Yesterday , the Republican 'study committee' called escrow account 'Chicago-style shakedown'

[BurtWorm]

Luntz the Dunce must have hit on the term du jour. Hits the right tone of scared white person's paranoia, but I don't think it will be enough to overcome the fact that most people are more pissed with BP than they are afraid of Obama.



http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/house-conservatives-call-escrow-account-chicago-style-shakedown.php?ref=fpi

"We all agree that BP should be held fully responsible for its complicity in the oil tragedy in the Gulf," said Chairman Price. "In fact, BP has already begun paying claims. Any attempt by the company to sidestep that responsibility should be met with the strongest legal recourses available. However, in an administration that appears not to respect fundamental American principles, it is important to note that there is no legal authority for the President to compel a private company to set up or contribute to an escrow account.

"BP's reported willingness to go along with the White House's new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics. These actions are emblematic of a politicization of our economy that has been borne out of this Administration's drive for greater power and control. It is the same mentality that believes an economic crisis or an environmental disaster is the best opportunity to pursue a failed liberal agenda. The American people know much better."

[Poll_Blind]

1. That's gonna wind up in more than a few campaign commercials in November! n/t

PB

[avaistheone1]

3. As it should.

That should lose the Repukes lots of votes.

[Oregone]

2. Well, would they prefer Venezuelan style politics?

An escrow account is a slap on the wrist, meaning nothing whatsoever. These people are insane

[spanone]

4. they love that 'chicago-style' bullshit, don't they?

[Johonny]

5. The presidents not doing enough, the president is not doing enough!!

the president is doing something, the president is doing something!!

Don't forget to be afraid

[notadmblnd]

6. That would be Barton of Texas. Hopefully he'll pack his shit and move.

“I do not want to live in a country where anything a citizen or corporation does something that is leg wrong is subject to some sort of political pressure, that again, in my words, amounts to a shakedown,” said Barton.

His opinions aren’t that of the Republican Party, Barton said, they were his alone. But other GOP members of Congress on Thursday echoed his remarks. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., who heads the House’s conservative Republican Study Commission, said there was “no legal authority for the President to compel a private company to set up or contribute to an escrow account.”

“BP’s reported willingness to go along with the White House’s new fund suggests that the Obama Administration is hard at work exerting its brand of Chicago-style shakedown politics,” he said in a statement. “These actions are emblematic of a politicization of our economy that has been borne out of this Administration’s drive for greater power and control.”

But they were countered by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who said he disagreed “in the strongest possible terms.” He called the fund an admirable effort by the federal government to “protect the most vulnerable citizens we have in our country, the residents of the Gulf.”

“It is in fact President Obama ensuring that a company that has despoiled” the Gulf is “made accountable for the harm done to our people," Markey said.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/06/17/2272444/texas-congressman-apologizes-to.html#ixzz0r7rQMXpD