BP

Former Defense Dept. Spokesman Signs On To Clean Up BP's Image

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 5, 2011, 11:05AM

Former Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell

The ever-revolving door of fortune in Washington has landed former Defense Department spokesperson Geoff Morrell at what was recently one of the world's most reviled corporations.

Politico's Mike Allen reports that Morrell has joined BP America as Head of Communications, a hiring move that suggests in BP "an aggressive new effort to recover from past communications debacles and improve its image in an essential market."

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Gas Prices

Democrats Call Oil Execs On The Carpet For Tax Breaks

Susan Crabtree | May 12, 2011, 6:34AM

The stark differences between Democrats and Republicans on the oil industry and rising gas prices are on vivid display in Congress this week, as Democrats continue to demand an end to tax subsidies for the big-five oil giants while House Republicans pushed through a bill to expand offshore oil drilling.

A group of Senate Democrats gathered at an ExxonMobil station a stone's throw from the Capitol to call on the top five oil producers to voluntarily swear off $25 billion in industry incentives and tax breaks over the next decade.

Against the backdrop of a sign displaying $4.29 for regular unleaded, Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY), Bob Menendez (NJ) and Debbie Stabenow (MI), said oil companies have made a record $125 billion profit, and in tough budgetary times, don't need the tax breaks in order to create incentives for more oil and gas exploration.

"It's time for the big oil companies to give up the subsidies and pay their fair share of the deficit reduction," Menendez said.

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Offshore Drilling

GOP Oil Bill Would Funnel Drilling Suits To Oil-Friendly Court

Benjy Sarlin | May 11, 2011, 3:21PM

An oil rig at Port Arthur, TX

House Republicans are pushing through a series of bills aimed at easing restrictions on offshore drilling this week, but critics warn that buried in the legislation is a provision that would weaken the ability of affected states to take on big oil companies in court.

H.R. 1229, the "Putting the Gulf Back to Work Act," would weaken President Obama's moratorium on deep water drilling, which was imposed in the wake of the BP oil spill, but it also contains a provision that funnels civil suits regarding drilling permits to the Fifth Circuit, which includes Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL) is calling foul, arguing that the provision strips states like Florida and Alabama with their own drilling operations of the ability to sue in their own states' courts. According to Deutch, the scheme is especially problematic because the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court has been criticized as especially close to oil companies -- in one recent suit against an oil company, so many judges had to recuse themselves over conflicts of interest that the court didn't have the necessary quorum of judges to hear the case. An investigation by a progressive legal advocacy group, Alliance For Justice, determined that several of the judges have extensive financial holdings in the oil industry and two frequently represented oil interests as lawyers.

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Gas Prices

Reid to GOP: Just Try Voting Against Ending Subsidies For Oil Giants

Susan Crabtree | April 27, 2011, 3:52PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is following the White House's lead by seizing on the populist idea of ending subsidies for the five largest oil giants.

Reid said he would hold a vote as soon as possible on a bill to eliminate the tax breaks for the five largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, BP, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips, which have reported record profits in recent weeks and months.

"We have to take away the subsidies for these five major oil companies," he told reporters on a conference call Wednesday. "There's no need for these subsidies. The companies have broken records [with their] profits."

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BP

BP To Cut Tax Bill By $13B But Won't Say What It's Paying IRS For 2010

Susan Crabtree | April 20, 2011, 4:54PM

An explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

BP plans to cut its overall tax bill by nearly $13 billion by writing off costs related to last year's mammoth oil spill as the Gulf Coast continues to grapple with the devastating environmental and economic costs of the disaster one year later.

The international oil giant suffered a $40.9 billion loss as a result of the oil spill, making its net losses for 2010 a total of $4.8 billion (BP had $36.1 billion in profits before factoring in the spill), according to its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and analysis by several tax experts consulted by TPM.

Under U.S. corporate law, companies can take credits on up to 35 percent of their losses. In this case, that means U.S. taxpayers are indirectly subsidizing at least part of cleanup cost and the $20 billion fund BP created to compensate people, fisherman and businesses along the Gulf Coast hurt by the spill.

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Nuclear Energy

Poll: Support For Nuclear Power Drops, Support For Oil Drilling Up

Jon Terbush | March 22, 2011, 12:32PM

Tennessee Valley Authority nuclear plant

After the BP oil spill, Americans became increasingly wary of offshore drilling. Now, as Japan struggles to deal with an earthquake-damaged nuclear power plant, a new Pew poll shows a spike in opposition to nuclear power here in the U.S. -- while support for offshore drilling is making a comeback.

The two findings aren't necessarily related to each other, as support for offshore drilling began rising late last year. But the results suggest that, as was the case with the oil spill, an energy production disaster can quickly turn public opinion against that form of energy production.

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Oil

Barton: Govt Subsidies Necessary To Keep Exxon From Going Out Of Business

Brian Beutler | March 10, 2011, 11:08AM

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)

Check out this interview of Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) -- he of apologizing to BP fame -- by ABC on Wednesday. Pressed repeatedly by Jon Karl to stake out a position on tax credits enjoyed by offshore oil companies, Barton argued that the subsidies represent equal treatment, and are required to keep the companies like Exxon-Mobil from going out of business.

"Over time if you put so many disincentives against any U.S. manufacturing or production company, or oil and gas exploration company, they'll go out of business," Barton said.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Thad Allen Dishes On Oil Spill: Sparring With The Press, BP And Nuking The Well

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 17, 2010, 8:41AM

U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, National Incident Commander

Remember when people thought it might a good idea to nuke the well at the height of the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico this summer?

Yeah, that was never gonna happen. But not for lack of interest.

So says retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the man who ran the government response to the devastating spill. Allen addressed an audience at the Center For Strategic and International Studies in Washington Tuesday evening, where he laid out the trials and tribulations of being the public face of the efforts to clean up the largest ecological disaster in US history. One of those trials, Allen said, was trying to explain why a military designed to fight wars didn't have the right equipment to stop an oil spill.

"I had many, many conversations about why the Department of Defense wasn't brought in to solve this problem," he said. "I got asked at least on five occasions throughout the course of this thing why we didn't think about using a nuclear weapon on the well, ok?"

The uncomfortable truth, Allen said, was that the only people who had the equipment to stop the oil spill were the companies that pull the oil out of the ground in the first place.

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Rand Paul

Rand Paul: Obama Sent 'Wrong Signal' To Biz During BP Spill (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | November 14, 2010, 2:18PM

Rand Paul

Sen.-elect Rand Paul (R-KY) is not backing down from his claim that President Obama was too hard on BP back during this summer's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On the campaign trail in March, Paul took heat for his statement that Obama's rhetoric toward the energy giant in the wake of the disaster off the Louisiana coast was "un-American." In what appear to be his first public comments about the spill since being handily elected Kentucky's new Senator, Paul took a similar line to the one he did as a candidate.

"I didn't like the language," Paul said in an interview on CBS' Face The Nation this morning. "I didn't think the president or his people should say something like 'putting a boot heel on the throat' of a business. I didn't like that."

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LA-SEN

Vitter Shellacks Melancon

Brian Beutler | November 2, 2010, 9:35PM

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) and Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA)

How's this for a new standard of conduct in politics? A "values" Republican can weather a prostitution scandal in a conservative state as long as it occurs a couple years before his re-election bid in a GOP wave year.

If the Louisiana Senate race was a referendum on Democratic rule, it was also a referendum on Sen. David Vitter (R). He joined the House in 1999 as a values conservative on the right flank of the Republican party, replacing the disgraced Bob Livingston. Rumors swirled around Vitter for years, but he nonetheless moved to the Senate in 2005 replacing the retiring Democrat John Breaux. His reputation was shattered in 2007, though, when he was discovered to have solicited prostitutes in both Washington DC and Louisiana.

Tonight, however, he defeated Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon in one of the most vicious campaigns of the 2010 cycle.

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FL-SEN

Charlie Crist Reaches Out To Indys With New TV Spots (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 13, 2010, 2:30PM

Charlie Crist for US Senate TV Ad: "Line in the Sand"

Charlie Crist is up with two new TV spots intended to help Florida voters understand his transition from Republican to independent in Florida's strange three-way Senate race. The message in the ads is potentially a strong one for the swingy Sunshine State electorate: I'm an independent, so I can do what I want, Crist explains. Partisan lines don't define me.

But the delivery...well, judge for yourself. If you want some political trivia questions to ask yourself while you watch, try these: is the sunny -- and oil-free -- beach setting for these ads a veiled reference to Crist's roundly praised handling of the Florida part of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Does the fact that Crist ends the second ad standing on the "Republican" side of the line mean he wouldn't caucus with Democrats? Does defending the stimulus in the first spot mean he's definitely going to caucus with the Democrats? Is that really Crist drawing a line in the sand in the second spot or did they use a stunt stick?

The TPM Poll Average for the three-way Senate race in Florida shows Republican nominee Marco Rubio with 36.8% of the vote, Crist with 33.4% and Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek with 19.9%.

Watch Crist's new ads:

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Climate Change

Senate Democrats Drop BP-Climate Bill Until After Recess

Christina Bellantoni | August 3, 2010, 4:33PM

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) in the background.

Senate Democrats announced this afternoon they will go home for a month-long recess without taking action on a scaled-back energy measure that was their best chance for any legislation addressing the issue before the midterm elections. A voted had been scheduled on the energy bill, which would create jobs and establish new thresholds for BP's financial responsibility along the Gulf Coast.

With senators citing the hottest July on record, they bashed Republicans for not joining them on a bill they said would hold BP accountable for the oil spill and which would create incentives for green jobs.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared, "We are not giving up on energy," but pointedly said something would be accomplished by the "end of the year," not before the election. Republicans hopeful they could win back control of Congress this fall are cautioning Democrats against any major legislation during a lame-duck session.

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NV-SEN

Reid Ad Blasts Angle For Calling BP Escrow Account 'Slush Fund' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | August 3, 2010, 4:13PM

A new ad from Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) attacking his opponent, Sharron Angle (R-NV).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has a new TV ad, set to begin airing Wednesday, blasting his Republican opponent Sharron Angle for having opposed the $20 billion BP escrow fund to compensate victims of the oil spill.

"The same Sharron Angle who wants to abolish the Department of Energy and the EPA, calls it a 'slush fund' when you make polluters pay," the announcer says. "Sharron Angle, just too extreme."

Angle hammered the escrow fund a month ago, declaring that "Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company" and calling it a "slush fund." She then quickly retracted the comment, bluntly stating that she was "incorrect" to call it a slush fund. But that retraction isn't letting her off the hook as far as political attacks are concerned.

The TPM Poll Average gives Reid a lead of 45.1%-42.7%.

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WI-SEN

GOPer Ron Johnson: I'll Eventually Sell My BP Stock -- When The Market's Better

Eric Kleefeld | July 28, 2010, 2:01PM

Republican candidate for Senate Ron Johnson (WI).

Ron Johnson, a businessman seeking the Republican nomination in Wisconsin against Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, might not fully grasp the concept of dumping one's stock holdings for political reasons.

Johnson, who has come under scrutiny after his financial disclosures showed that he owns stock in BP valued at between $116,003 and $315,000, has been sending mixed signals over whether he will sell the stock. Now he's indicating that he probably will sell -- as soon as it makes sense from a financial perspective.

"I think that'll eventually happen, but I'm going to do it based on market conditions," Johnson said at a forum on Monday, hosted by WisPolitics. "I'm going to have to finance this campaign. At some point in time to get my message out, that'll probably happen."

The TPM Poll Average gives Feingold a narrow edge of 42.0%-40.4%.

Late Update: Note that Johnson not only seems to be saying he will wait for the market to get better so that he can sell at a better price -- but he will then use his BP capital gains to finance his Senate campaign. This guy really doesn't get the whole stock-dumping idea.

WI-SEN

Feingold Ad: My Opponent Would 'Hand Over The Great Lakes To The Oil Companies' (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | July 13, 2010, 9:56AM

A new ad from Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) attacking his opponent Ron Johnson (R) on oil drilling in Lake Michigan.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is hammering his main Republican opponent in a new ad, saying that businessman Ron Johnson would "hand over the Great Lakes to the oil companies" -- with the BP oil spill shown as being moved right up to Wisconsin.

