Finally — Obama Hits Back
So THAT’S what it takes to get Obama to strike back: make him think his comments are off the record. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, let’s hope he keeps on swinging. No more college professor giving an erudite speech at a faculty meeting.
Obama was at a private meeting (or so he thought) with about fifty donors at a restaurant. A live audio feed piped his comments back to the press briefing room, where reporters were still working.
(Links here and here.)
Among other candid comments were:
“I said, 'You wanna repeal health care? Go at it. We'll have that debate. But you're not going to be able to do it by nickel and diming me in the budget. You think we're stupid?’”
Obama slammed the GOP’s repeated backdoor attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by attaching the defunding to a budget bill:
“Put it in a separate bill. We'll call it up. And if you think you can overturn my veto, try it. But don't try to sneak this through.”
Aw come on, sneaking is the only thing the rightwads know how to do.
He also had some choice words for Paul Ryan (R—PeeWee Herman):
“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure...he's just being America's accountant and trying to be responsible — This is the same guy who voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill but wasn't paid for.”
After a year and a half of being poked and prodded and needled and shat on by Republicans and their useful idiots, Obama has finally had enough.
You Go Mr. President.
Labels: defund Planned Parenthood, Obama comments, Paul Ryan
posted by Tom Harper @ 5:50 PM
11 Comments:
I have serious doubts that they didn't know this was being recorded. Which is fine because these comments KICKED ASS.
Artfully contrived nonsense.
Bragadocious bullshit.
Just more posturing from a smooth tallking pimp.
Keep hoping you innocent fools.
I also have doubts about that. But I'm also not convinced that it isn't a campaign stunt.
If the President has gotten past his habit of throwing all his cards on the table and running from the room at the sound of "ANTE UP!!!" I'll be happy to admit my errors in judgment. It'd be nice to be wrong this time.
Oh, this was a campaign stunt, no doubt about it (and goddammit, why do they have to start so freaking EARLY?). Still, good for him for saying it, it's about time someone besides us say it.
I always said to hammer at the records of these so called fiscal conservatives that they voted for some of the worse deficient bills of the Bush term. Get that information out!
Erik
The right wing knows it can't ever get everything it wants all at once, so it has to resort to nickel and diming. Over the years they have done a lot of hard work this way in chipping away at things like Roe v. Wade and the separation of church and state.
But they must think it takes too long for them to win their battles by attrition, because that path offers them no instant gratification. They don't appear as powerful if they can't achieve their big things all at once, in slam dunks. Not being able to fully exercise their power makes them feel and appear weak.
And the tea party types and other prominent right wing "leaders" and those powerful elite who back them are all about power (and money)... they don't care about the country or the people, they just want to use their power (and money) to squash whoever and whatever they can.
They are desperate to get rid of whatever they can of the leftist agenda, and they think they can accomplish "great things" by using the economic crisis as an excuse to do just that. This seems like a pretty obvious strategy of theirs right now, and I am glad the president at least talks like he is ready to stand up to such crap.
And calling them on their hypocrisy, repeatedly and as often as possible, will put some great cracks in their facade.
It's good that he says it. Now, let's hear him make it his M.O..
Great comments by Obama. He gave a great speech last week, too. All well and good, but what matters is what he does the next time there's a showdown.
Progressives need to put up a large billboard across from the White House. The message: "Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Mr. President."
Snave you're right about the wing nuts' past incrementalism. But looking at what Ryan and the Republican governors have been doing, they're at the "We want it all and I want it now" stage.
J: Even if it was accidentally-on-purpose, these things needed to be said.
Anonymous: Maybe so, but hope can be mighty intoxicating.
JR: I too hope Obama will no longer start every negotiation conference by announcing up front what he's willing to give up. One can hope.
Bee: Agreed on both things. It's gonna be a long boooring 18 months of campaign gimmicks and sleazy TV ads. And I'm glad Obama said what he said, even if it was just a stunt.
Erik: This definitely needs to be hammered again and again. Paul Ryan should have zero credibility based on his earlier votes.
Snave: You're right, the wingtards have been nickel and diming for years now, and now they've decided they want More, Faster. They definitely need to start getting a few cracks in their facade.
Thomas: Agreed on both of those things.
SW: I like your idea for that large -- HUGE --billboard across from the White House.
Yep SW, the right wingers have kind of reached their breaking point, where they are past the point of trying to win their wars by grinding the other side down. They no longer have the patience to use an effective method that has been working for them the past few decades, so they are, at their own peril, abandoning it.
I think what they are doing is kind of like taking months to build a fantastically detailed model of a sailing ship, but then at the last minute the model builder loses patience and puts the final parts together in a haphazard and half-assed way just because they couldn't wait any longer to get it done. The mast leans, there is nothing there to support it. In fact, certain structural necessities have even been overlooked in a number of stages of building, so that in the end, the whole product collapses, and sinks.
These Tea types will say it is because desperate times call for desperate measures that they are suddenly out in the open about wanting to squash every thing the left hath wrought, great or small... but the more out in the open they are, the more transparent their motives become. It becomes obvious that they do not really believe they are going to eliminate things for the good of America, but rather because they view such things as obstacles along their path to power. So, they will squash so many things like bugs, if they have their way.
To them, the American people are a major nuisance. Too many of us can see their game for what it is.
So yes, let's hope the white gloves com off now, and that the president has enough oomph and support to take the Tea Party out behind the woodshed for a while. 8-)
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