Dave Weigel: Wah! The Democrats are saying mean things about Joe Barton!

Uh, Dave? Is everything okay at home?

It's pretty darn obvious what Democrats are doing today -- ripping into Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) for his "apology" to BP in a fashion that makes Oceania's campaign against Emmanuel Goldstein look amateurish.

A commenter replied,

The only differences, of course, being that unlike Emmanuel Goldstein, Joe Barton actually exists, and actually said what he is being attacked for saying -- in a prepared statement at a televised congressional hearing, no less -- and the Inner Party functionaries in "Oceania" (i.e. the Obama Administration) have simply been responding to questions about Barton's idiocy asked by a more-or-less free press.

But other than that, yeah, it's just like 1984.

I can see Weigel criticizing the Democrats for willfully *misconstruing* Barton's remarks. That's the dirty game Republicans love to play with Democrats, which Democrats never seem to be able to pull off.

But whining because they're making hay out of a massive, unforgivable, nationally-televised gaffe, which Weigel admits is in fact what most Republicans think?

This is like Kobe complaining that Kevin Garnett will try and score a lot of points and get a lot of rebounds tonight.

What a puss.