The Democratic National Committee has a new national TV ad, aiming to nail the whole Republican Party to Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-TX) public apology to BP for the $20 billion escrow account that the Obama administration worked out with them, to pay for damages from the big oil spill.
The ad makes hay of Barton’s status as the ranking Republican on the House committee that oversees the oil industry. The announcer says: “Now, at President Obama’s direction, BP’s set aside 20 billion for recovery on the Gulf coast. But if Republicans were in charge, this is the guy who’d be overseeing BP.”
The GOP clearly knew how politically damaging this would be, as they ordered Barton to retract his apology immediately. But that’s not stopping the Dems from putting out a message that Barton said what his party was really thinking about making BP pay for the damages.
