Apparently, Rep. Joe Barton, former oil executive at ARCO, has a long record of being pro-oil and anti-environment. Barton also has a long history of inserting his oil-soaked foot into his mouth.
Time Magazine has eight of Barton's worst goof ups. Here are just two---
In his 26 years in office, energy issues have defined Congressman Joe Barton's career. They've also defined his gaffes, as was evident Thursday when the Fort-Worth area Republican alienated even the members of his own caucus by apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward for what he initially called a White House $20 billion "shakedown," only to turn around later in the day and issue an apology for the impolitic apology. Here are eight of Barton's other not-so-finest moments in the limelight.
1. Barton is a long-time denier of global warming. He's called it "a triumph over good sense and science" and in 2007 hearings he told Al Gore , "You're not just off a little. You're totally wrong." In railing against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's passage of global warming legislation last year, Barton said: "You can't regulate God. Not even the Democratic majority in the U.S. Congress can regulate God." (See the top 10 political gaffes of 2009.)
2. That said, Barton has used the threat of global warming to combat something he hates even more: wind energy. In a 2009 hearing, Barton implied that wind is a "finite resource" and that harnessing it would "slow the winds down" which would "cause the temperature to go up."
>> Check the Time website for the rest of the Barton list compiled by the magazine.
If you are interested in contributing to Barton's Democratic opponent,
David E. Cozad, visit the Cozad for Congress website.
It is time to move forward toward clean energy. The only way to do this is to vote out those Republicans who love oil money more than their constituents.
