In a satellite interview with Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) held shortly before 1 p.m. EDT today, MSNBC's Contessa Brewer criticized Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) for denouncing the president for pushing BP to agree to a $20-billion escrow account for oil spill damages as a "shakedown":
So, there's Joe Barton calling the $20 billion in escrow a shakedown, and as you point out, there are people in your district who have lost their livelihoods! They wonder how they can feed their families!
But yesterday, Brewer's MSNBC colleague Ed Schultz used similar language to voice his giddy approval of President Obama's maneuvering [video embedded at right and available as WMV file here]:
President Obama! You are the dude! The president takes the heads of BP behind closed doors, shakes them down for $20 billion, and gets an apology.
[...]
President Obama went behind closed doors today with Tony Hayward and the other suits from BP and informed them it's time to pay.
[...]
If you go by today's results, you'd have to say the President of the United States hit it out of the park. In his own way the President of the United States took on a multinational [corporation] shook 'em down for $20 billion for the American people. President Obama got more out of BP than the Congress ever has.
The day before that, just two hours before President Obama's Oval Office address, Schultz told viewers he hoped the president would sound "like a dictator" and would rhetorically speaking, press his "boot on the neck of BP tonight."
For a related blog post by MRC news analysis intern Matt Hadro, click here.
