By now weve all heard about Rep. Joe Bartons apology to BP for the governments shakedown" of forcing them to fund a $20B slush fund to pay for the Gulf oil spill damages. On the surface Bartons statement was correct and he should not have had to apologize for it. But he should never have said a word in the first place. Sometimes it is possible to be right but at the wrong time.
The issue here is not accuracy. The issue is polls and public opinion. Right now the public opinion against BP is overwhelming.
A NYT/CBS News poll published today shows that over 3/4 of the public disapproves of BPs handling of the spill. And amusingly the publics opinion of President Barack Obamas handling of the spill is somewhat better but not great - 47 approve of Obamas actions.
And last week a USAToday/Gallup poll showed that Americans overwhelmingly believe Obama has not been tough enough on BP. In fact that poll shows that 59 believe BP should pay all expenses - even if it drives BP out of business.
Right with a CEO who is attending yacht races and pictures of oily birds plastered across the media there is no love lost for BP.
Rep. Barton is a politician. Politicians should understand…politics. And politically showing sympathy for BP right now is a very bad move. This is why the GOP immediately demanded that Barton apologize for the apology".
As the Washington Post pointed out Bartons apology for the shakedown saved Barack Obamas week."
Politically Bartons statement was in a word stupid. It gave the Democrats a demon. It provided a gold mine of soundbites for them to use against the GOP now and into the future and the GOP leadership rightly realized this.
As Rush Limbaugh stated on the air today:
Its real simple folks. Its all about the Republicans not wanting to give the Democrat National Committee a cheap campaign ad featuring Barton and so forth. Unfortunately the ill-informed would buy the ad buy the whole premise.
The ill-informed" are those who believe the Democrats dreck about big oil" and the GOP. Right now guys like Rep. Barton arent giving the public any reason to think differently.
To the substance of Bartons original statement we must realize that at the core this is politics not philosophy class. Philosophically Barton was 100 correct. On occasion I get an evil pleasure out of prodding true conservatives".
Theyre philosophical beings that think primarily in terms of what is right and true and often dont consider what is politically wise. Does it mean that one is a RINO" if they consider the political ramifications of a particular action?
No. That is pragmatic and in politics its wise to be pragmatic.
At the end of his first hour today Rush addressed this directly:
Sixty percent of the American people are just hacked off at BP like you cant believe. This issue is the number one issue on peoples minds. The economy is now number one to three to four percent of the people. And so the Republicans do not want to appear to be on the wrong side of this. This to them is not an issue that is a teachable moment.
This is something. Lets not even be heard on this. Lets just slither away under the rock here and well let Joe Barton get eaten by the Democrat lizards on this and well protect ourselves." I mean this is politics and its one of many reasons why true believers have so much trouble with politics.
Its just that simple and no more complicated than that.
True believers" = true conservatives" in case you missed the connection.
Rush finished out with this:
It angers people and frustrates people especially the young who are in this for the purity of conservatism and they believe elected Republicans are in the same thing. This is one of the problems young people have on both sides with politics is that the idealism they attach to it is nowhere near the reality of the people who practice the so-called art of politics.
Reality bites folks - in an ideal world ideals would trump all but in reality politics is a key factor. The trick is to balance our idealistic philosophically-pure views of what our government should be doing with the realities of the political situation.
Right now standing up for a massively unpopular corporation and criticizing the Obama $20B shakedown may be right but its also unwise and could significantly damage our prospects for re-taking Congress in 2010.
Right now its the wrong time to be right about BP and the oil spill.
FORE!
By now weve all heard about Rep. Joe Bartons apology to BP for the governments shakedown" of forcing them to fund a $20B slush fund to pay for the Gulf oil spill damages. On the surface Bartons statement was correct and he should not have had to apologize for it. But he should never have said a word in the first place. Sometimes it is possible to be right but at the wrong time.
The issue here is not accuracy. The issue is polls and public opinion. Right now the public opinion against BP is overwhelming.
A NYT/CBS News poll published today shows that over 3/4 of the public disapproves of BPs handling of the spill. And amusingly the publics opinion of President Barack Obamas handling of the spill is somewhat better but not great - 47 approve of Obamas actions.
And last week a USAToday/Gallup poll showed that Americans overwhelmingly believe Obama has not been tough enough on BP. In fact that poll shows that 59 believe BP should pay all expenses - even if it drives BP out of business.
Right with a CEO who is attending yacht races and pictures of oily birds plastered across the media there is no love lost for BP.
Rep. Barton is a politician. Politicians should understand…politics. And politically showing sympathy for BP right now is a very bad move. This is why the GOP immediately demanded that Barton apologize for the apology".
As the Washington Post pointed out Bartons apology for the shakedown saved Barack Obamas week."
Politically Bartons statement was in a word stupid. It gave the Democrats a demon. It provided a gold mine of soundbites for them to use against the GOP now and into the future and the GOP leadership rightly realized this.
As Rush Limbaugh stated on the air today:
Its real simple folks. Its all about the Republicans not wanting to give the Democrat National Committee a cheap campaign ad featuring Barton and so forth. Unfortunately the ill-informed would buy the ad buy the whole premise.
The ill-informed" are those who believe the Democrats dreck about big oil" and the GOP. Right now guys like Rep. Barton arent giving the public any reason to think differently.
To the substance of Bartons original statement we must realize that at the core this is politics not philosophy class. Philosophically Barton was 100 correct. On occasion I get an evil pleasure out of prodding true conservatives".
Theyre philosophical beings that think primarily in terms of what is right and true and often dont consider what is politically wise. Does it mean that one is a RINO" if they consider the political ramifications of a particular action?
No. That is pragmatic and in politics its wise to be pragmatic.
At the end of his first hour today Rush addressed this directly:
Sixty percent of the American people are just hacked off at BP like you cant believe. This issue is the number one issue on peoples minds. The economy is now number one to three to four percent of the people. And so the Republicans do not want to appear to be on the wrong side of this. This to them is not an issue that is a teachable moment.
This is something. Lets not even be heard on this. Lets just slither away under the rock here and well let Joe Barton get eaten by the Democrat lizards on this and well protect ourselves." I mean this is politics and its one of many reasons why true believers have so much trouble with politics.
Its just that simple and no more complicated than that.
True believers" = true conservatives" in case you missed the connection.
Rush finished out with this:
It angers people and frustrates people especially the young who are in this for the purity of conservatism and they believe elected Republicans are in the same thing. This is one of the problems young people have on both sides with politics is that the idealism they attach to it is nowhere near the reality of the people who practice the so-called art of politics.
Reality bites folks - in an ideal world ideals would trump all but in reality politics is a key factor. The trick is to balance our idealistic philosophically-pure views of what our government should be doing with the realities of the political situation.
Right now standing up for a massively unpopular corporation and criticizing the Obama $20B shakedown may be right but its also unwise and could significantly damage our prospects for re-taking Congress in 2010.
Right now its the wrong time to be right about BP and the oil spill.
FORE!
