In a meeting with House Republicans today, idiot Congressman Joe Barton apologized to his colleagues again for apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward. They allowed him to keep his powerful committee position. Then he went and bragged on Twitter! Jesus.

Barton, the ranking minority member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, was finally able to reach some "closure" today at the Republicans' exclusive party pad, the Capitol Hill Club:

Texas Rep. Joe Barton will retain his spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, despite the controversy over his apology to BP.

Following a closed-door meeting of Republicans today, House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters that Barton apologized to fellow GOP lawmakers for his "poor choice of words" and the "issue is closed," The Hill reports.

Yes, closed. Ha! You all put so much faith in Joe Barton to act responsibly, House GOP aides. Because what did Joe Barton tweet shortly after the meeting?

This tweet, which links to a robust defense of Barton's hijinks during last week's hearing with Tony Hayward, no longer exists, of course. He probably thought it was hilarious while it lasted, though! What a piece of work.

Update: Barton's communications director, Sean Brown, emails with a clarification:

Since you wrote a blog about it today…I wanted to let you know…I did it! 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. Mr. Barton was not aware of the Tweet…

When will Joe Barton replace Sean Brown with General Petraeus?