GOP candidate: BP relief program is 'slush fund'
Quote:
Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle said Thursday she was wrong in calling BP oil's $20 billion victims' compensation program "a slush fund," backtracking just hours after her widely criticized remark.
Angle told a Las Vegas radio station on Wednesday that President Barack Obama strong-armed BP executives to set up the fund after the April 20 oil rig explosion that sent gallons of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. The worst oil spill in the nation's history has affected all five Gulf Coast states and scores of businesses, such as fishing and tourism.
Appearing on KXNT, Angle agreed with a caller who said Obama forced BP executives to establish the fund.
"Government shouldn't be doing that to a private company and I think you named it clearly, it's a slush fund," Angle said.
On Thursday, Angle issued a statement saying she was wrong.
"Having had some time to think about it, the caller and I shouldn't have used the term 'slush fund'; that was incorrect," Angle said. "My position is that the creation of this fund to compensate victims was an important first step — BP caused this disaster and they should pay for it."
Her Democratic rival, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, seized on the comment, and Obama ridiculed her for it at a fundraiser for Reid Thursday night in Las Vegas.
"I'm sure she meant 'slush fund' in the nicest possible way," said Obama, without mentioning Angle by name.
Well someone dumber than Harry.:whistle::whistle::whistle::whistle:
