Tough to say who needs remedial PR training more, BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who this week referred to those affected by the Gulf catastrophe as "the small people" or Texas Rep. Joe Barton who used a high-profile hearing on the Hill to apologize to BP and accuse the White House of subjecting the company to "a shakedown." Svanberg quickly went into contrition mode, blaming his tone-deaf remark on a "slip in translation" (he's Swedish). Under pressure, Barton, who owns a natural gas well and has received nearly $1.5 million from oil and gas industry donors, apologized for his apology, saying: "If anything I've said this morning has been misconstrued... I want to apologize for that misconstruction." He should apologize for that sentence. Then, as penance, both men should translate their regret into reparations, contributing a big amount to "the small people" devastated by the disaster.
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The people of the Gulf Coast do not appreciate the condescention of BP's Chairman, when he refers to them as "small people", which is not an example of "American Syntax".
"Baloney", that's Americam syntax.
By the way, I'm not "harping" on it, simply replying to Arianna's post with my own opinion, and risking insult, or support from my fellow HP readers......
And "Grandstanding", who's grandstanding here?
Get real, Sampson2
Give him a break: he was just referring to, commoner those who actually pay taxes.
Texas Rep. Joe Barton who apologized to BP and accused the White House of subjecting the company to "a shakedown"
We all know you do NOT bite the hand that feeds you.
But the parenthetic element to his comments were, "I'm a fairly stupid guy...and I'm not afraid of sharing my ignorance with the whole freaking world."
Yes its true. We got the best politicians that others bought and paid for, esp our (it's not my fault) President
In fact, Obama received no BP PAC money for 2008 campaign
Obama received no PAC money from BP during his presidential campaign. Contrary to the Times' claim that Obama "took in $77,000" from BP "executives and its political action committee," during "the 2008 election cycle," Obama received $71,051 in BP-linked contributions during his presidential campaign, and $6,000 in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All of the BP-linked money Obama received for his 2008 campaign came from BP employees, not from BP's PAC or from the company itself. A spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics confirmed that "the $71,051 that Obama received during the 2008 election cycle was entirely from BP employees." The CRP spokesman also stated that "Obama did not accept contributions from political action committees, so none of this money is from BP's PAC."
Donations from BP or its employees represent 0.01 percent of Obama's total fundraising. As Media Matters senior fellow Jamison Foser has noted, Obama has raised more than $799 million for his campaigns. The $77,051 he has received from BP's PAC and employees accounts for less than 0.01 percent of Obama's total campaign contributions.
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Thank you.
That is like rear-ending you, and only repairing the damage to the car, and cleaning up the pieces that fell on the road.
They need to reimburse each person effected by this for pain and suffering as well. I personally feel emotional distress, and pain as a result of what BP did to our environment, and to our kids future. I continually live in anguish over this, and know as a result of the corruption in Washington, DC, this problem is not going to be effectively resolved - hence, the Legislators are culpable for my pain and suffering due to their continued support, and lack of oversight of these corporations -
Their continued alliance with corporations, constructively evidenced by their actions/or inaction (failure to oversee, regulate, or permit the corporations actions - (ie, drilling in our country's waters in a wreckless manner), this alliance supports and therefore contributes to my distress, and emotional anquish.
Thus, a massive class action lawsuit should be orchestrated in order to seek remedies to this continual distress imposed upon us by both the corporations / and the appropriate US regulatory entities.
Thanks Arianna.