In the frenzied days that followed the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010, BP’s leadership protrasted itself before Congress to be shamed. At the time, while several Republicans were irritated at how the disaster had put a stop to discussion of new drilling, only Texas Rep. Joe Barton had the chutzpah to apologize for the scrunity.
I’d forgotten all about that until Sen. Rand Paul said this at the start of the Senate investigations committee’s grilling of Apple CEO Tim Cook.
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“Tell me one of these politicians up here who doesn’t minimize their taxes,” said Paul. “Tell me what Apple’s done that’s illegal… I’m offended by the spectacle of dragging in American companies for doing something that isn’t illegal.”
There’s a sweet little angle in that video; you can see John McCain staring daggers at Paul, a while before he’d return to the mic to admonish the junior senator. But Paul’s on a #realkeeping kick these days. Skip to 7:30 or so in this video of his speech to the New Hampshire GOP.
About an hour’s drive from Boston, here’s Paul asking Republicans to consider the wise mercy of America’s judicial system. “We sent the subject to a hospital,” he said. “He’s going to be tried in a court of law. He’s going to have an attorney… it’s going through the process that makes us different than them.”
No applause, but at least no boos from senators.
