Commentor Cat Lady linked to a video of Rep. Barton (R – TexIdiot) demonstrating his firm grasp of the Erl Bidniz:
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If there were a German word meaning “a face that cries out for a fist in it”, Barton’s photo would appear next to it in the dictionary. I’m sure Secretary Chu is enjoying the excellent Joe Barton Would Like to Apologize website.
My personal favorite, so far: … Charles Manson, for that variety show he never got to do. I’m your biggest fan, Chuck!
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Update: Twitter from Robert Gibbs: Who would the GOP put in charge of overseeing the energy industry & Big Oil if they won control of Congress? Yup, u guessed it – JOE BARTON
A commentor at Wonkette added: “Before he entered Congress in 1989, Joe Barton was an executive with ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company), which became a subsidiary of BP in 2000 and is now officially known as BP West Coast.” That led me to investigate Barton’s Wikipedia page (“The neutrality of the article is disputed…”), which is a treasure trove:
During his political career, the industries that have been Barton’s largest contributors were oil and gas ($1.4 million donated), electric utilities ($1.3 million) and health professionals ($1.1 million)[32] He is ranked first among members of the House of Representatives for the most contributions received from the oil and gas industry, and number five among all members of Congress. His largest corporate contributor, Anadarko Petroleum, owns a 25 percent share in the Macondo Prospect, the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
And, yes, he is not only a global warming denalist, but probably the leader of the current Global Warming Denialist Caucus.
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Xboxershorts
Welcome to the party of “Dumb and Proud of it”! It’s a big tent party, sheeit, we got our own media and news people working overtime to make everyone as dumb as we are…
And since the world is only 6000 years old, (as so many of these freakin morons believe), then, by gum God put that erl there, just fer us, of course.
And by gum, the erth was a hella lot warmer then too. So pooh pooh to your global warming lies too!
Nyah nya nya nyaah nyaaaaah!
Mark S.
Was he trying to make some idiotic attack on global warming? He seems to think oil can only form in warm areas.
I don’t care, he’s a fucking idiot like every other gooper out there right now. I can tolerate stupid and I can (barely) tolerate arrogance, but I can’t take the two together.
eemom
There is!
Backpfeifengesicht.
We Virginians memorized it when George “macaca” Allen was our senator.
Yutsano
I think a Yiddish term would apply well here. Schmuck. I’d say alte kacker but I kinda like that one meself.
NobodySpecial
He’s doesn’t care as long as he can figure out which end the money comes from.
Tony P.
The scary thing is NOT that we live in a country with morons like Barton in its Congress. The scary thing is that we live in a country that contains voters who keep electing morons like Barton.
Please, God: let Texas secede from the Union.
Yutsano
@Tony P.: All politics is local. That means that Barton plays up whatever will work in his district to keep his job. If that’s the Jaysus saved me angle, he does that. If it’s defense pork, he rolls in the bacon. Plus once you’re in this club it’s rather difficult to get out. I don’t know much about Barton other than he sounds like an idiot, but I’m sure he hits up his white voter base early and often.
Mister Papercut
@eemom: But what good is German if you can’t make it completely unwieldy?
I got “ein Vorstellungsbedarf von Faust zum Gesicht” (granted, college German was a looong time ago).
asiangrrlMN
@Tony P.: Ditto this. To me, the fact that the Republicans have even as much presence in the government as they do says a lot about our country–and none of it positive.
@Yutsano: There’s a pill for that, you know.
Yutsano
@Mister Papercut: Gotta make it all one ungodly unsightly word: Vorstellungsbedarfgesichtfaustung. Or something.
Mike Kay
I’m disappointed with you Anne. A post on energy and you couldn’t bring yourself to say “climate change.”
Mark S.
@Yutsano:
Looking at his district, I’d guess his constituents love him. That’s Guns and Jesus country.
fucen tarmal
@Tony P.:
some day the history books will point to barton’s apology as an act of great heroism and school children will praise his name.
Ailuridae
No idea if Wonkette has it right and it is a typo but this Joe Barton has been in Congress since 1984 not 1989,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas's_6th_congressional_district.
