The GOP becomes the party of BP and Republican Joe Barton goes full on belly up for his European masters:

I apologize ... I think it is a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown, in this case a $20 billion shakedown ... I apologize ...

(Image by Karen Wehrstein, and I saw the letters first when Kos used them on Twitter). OK, traditional media, now's your big chance to distinguish yourself from Fox Noise and right-wing radio apologists. You have a senior conservative lawmaker apologizing, twice, to the CEO of a negligent foreign oil company simply because we demand they pay for their massive, ongoing clusterfuck that is covering US fisheries and beaches in thick oily goo and ruining thousands of lives every day. With the implication, we can infer, that taxpayers should pay for it. A company incidentally that had 760 safety violations -- about 50 times more than all the other big oil companies combined. So ready, aim, fire! Or are you a bought and paid for member of the GO(B)P too?