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Title: Dems peg Angle and other GOPs as ‘BP Republicans’
Source:
THE HILL
URL Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-brief ... d-other-gops-as-bp-republicans
Published: Jul 9, 2010
Author: Michael O'Brien
Post Date: 2010-07-09 12:56:26 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 12561
Comments: 26
Democrats launched a new website on Friday highlighting "BP Republicans" meant to highlight different GOP lawmakers' defenses of the oil company. Obama himself ripped Angle during his visit to Nevada.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) seized on Nevada Republican candidate for Senate Sharron Angle's criticism of a $20 billion fund BP created to pay damages to victims of the oil spill, and sought to tie other GOP lawmakers to BP.
The DNC set up a new site, BPRepublicans.com, which casts GOP lawmakers as representing the interests of the oil company in Washington, and not their constituents.
The first image on the site targets Angle, who called the $20 billion account a "slush fund" on Wednesday, before backing off those remarks later in the day.
The site builds on political momentum Democrats saw after Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) expressed similar sentiments about the fund during a hearing last month where BP CEO Tony Hayward was testifying.
"It's more than Barton redux, it proves that an expression of empathy toward BP is not an isolated misstatement by a wayward Republican," said a DNC official, pointing also to Republicans' opposition to raising the liability cap for oil companies who cause accidents, or the GOP's opposition to an energy and climate bill.
But the site is just as much about taking issue at Angle as it is anyone.
"If Sharron Angle's going to fight for BP and be their candidate we thought we'd make it official. Besides, we understand that Sharron Angle is a fan of having more than one campaign website," said the DNC official. "Since she took down the one the one with her true positions, we thought the voters of Nevada would be interested to know who she's really fighting for."
Angle is the Republican candidate this fall against Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who, as Senate majority leader, serves as the top Democrat in that chamber. Republicans have made a point of trying to defeat Reid this fall in what has become an especially heated race.
To that end, President Barack Obama was in Nevada on Thursday evening to help raise money for Reid.
"Let me tell you, most Nevadans I meet -- and I've spent a lot of time here -- you know that," Obama said of Angle's remarks. "I've been seeing you. Most of the people I meet here in this state, they don't think like that. They don't subscribe to that kind of thinking. So why would you want somebody who has that philosophy representing the people of Nevada?"
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#2. To: Brian S (#0)
Angle's going to hurt herself given how fast she's walking backwards these days.
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