"I said no to drilling in our Great Lakes," says Feingold. "But one opponent, Ron Johnson, disagrees. He's willing to hand over the Great Lakes to the oil companies -- threatening Wisconsin's economy, and a way of life for generations of Wisconsin families. We won't let that happen." The ad shows a graphic of the oil spill along the Gulf Coast, with the blotted area then being superimposed over Lake Michigan and spreading all the way across Wisconsin.

The TPM Poll Average gives Feingold a narrow edge of 45.7%-44.0% against Johnson.

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2010 elections

DNC Tries To Link GOP With Angle's BP 'Slush Fund' Comment

Christina Bellantoni | July 12, 2010, 6:00AM

US Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV)

The Democratic National Committee is trying to tie the Republican party to Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV) and her unfortunate comments suggesting the escrow account for victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill is a "slush fund." Just like they did with Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) saying the fund was a shakedown and apologizing to BP, the Democrats and even President Obama jumped all over Angle to say that's how the GOP would govern if they win back control of Congress.

The DNC claimed the party received such an "overwhelming response" to the new Web site called BP Republicans they launched last week that they are adding in others who put their foot in their mouth over the oil spill. A party source says they are trying to tell voters that Republicans have done little but show "empathy" toward BP and "big oil" in the months since the oil began gushing into the gulf.

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NV-SEN

Together At Last: Steele And Angle To Re-Emerge At Nevada GOP Convention Tonight

Eric Kleefeld | July 9, 2010, 8:41AM

Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle and RNC Chairman Michael Steele

The Nevada Republican Party is holding its convention this weekend. And the event will feature two speakers tonight who have each had a rough time over the last week -- Senate nominee Sharron Angle and RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Both Steele and Angle will be speaking tonight at the party's unity dinner, which will begin at 7 p.m. Pacific Time.

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NV-SEN

Angle Walks It Back: I Was 'Incorrect' To Call $20B BP Account A 'Slush Fund'

Eric Kleefeld | July 8, 2010, 1:49PM

NV Sen. candidate Sharron Angle (R)

Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee for Senate in Nevada against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has very quickly reversed herself on comments she made on a radio show yesterday, in which she slammed the $20 billion escrow account that BP negotiated with the Obama administration to pay damage claims resulting from the Gulf oil spill. Angle's reversal -- she now says her description of the account as a "slush fund" was "incorrect" -- provides a further data point that while bashing the fund may play well with some on the right, it is also politically untouchable with the wider electorate.

Angle released this statement:

Setting the record straight about BP and the Obama Administration

There's been some confusion this morning regarding my position on BP and the oil spill.

Having had some time to think about it, the caller and I shouldn't have used the term "slush fund"; that was incorrect.

My position is that the creation of this fund to compensate victims was an important first step-- BP caused this disaster and they should pay for it. But there are multiple parties at fault here and there should be a thorough investigation. We need to look into the actions, (or inactions) of the Administration and why the regulatory agency in charge of oversight was asleep at the wheel while BP was cutting corners. Every party involved should be held fully accountable.

Angle's rapid walk-back on this mirrors the same path followed by Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who apologized to BP for the creation of the fund. Barton was forced by GOP leadership to retract his statements that same day. Of course, the curious thing here is that Barton's comments happened three weeks ago -- so Angle really should have had enough time to learn from this prior example.

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NV-SEN

Angle Bashes $20B BP Oil Spill Damages Account As 'Slush Fund'

Eric Kleefeld | July 8, 2010, 11:28AM

US Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R-NV)

Sharron Angle, the Republican nominee in Nevada against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has now taken a very politically curious step -- opposing the $20 billion escrow fund that BP negotiated with the Obama administration, calling it a "slush fund."

