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BP CEO slammed by lawmakers in U.S. Congress

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I apologize but here comes a rant - I don't care what disaster, accident, or catastrophe someone or some organization caused (or supposedly caused), the sight of our US elected officials in Congress fulminating, expressing faux outrage, and just flat over-acting in this theater-like setting utterly disgusts me.... I don't mind some CEO or Board Chairman being grilled on his company's mistakes, but to have this crowd of craven politicians do it turns my stomach. How they can sit there and express all this outrage, when every one of them (irrespective of party) pocketed huge money from big oil companies to defeat legislation that would have required much stricter safety practices borders on the insane.... Whew - feel better...

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Rep Joe Barton, top GOP member of the panel, used his opening statement to apologize — twice

Ha, Ha, what a bafoon.

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Great that's what we need more goverment

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apologize to BP for spilling millions of gallons of oil into the gulf and destroying the beaches and sealife of three states? Just how deep in the pockets of big oil are the republicans?

We know from the phony Iraq invasion for oil that bush was 100 percent in their pocket.

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Gotta love the Republican Barton, who speaks his mind then turns around WITHIN THE SAME meeting and apologizes for his apology!! Now even Republicans are turning against the idiot. Likewise I suspect people like Moliner to come on here and try to take a swipe at Obama and say, "These things happen", and, "It's no one's fault", etc. etc., when BP has fully admitted to it.

Anyway, the CEO is disgusting, and clearly if he was not in the loop on ANYTHING about the drilling and safety of the well/rig, what's the purpose of him being in the job? If the Republicans (idiots like Barton aside, of course) are even outraged at the CEO, it MUST be bad!

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A bunch of corrupt politicians who cant do anything right blasting another individual about ethics. Wow! I know BP messed up but if they are going to lecture the CEO then maybe 300 million Americans should get together and start blasting the politicians, theyve caused all sorts of problems, too. Oh wait! they`ll sick the military and police on you if you do that. Better not.

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The Barton double apology thing is amazing stuff. I would think the Republican leadership discussed in advance how they would approach the hearings. Did Barton not get the memo, or did it just not occur to them that they would need to tell anybody in advance to not pull such a crazy stunt and say something so stupid?

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lincolnman: How they can sit there and express all this outrage, when every one of them (irrespective of party) pocketed huge money from big oil companies

Yeah, I know. I wouldn't mind seeing some congressmen sitting there while the public grills them. But in this case you might as well take what you can get. It's good to see big oil squirm.

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First it was Toyota's Toyoda getting grilled by the U.S. Congress, now it's BP's Hayward. Who's next?

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He was hardly slammed. anyway, this was a circus. A bunch of old white guys bashing a damn catatonic over educated overly rich Brit.

Slam him, but why are you guys letting the MMS government workers who signed off on everything to a company that had had many problems? I want Salazar to be slammed as well. I don't care who calls me a sell out, he and his lazy government workers need to have some heat put on them

I do not think I could keep my composure if such a slag like Waxman was grilling me... its just so comical looking.

The gov should not be off on this scot free. EO should have been given in the very early days to companies from such countries like Holland and even Japan who were ready and willing to help out. That needs to happen so instead of wasting your time cheering a bunch of ..... how about writing the gov to allow the help to come in.

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I thought the whole circus was fantastic. How Hayward managed to stop himself from laughing I have no idea. I wouldn’t have been able to do it. What a bunch of second rate fools they put on show. I am positive most Americans will be ashamed of what we saw yesterday. That is their government at its best?

The fact that called the boss of a global company to explain operational details about one rig AND expected him to know what had been happening on a day to day basis before there was a problem is astounding. Hayward has proved his worth to any company that might now be looking for a new CEO, his value went right up and there is no reason why he shouldn’t just walk away leaving Obama the bad actor to deal with his own people who are equally guilty. What a shame the US press is so jingoistic that they find it impossible to tell the whole truth, maybe the American people would like to know just how badly run THEIR oil industry is. I am however surprised that the US oil industry can’t afford to pay for a more professional group of actors than that lot. It was like watch a silly cartoon. I have nothing but respect for how Tony Hayward handle those fools.

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Election year theater. Sweet.

Taka

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zurc - Just how deep in the pockets of big oil are the republicans?

Surprisingly, about half as deep as Dems. Obama got more money from BP then any other politician. Significantly more then BP gave McCain or any republican candidate. Quite amazing when you think about it.

skip - Slam him, but why are you guys letting the MMS government workers who signed off on everything to a company that had had many problems? I want Salazar to be slammed as well. I don't care who calls me a sell out, he and his lazy government workers need to have some heat put on them

We agree on this one. It is driving me nuts, how Salazar just let this whole thing slide. He knew in advance that MMS had problems, he pledged to clean it up, and then did nothing. And he is by far not the only one. He is responsible for MMS, but the incompetent government response, thats Homeland and EPA. So its not just Salazar, its Napolitano and Jackson as well. As far as I'm concerned, Salazar and his undersecretary should be charged with negligence, and both Napolitano and Jackson should be fired for incompetence.

grafton - The fact that called the boss of a global company to explain operational details about one rig AND expected him to know what had been happening on a day to day basis before there was a problem is astounding.

Yeah, I laughed at that too.

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grafton - The fact that called the boss of a global company to explain operational details about one rig AND expected him to know what had been happening on a day to day basis before there was a problem is astounding.

Hayward is not a business manager or bean-counter that made it to the top of an oil company. He has a Phd in geology and has worked as a rig geologist. He had also been an oil exploration manager. Hayward has a hands-on, working knowledge of oil exporation and drilling.

Hayward had been given an advanced copy of the questions/issues that the Congressional committee was going to address. There were no surpirse or 'gotcha' questions. He had also consulted with BP lawyers who are all well aware that BP will be facing massive law suits. Hayward's job was to not make the companies legal position worse. And I understand that he's now been removed from control of the day to day operations of the recovery.

As CEO, Hayward would have been supplied with the results of his companies investigation into this explosion weeks ago and he would have required constant updates on a recovery operation that has placed him and his company on the worlds front page. He just refused to talk publically about it.

Congress now needs to hold another hearing to grill the federal Minerals Management Department and find out why the clean up is being sabotaged and why a more competent person/company isn't in charge of stopping the oil flow.

It's been over 57 days now.

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arrestpaul at 03:05 AM JST - 19th June

“Congress now needs to hold another hearing to grill the federal Minerals Management Department”

Yes a number of US government departments need to be taken apart to find out why any of this got as far as it did. Maybe some people have become too friendly with the people they were meant to be overseeing. BP shares the guilt, I have never denied that, but having them made the sole scapegoat isn’t going to do the US any good in the long run. What happens next time? And there will be a next time unless somebody takes a long hard look at all those involved rather than shifting the sole responsibility on to one none US company because that is politically expedient at the moment. And that is why I would say that Obama has failed the people of America. He is showing fear of his own big business at the expense of the American people.

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And that is why I would say that Obama has failed the people of America. He is showing fear of his own big business at the expense of the American people.

Its worse then that grafton. When he was first elected we were told repeatedly that Obama is this brilliant man, how hes the smartest man ever to hold the office. And it may be that the man scored high on some test, but thats the ivory tower where he is from, thats not real world. Not practical experience. The man has no real world experience, he has never led or run a company, business, or a government of any size. Actually, saying he is inexperienced is my own way to find an excuse for whats happened. Because it puts a nicer face on things then to say he is just completely incompetent.

The US has had a lot of good Presidents, as well as bad Presidents. Many Presidents, particularly from the last century don't really factor in, but there are 2 that are of particular note. Lincoln of course, who easily is one of Americas best Presidents, and Grant, whose administration was so corrupt, that he was one of its worst. Only Harding came close in terms of corruption. However the worst President in US history, simply by virtue of his incompetence, and what he cost the US in terms of prestige, and power, was Jimmy Carter. Until now. I think, with this disaster in the gulf, and Obamas incompetent handling, added on top of his economic misteps, and foreign policy incompetence. Obama has now eclipsed Carter as the worst President in US history.

His administration isn't over yet. He still has a chance to come back, but I don't think he will. He is simply too incompetent, inept, and corrupt to make the right moves. I don't see it getting anything but worse.

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grafton at 08:22 PM JST - 18th June. I have nothing but respect for how Tony Hayward handle those fools.

Hayward might have been the right man for the job following the turmoil of Browne's tenure. However, the position of BP CEO is changing. Now, BP are looking for a problem solver, Hayward's role has changed, but he has not changed with it. Hayward's communications style has become a detriment to the company, which is already facing lawsuits and is on the hook for billions of dollars in damages. Hayward is breaking some of the basic rules of reputation management by being arrogant and confrontational and he is actually doing the opposite of what he should be doing. Hayward is spending most of his time talking rather than listening. At the end of the day, a reputation is about credibility and expectations.

Hayward had some dumb quotes: "We are going to defend the beaches. We will fix this." "The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume."

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