Will Barton's BP apology hurt the GOP in November?

Rep. Joe Barton's "political gift" to Obama keeps on giving — and now Dems are suggesting they want to capitalize on it in the midterm elections

Does Joe Barton's BP apology say anything about the GOP?
(Image credit: Getty)

Embattled Democrats see electoral opportunity in Rep. Joe Barton's public apology to BP. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel came out over the weekend and said that Barton's apology — the Texas Republican said the $20 billion victims fund set up with BP money amounted to a goverment "shakedown" — wasn't a "gaffe" but an outshoot of a broader Republican "philosophy" in which "the aggrieved party here is BP, not the fishermen." He also suggested the remark might influence voters in November. Will Barton's "political gift" to Democrats last that long? (Watch The Week's Sunday Talk Show Briefing about Barton's "political gift")

This is like Christmas for the Democrats: Barton's "wildly mistaken decision to defend the world's most unpopular oil company from a fictitious strong-arm assault" by Obama might just save Democrats from big losses this year, says David Broder in The Washington Post. His "foolish" unforced error lets them argue that all Republicans are "in bed" with Big Oil. At this rate, the GOP might want to "hand out muzzles."

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