the house of representatives; about 100 republican representatives basically supported Barton's comments.

Rohm Emmanuel appeared on Meet the Press, I think it was, and advised the American people be careful what you vote for or you might get it, that is, they may end up with the repubublicans back in power in the house and in control of all the oversight committees. He went on to say that it's clear what the republicans believe in and who they are for and it's not the residents of the gulf coast.


My feeling is that the Republican congressional delegation is doing everything it can to stymie the administration on everything it wants to do, no matter what harm that logjamming might do to the country. What I
see are GOP officeholders and commentators whose only real interest is in further dividing the country into the haves and the have nots.
 
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I'll admit to never having understood Texas politics. I never paid any attention to George W. Bush as governor until he declared "Jesus Day" in Texas and until he smirked about and otherwise made fun of that woman the state executed...Karla Faye Tucker... At those moments, I concluded there was something really wrong with Bush, and I wondered just how bizarre the state's voters and politics really were.

I would pay attention to this year's gubernatorial election in Texas. If White becomes governor, not only will there be some major reforms in the state, but there could be some at the national level. White strong-armed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (under Perry, mind you) into complying with the EPA's requirements for what chemical plants could emit into the air. He went to the EPA and the EPA basically said, "Um, yeaaahhhh...no." and forced the TCEQ into upholding national emissions requirements. White then went to the offending companies and told them that he would sue them out of business and told them that he would sue them out of business if they didn't clean up their act. Harmful emissions plummeted. This is a guy who made his fortune in this industry too.

He also went to the Fifth Ward in Houston and cleaned out all of the cocaine dens and whatnot. When he was done there, he paid contractors to go in and re-insulate and seal up all the cracks on the houses in order to a.) help the lower class people there save money and b.) reduce energy consumption in an effort to go green. Speaking of going green, under his leadership, Houston is now the number one purchaser of wind turbines in the United States.

In terms of fiscal responsibility, he did all of that, got rid of a deficit, built a surplus (even in the midst of Katrina aid, Rita, and Ike), and managed to create a pretty awesome surplus when he left office.

In terms of education, he created a voluntary summer school program that any student could enroll in. It cost as little as $2000 per child to do. Those kids' test scores all increased. He and his wife also created a reach-out program to get high school dropouts to come back to school. He, his wife, and thousands of volunteers went around door-to-door encouraging dropouts to go back to school. An estimated 8,800 people have gone back to school as a result of this program.

As far as humanitarian efforts go, I need only say "Katrina" and you will know what I am talking about.

If you want to see stuff about the issues, it's extremely refreshing because he actually has plans that he wants to set in motion the moment he gets elected. And they aren't just "throw money at it until it goes away" plans. They're plans that really get down to the heart of the problem.

Bill White for Texas

Anyways, that's enough thread derailment for me. If you want to talk about it more, shoot me a PM. If enough people PM me, I will post a thread.

EDIT: Just so you know how much of a ****head Perry is, he takes credit for White's work in improving air quality in this letter to Obama. http://www.governor.state.tx.us/files/press-office/O-ObamaBarack201005280133.pdf
 
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