Watching the congressional testimony on CNN just now, we saw Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) say that Obama's escrow plan for BP "amounts to a shakedown" and that he's "ashamed" of the White House. Barton's attempt to spin blame from BP to Obama is no shocker, since Barton has recently received campaign money from Halliburton.
According to Politico, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.) and Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) have also allowed their pockets to be lined by Halliburton, and in May - after the Deepwater Horizon disaster was well underway. Even one Democrat, Oklahoma Rep. Dan Boren, received money from Halliburton. Why? Perhaps it's because Boren is on the House Natural Resources Committee. Coincidence?
Federal election law currently permits any company's PACs to give campaign money to whomever they wish - even to lawmakers investigating their own industry.
(Barton is previously infamous for his claim that CO2 emissions couldn't possibly be causing global warming because CO2 is also in Coca-Cola, and that proof of its harmlessness could also be found in the fact that it's odorless, colorless, and tasteless.)