Also from his official bio there is no indication he ever worked in oil:
Joe Barton was born on September 15, 1949 in Waco, Texas. He attended Texas A&M University on a four-year scholarship, and was the Class of ’72’s Outstanding Industrial Engineering Student. He has a Master’s of Science degree from Purdue University, and prior to being elected to Congress he was employed by Ennis Business Forms in Ennis and Crockett, and served as a White House Fellow.
I’m suspecting there are two Joe Bartons …
Yutsano
@Ailuridae:
There’s about a seven year unaccounted for gap in there, but he did do at least some oil industry work before entering Congress.
@asiangrrlMN: There’s a pill for everything these days dear. I most likely shan’t be up for long, I’m pooped from a long ass week.
Tony P.
The thing I’d really like to know is, what answer was Barton fishing for, from Chu?
Was he trying to goad Chu into calling him a moron, right there on C-Span where his constituents could see how mean those nasty liberal scientists are? Was he hoping Chu would say something like, “Well, it wasn’t God who put the oil under Alaska, Congressman”?
If I was determined to believe that Barton is not a moron himself, but merely a cynical politician trying to score points with his moron constituents, that’s about the only thing that would make sense.
ME
A masters degree in science and he asks where does oil come from?
Yutsano
@Tony P.: Honestly it sounded like Barton was playing up is “I lurve Jeebus” credentials more than anything else. At least that’s the only explanation that makes sense to me. Then he could go back home and justify his opposition to the heathen scientist God denier Obama appointed. Nothing more to see here but pure politics folks.
Objection: assumes facts not in evidence.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Yeah. I’m pretty whipped myself. Personally, I think Barton is a moron AND opportunistic. Asshat.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: I can’t even argue that as an either/or proposition, which disturbs me even more. Oh how I wish he’d get caught with a live boy. Or a dead girl. Or a horny hermaphrodite. I’m guessing no such luck however.
Alex S.
It’s like we passed “peak America” in 1969 and have been on the long way back to the caves ever since then…. I mean… HOW DID THE MOON GET UP THERE????
Randy P
Oh yes, I remember reports of this moment, and how Barton was crowing on Twitter that he’d “stumped” Chu. Here’s one report on that moment, from the Guardian. It also includes another gem from our Republican energy expert.
There’s so much stupid in there it’s impossible to begin critiqueing it. But no, that is not what wind is.
Randy P
@Mister Papercut: I think we need one of those big compound words here, but I don’t have even college German, just a few night school classes.
Something along the lines of “ein Schlagbrauchendgesicht” I think. (Constructed with the aid of dict.cc, my favorite online German dictionary).
demo woman
Why is my representative ignored by MSM? He expressed the same views as Barton but Barton is stealing all his thunder.
The republicans are being misconstrued and misunderstood.
We have a court system that could sort out all the claims and make lots of lawyers happy. So what if the same representatives complained about lawyers and lawsuits,
Tom Price needs a little attention from the media, he is feeling left out.
bob h
Ultimately, the energy in oil is just the long-stored energy of ancient sunlight. All the oil bidness amounts to is mining ancient sunlight.
SiubhanDuinne
@demo woman: Yes, I noticed that yesterday. Even the AJC didn’t give Price’s comments as much play as they gave Barton’s.
paranoid android
@Randy P:
Is the (real and often-used) word “Backpfeifengesicht” not long enough for you?
To me it’s one of the most beautiful words in the German language.
dmsilev
@Tony P.: I think he wanted an admission of “Well, it was warm in Alaska way back when, so global warming today is no big deal”.
One of my colleagues got his PhD working for Steven Chu, and he said that the expression on Chu’s face in that video was his “I’m talking to a moron” expression. Grad students tend to see that expression on their advisor’s face a lot…
dms
kay
@demo woman:
I think you hit it.
We could really mine a rich vein of crazy with this. Why are Republicans opposed to a huge multinational corporation entering into a consent agreement?
Republicans are all for individuals entering into consent agreements with corporations. I have never heard a word of concern regarding individuals being coerced. No one has done more to push the idea of mandatory arbitration for consumer v corporate entity than conservatives. None of them would object if BP settled claims with individuals using mandatory arbitration.
