Heritage Foundation Fellow: BP Hearing Is "A Public Lynching"

This morning, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to discuss BP's role in the Gulf oil spill.  Addressing BP CEO Tony Hayward, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) — the ranking member of the committee and one of the energy industry's closest allies — apologized to Hayward for what he called a "$20 billion shakedown," adding that he personally felt "ashamed of what happened in the White House yesterday."  Sitting in on the hearing and giving live updates via Twitter, Heritage Foundation senior fellow Sally McNamara seemed to agree with the sentiment behind Barton's remarks and made a very interesting observation.

That's right.  A company responsible for the worst environmental disaster in American history is asked tough and necessary questions and one of the Heritage Foundation's brightest minds calls it a "public lynching." Furthermore, she accuses Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) — who spoke of insuring that the residents of the Gulf are protected — of "shameless grandstanding."

Update: Shortly before Barton apologized for his "misconstrued misconstruction," the Heritage Foundation's Conn Carroll wrote "Joe Barton is right." He added, "What happened in the White House yesterday was a 'shakedown' of Godfather-like proportions."  The White House, according to Carroll, is taking a tough stance against BP solely to protect the president's environmentalist allies.