Bob Daemmrich/Corbis
A host of both Republicans and Democrats disliked the Texas Congressman’s apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward. Now, Democratic fundraisers have turned to Facebook, ready to cash in on the outrage.
If you’ve been on Facebook over the past 24 hours (who hasn’t?), you might have noticed Rep. Joe Barton’s face to the right of your profile page. MSNBC reports that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is responsible for the Barton-themed ads, which were expected to reel in 20 million page views yesterday alone.
Headlined as “Stop Apologizing to BP!,” the ad states: “GOP rep Joe Barton apologized to BP for holding them accountable for (the) Gulf oil disaster. Tell him to apologize to the American people!”
The ad was induced by Barton’s apology to Hayward, which stated: “I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure that is — again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown. So I apologize.”
After harsh criticism from both sides of the bipartisan bullpen, Barton did later opt for the mea-culpa squared. Reports say that Republican colleagues stewed enough over his remarks to consider revoking his title as chairman-in-waiting of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“I want the record to be absolutely clear that I think BP is responsible for this accident,” Barton told the AP. “If anything I said this morning has been misconstrued, in opposite effect, I want to apologize for that misconstruction.”
Yes, when there are millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico on a daily basis, it wouldn’t be prudent at this juncture to accuse the White House of anything.
Even with Barton’s retraction, the DCCC moved forward in setting up its financial foothold against the first apology. In addition to the Facebook ad, the organization has created a website to attempt to profit off of his comments.