But they object to this consent agreement. Bizarrely, they’re all insisting Obama has no “legal authority”. Well, duh. That’s why he negotiated a payment.
This should be explored. They can’t square this with The Dogma, at all. It’s not just this idiot, either. What’s going on here? Is this a new fringe conservative principle that only the 27% are privy to?
stuckinred
@SiubhanDuinne: I was amazed to see that idiot Gingery hammering BP!
SpotWeld
This is the man, under a McCain adminsitration, who would have been put in charge with the Gulf cleanup…
SGEW
I’m now curious as to whether or not “Backpfeifengesicht” (lit. “cheek whistle phenomenon”?) is an actual German word or not. If it is, I love it. If not, I am rather disappointed.
SiubhanDuinne
@stuckinred #31: Missed that. Agree he is idiot, and I would have expected him to be among the “$20 billion shakedown” gang.
Isn’t he the dude that Stephen Colbert eviscerated a few years ago because he had been screaming to have the 10 Commandments displayed in public buildings but then couldn’t name any of them? Or was that another member of our proud GA GOP delegation?
SiubhanDuinne
EDIT below
@stuckinred #31: Missed that. Agree he is idiot, and I would have expected him to be among the “$20 billion shakedown” gang.
Isn’t he the dude that Stephen Colbert eviscerated a few years ago because he had been screaming to have the 10 Commandments displayed in public buildings but then couldn’t name any of them? Or was that another member of our proud GA GOP delegation?
EDIT: my early-morning memory is faulty. It was Lynn Westmoreland, not Phil Gingrey.
El Cid
None of you want to admit that Barton has important points.
First, just how do any of you explain how all that oil got under the bottom of the ocean. Somebody had to do it, and there is no evidence that Brontosaurs could snorkel, unless there was an undiscovered dinosaur with a neck a mile long.
Second, how is it BP’s fault that there’s a whole bunch of our ocean between them and the oil? They didn’t put it there. And they didn’t choose to build up a bunch of cities and wetlands and beaches right off where their oil was.
Maybe if you would begin to grapple with the insight of someone as brave as Barton, we could begin to solve these problems.
Malron
For those of you who need evidence of supposedly left-leaning entities dutifully carrying water for the right wing noise machine, I submit to you these excerpts from today’s New York Times:
Government under Obama is the bully in the schoolyard, twisting poor defenseless BP’s arm until it cries uncle and forks over its lunch money.
But wait! There’s more:
Ahhhhhh, fake equivalence for the loss. Barton’s assertion isn’t the whackaloon wingnut bullshit that even John Boehner refuses to endorse, its just the alternate narrative that’s a “bubbling certainty” in corporate suites.
Its such a comfort to know we have a corporate media who dutifully defends the interests of millionaires against a president attempting to protect the livelihood of those “small people” down in the Gulf.
Violet
@demo woman:
Maybe someone should start an “I agree with Joe Barton” website and link videos or quotes of all the other representatives and GO(B)Pers who said basically the same thing. Wouldn’t that be fun? And handy, too. All of them in the same place, like a museum of GO(B)P corporate toady-ism.
John S.
Don’t worry, the NYT is on the case! They dutifully carry water for Barton with some serious Republican concern trolling over Obama’s “arm twisting”.
Paris
It is likely that the earth was much warmer at some point in the past. Also unfortunately HUMANS DID NOT EXIST AND COULD NOT SURVIVE THEN.
El Cid
@Malron: This is, in my view, the ever-ready anticipatory guard of our billion-dollar media and the punditariat. No one has to tell them (although sometimes the owners and publishers do). They are always on heightened guard against anything which might even in the distant future herald a vision of reform too likely to address business and super-wealth fundamentals.
The moment anything even smells like a leading politician thinking about real, truly significant reforms (i.e., much more than within the bounds of currently politically possible reality), it’s time for them to deploy full rhetorical strength, pretending there’s the looming possibility of a torch- and pitchfork wielding anti-elitist, anti-capitalist mob led by Leninist demagogues, foolishly stumbling into ruining our way of life.
