1 / 5 Joe Barton

The Texas congressman’s apology to BP C.E.O. Tony Hayward for President Obama's demand that BP pay for the record-setting oil spill for which it was responsible – “I’m ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday. 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 <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/gop-rep-barton-i-apologize-to-bp-for-tragedy-of-obama-administrations-20-billion-shakedown.php" target="_hplink">twenty billion dollar shakedown</a>” – was so at odds with the national mood that even the Republican leadership was forced to instantly disavow it and send him right back out to apologize for the apology: “If anything I said this morning has been misconstrued in the opposite effect” - that is, was understood perfectly – “I want to apologize for that <a href="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2010/06/18/quote-of-the-week-misconstrued-misconstruction-from-joe-barton-to-bp/" target="_hplink">misconstrued misconstruction</a>.”