Joe Barton's Office Deletes Triumphant Tweet

Joe Barton found himself having to backtrack again today, but this time it seems an aide is to blame. The chain of events goes like this: Barton apologized to fellow Republicans for his BP apology mess, then learned he'd get to keep his spot as ranking Republican on a plum House panel. Soon, a tweet went out under his name saying, "Joe Barton was right," making it sound like he wasn't sorry after all, notes Greg Sargent at his Plum Line blog.

The Tweet caused another furor and was soon deleted. An aide, however, says that he's to blame and that Barton knew nothing of the tweet, which directed readers to a pro-Barton article in the American Spectator. "Without thinking about it much, I added a headline from one of the daily news clips to a website that is, in turn, linked to the congressman's Twitter account. I won't be doing that again." (More Joe Barton stories.)