Boehner distances himself from Barton apology to BP

[RandySF]

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/06/boehner_distances_himself_from.html

So how bad is it for the GOP that select Republicans are slamming the White House for successfully pressuring BP to create a $20 billion escrow fund, calling it variously a "slush fund" and a "shakedown"?

Bad enough for John Boehner to distance himself from those making such remarks -- in particular, GOP Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who apologized to BP:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) broke with a top Republican on Thursday who suggested BP had suffered a "shakedown" by being forced to set up a $20 billion fund to pay out damages.

Boehner distanced himself from remarks by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) lamenting the BP fund, with the GOP leader expressing thanks for the fund.

"They've agreed to put this $20 billion dollars in escrow," Boehner said during an appearance on Fox News. "I don't know what context Mr. Barton was making that remark, but, I'm glad BP has accepted responsibility for their actions."

[gratuitous]

1. Boehner doesn't know the context of Barton's craven remarks?

Too busy at the tanning salon to eavesdrop on hearings for a disaster that has transfixed the nation? Fuck Tony Hayward; what does the Minority Leader of the House do to earn his paycheck?

[Journeyman]

2. So why doesn't anyone ask Boner the one pertinent question: What context justifies such a remark?...

[gratuitous]

3. The context that it originated in Joe Barton's brain, I guess

Isolated areas often produce creatures such as the duck-billed platypus, outlandish-looking to our eyes. A thought trapped inside the isolated desert of Joe Barton's brain has to adapt to the barren landscape, the lack of oxygen, and dearth of identifiable markers that help establish a context. As such, just about any sort of nonsense is liable to fall out of Barton's mouth, and Boehner apparently knows better than to question it, or even acknowledge it. You just get away from it, like a bad fart in a crowded elevator.