Linda Featheringill
@paranoid android:
Backpfeifengesicht
According to Cracked dot com, it really is translated into English as a face that cries out for a fist in it.
Gotta respect the Germans for that one!
Randy P
@paranoid android: Something weird about comments this morning. I swear [email protected] which introduced Backpfeifengesicht was not there when I wrote my comment. Just saw that one for the first time a few minutes ago.
And my own comments appeared, then disappeared for about 10-15 minutes, then reappeared when I posted number 24.
Which I then deleted. But now it’s back again.
@SGEW: Apparently it’s real. “Gesicht” is face. The native-German website I link to translates it as “someone to slap around”.
El Cid
@Paris: You must mean before the Great Flood. And only one family survived that.
Randy P
@SGEW: I’m having a hard time with auto moderation this morning.
A german-language site translates it as “someone to slap around”. The link to that site is in my comment number 23, but if I post a URL again I’ll probably get moderated again.
wrb
Barton ain’t completely dumb.
He’s going to net $1m+ as result o his apology to the friendless behemoth.
And anyway, god made the world just right for Adam and Eve to go around nekkid so it is either colder or hippies have already fucked the wind.
AxelFoley
@asiangrrlMN:
And with our level of technology today, there’s an app for that, too.
vtr
Is there an I. Q. ceiling for those qualifying to be executives? God, I miss Molly Ivins.
Douglas
“Nackenschlagsbedürftigte” (singular female and plural, for singular male, add an r)
Person in dire need of neck punching.
Comrade Sock Puppet of the Great Satan
Barton’s a former ARCO exec. So Barton would have accumulated a lot of ARCO stock. ARCO was acquired by BP: so ARCO stock converted to BP stock. Wanna bet that a lot of Barton’s net worth is still tied up in BP stock?
Then the global warming denialism and the BP apology start to make sense. He’s protecting his net worth.
paranoid android
@SGEW:
I’m a native German speaker and yes, I can confirm that it is real. “Backpfeife” is an old colloquial term for a slap in the face.
Dr. Omed
I think the Yiddish term “schmedrick” fits Barton to a T(ea).
Putzschmuss would work too.
SGEW
All I know is that I’ve added a wonderful word to my increasingly eclectic vocabulary.
Backpfeifengesicht! Bloody marvelous.
asiangrrlMN
@AxelFoley: That was actually my first response, but I didn’t want to ignite the most vicious flame war evah (Apple v. Microsoft) all over again.
Mnemosyne
@Dr. Omed:
Ahem. Schmendrick. Because I can be a spelling pedant in multiple languages. ;-)
jl
As for Barton’s question, it is my understanding that oil usually comes from organic material in little sea critters, like diatoms. Coal comes from them big old ferny like trees you see in dinosaur picture books.
So, you need to know where it was land versus sea over intervals of several millions of years ago to know whether it is reasonable to see oil of coal deposits in a particular area, in addition to issue of migration of liquid deposits through fault lines, for oil deposits.
So, we have an ex-oil exec in Congress who does not know much about where oil comes from, and a scientist who was not prepared for really dumb questions. The former seems like more of a problem to me.
binzinerator
There is and his face is a blatant example of the term. It’s almost beyond ordinary Backpfeifengesicht.
From now on whenever there’s a face this badly in need of a fist it should be called Bartonpfeifengesicht.
ME
He (Barton) couldn’t possibly believe in Pangea if he thinks the Earth is only 6000 years old.
That’s the stance he’s selling.
To his constituents it makes no sense how plates could shift that quickly, so he pushes the point to try to embarrass a scientist.
Low hanging fruit for his followers to eat.
Regardless, if he has a masters degree in science and spent all those years at oil companies, he definitely believes otherwise.
That’s what’s so annoying about him.
He’s disingenuousness.
He’ll play stupid if it means support by others actually so stupid.
I think all congressmen and senators should have lie detectors hooked up before they speak and the results shown on C-Span along with their speeches.
It would give a whole new meaning to “You lie!” :)