Greg Sargent reports that Angle appeared on a local radio show, where a caller bashed the escrow fund as "extortion" and a "slush fund." Angle then agreed: "Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company. And I think you named it clearly: It's a slush fund." She further added: "They're actually using this crisis if you will, because they never waste one -- Saul Alinsky's rules for radicals -- they are using this crisis now to get in cap and trade, and every crime and penalty, and slush fund." Click here to listen to the audio.

This puts Angle in the company of Republicans like Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, who apologized to BP for the creation of the fund -- and in his case, Barton was forced by the GOP leadership to retract his statements.

The TPM Poll Average gives Angle a lead of 46.0%-40.8%.

David Vitter

Larry Flynt To David Vitter: Donate Your Diapers To Gulf Relief

Megan Carpentier | July 2, 2010, 10:14AM

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Hustler Magazine founder Larry Flynt

Political gadfly and Hustler publisher Larry Flynt has an ingenious plan for stopping the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it doesn't have anything to do with bombs, relief wells or devices patented by Kevin Costner. Larry Flynt thinks that BP should use diapers -- David Vitter's diapers, to be precise.

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Oil Spill

Dems Object To Latest GOP Plan To Increase Oil Spill Liability

Brian Beutler | June 29, 2010, 1:25PM

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)

Democrats are preparing to oppose the latest GOP plan to hold oil companies accountable for spill damages in the future.

A new plan, authored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), and passed my way by a source, would give the President the authority to set liability caps, based on congressionally approved guidelines, on a spill-by-spill basis. The idea is that this legislation would replace the Democrats' bid to simply lift the liability cap, exposing companies to the full cost of their spills. An Inhofe spokesman says they want to work with Democrats on the GOP proposal and use it as a substitute when the Environment and Public Works committee meets to consider the Democratic plan tomorrow.

Democrats who support lifting the cap altogether say no way. They're preparing a list of objections to Inhofe's plan, highlighting the fact that it leaves the President -- and future, more oil-friendly Presidents -- tremendous discretion to set low liability caps, and that spill damages can not be predicted ahead of time.

We'll see how this pans out tomorrow when EPW meets to mark up the Democrats' bill. Dems seem to be trying to get out in front of this one, worried perhaps that some of their members might get thrown for a loop by the Inhofe plan.

Joe Barton

DCCC Puts GOP On Spot For Not Ousting Barton

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2010, 2:33PM

Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-TX)

Now that House Republicans have concluded that Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) can keep his post as top GOPer on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Democrats are associating that decision with Republican members in contested districts, highlighting their complicity with party leadership and Barton himself.

"House Republicans like Representative Dave Reichert are keeping British Petroleum apologist Joe Barton as their top Republican on energy policy and continue to back his unbelievable obstruction to holding British Petroleum accountable for this disaster," reads a statement from DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer. "This is another outrageous example of Representative Reichert putting Big Oil, like British Petroleum, before American taxpayers. Voters will not tolerate Republicans like Reichert who want a British Petroleum apologist to lead their party's energy policy and their continuing efforts to block holding British Petroleum fully accountable."

If you're keeping track, Barton first apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward over the government response to the oil spill, then apologized for his apology, then basically took back his apology, until his spokesman took responsibility for taking back the apology.

This push will be made in Reichert's Washington state district as well as the districts of the members below the fold, including GOP leadership.

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Joe Barton

Barton Apologized To GOP-ers At Meeting Today

Rachel Slajda | June 23, 2010, 12:05PM

Rep. Joe L. Barton

Greg Sargent reports that Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) stood up in front of fellow House Republicans this morning and apologized for, as Sargent put it, "putting them in a bad spot."

After Barton apologized to his colleagues today, Minority Leader John Boehner stood up and said that it's time to move on, a source told Sargent. Boehner also announced that Barton would keep his post as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Rush Limbaugh

Limbaugh Is Now Too Oily For Republicans To Touch

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2010, 10:37AM

Rush Limbaugh

If more politicians were as forthright as Rep. Steven King (R-IA), Rush Limbaugh might have more friends in Congress these days. In fact, Republicans are so on-message with the idea that Joe Barton was wrong, and speaking for himself, when he apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward that they're even willing to throw the conservative talk show host and noted GOP opinion-mover under the bus.

King says that's mostly for show. Republicans, he suspects, are publicly distancing themselves from Tony Haward apologist Joe Barton while privately acknowledging that he was right to accuse the White House of shaking down BP.

"I think there will be a few that, like me, will agree with JB's words, and his description, and there will be a lot of others that privately agree with what he said," King told TPMDC yesterday.

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Joe Barton

Top Republican: Barton's Seat On Energy Committee Is Safe

Brian Beutler | June 23, 2010, 9:00AM

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX)

NRCC chairman Pete Sessions, whose job it is to increase GOP ranks in the House, says Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) will likely retain his post as the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Asked last night after a House vote if Barton may face further repercussions for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward, Sessions told reporters that Barton's already paid his penance.

"I don't think that's the direction we're headed in," Sessions said. "...I believe that Joe has adequately addressed the issue."

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Cliff Stearns

Report: Joe Barton To Be 'Special Guest' At FL GOPer's Fundraiser

Jillian Rayfield | June 22, 2010, 3:53PM

Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-TX) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)

Most Republicans have been doing backflips to distance themselves from Joe Barton, who apologized to BP last week for the $20 billion escrow fund set up to make BP pay for Gulf Coast oil spill damages.

But Barton reportedly still has at least one friend left: Florida Republican Cliff Stearns is having a fundraiser next week, and according to the Miami Herald, Barton is his "special guest."

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Charlie Melancon

Melancon: Obama Gets A 'C' On Oil Spill Response

Brian Beutler | June 21, 2010, 2:01PM

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA)

Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA), who hopes to unseat Republican David Vitter in the Senate this fall, publicly parted ways with President Obama over the government's response to the oil spill in the Gulf. In an interview this afternoon, Melancon gave Obama's response a middling grade.

"Probably a 'C'," Melancon told TPMDC. "Even though his secretaries engaged, he himself didn't really get engaged immediately. I see him making up for that or trying to make up for that, but it's hard to play catchup when you start off slow."

Melancon isn't just upset about Obama's public response, but about the administration's decision to place a moratorium on deep water drilling.

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Joe Barton

Dems Continue Calls For Barton's Scalp After Apology To BP

Brian Beutler | June 21, 2010, 8:19AM

Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-TX)

The next salvo in the tussle over Joe Barton's apology to BP CEO Tony Hayward will be Democratic pressure on individual House Republicans to join the call for Barton to relinquish his position as the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

"The question for every House Republican incumbent and candidate is simple: either stand with the people of the Gulf and American taxpayers or with Joe Barton, the 114 Member Republican Study Committee, and Republican Leadership in their belief that holding British Petroleum accountable is a 'shakedown'," says Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "For starters, Republicans need to answer whether they think British Petroleum apologist Joe Barton should remain the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee."

The two parties remain locked in a bitter political fight, which touched off last week when Barton became the face of GOP sympathy for the oil industry, with oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.

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Oil Spill

Foot, Meet Mouth: Our Top Six GOP Oil Spill Gaffes

Brian Beutler | June 18, 2010, 6:00PM

(Clockwise from top left) MS Gov. Haley Barbour, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Former AK Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), KY Sen. candidate Rand Paul (R-KY)

BP isn't standing alone with one foot on the ground and the other in its mouth. Since the spill began in April, Republicans have demonstrated an exceptional tendency to blurt out their inconvenient beliefs about the disaster and the federal response. And we're not talking about backbenchers here -- the dirty talk has come from their most powerful and visible members. From Capitol Hill to the Gulf Coast, we bring you, in chronological order, the top six GOP oil spill slip-ups.

1. Rand Paul
He's since gone into hiding, likely on NRSC orders, but back when the Kentucky Senate hopeful was still flapping his gums (to hilarious effect) on national television, he let slip that he wanted the Obama administration to leave BP aloooooone!

"This sort of, you know 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,' I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business," Paul said on Good Morning America last month.

Watch:

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2010 elections

DNC Ad: If The GOP Wins Congress, Joe Barton Would Oversee BP (VIDEO)

Eric Kleefeld | June 18, 2010, 5:51PM

New ad from the Democratic National Committee

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.

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