Obama To Fox News And Tea Baggers: ?Let?s Not Play Games?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 30th, 2009 4:32 am by HL
Obama To Fox News And Tea Baggers: ?Let?s Not Play Games?
President Obama spent part of the 100th day of his presidency today in Arnold, Missouri where he hosted a town hall meeting with local residents. During the town hall, Obama recognized criticism he’s been receiving from the far right. “I know you have been hearing all these arguments about, ‘Oh, Obama’s just spending crazy, look […]
President Obama spent part of the 100th day of his presidency today in Arnold, Missouri where he hosted a town hall meeting with local residents. During the town hall, Obama recognized criticism he’s been receiving from the far right. “I know you have been hearing all these arguments about, ‘Oh, Obama’s just spending crazy, look at these huge trillion dollar deficits, blah, blah, blah.'”
Obama then noted that the real fiscal problem facing the United States is the skyrocketing costs of Medicare and Medicaid, not the Recovery Act or bank bailouts, which he said are “one-time charges.” “If we aren’t careful, health care will consume so much of our budget that ultimately we won’t be able to do anything else,” he warned.
Obama then mocked the right wing’s tea bagger gatherings for their misplaced anger and, indirectly, Fox News for promoting them:
OBAMA: So, you know, when you see, you know, those of you who are watching certain news channels, on which I’m not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term how we’re going to stabilize social security. […] [L]et’s not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act because that’s just a fraction of the overall problem that we’ve got.
Watch it:
“That’s why I have said we’ve got to have health reform this year to drive down costs and make health care affordable for American families, businesses, and for our government,” Obama said. Referring to the tea baggers’ grievances, he later added, “We tried that formula for eight years. It did not work, and I don’t intend to go back to it.”
Update Fox News’s Mike Huckabee responds via Twitter: “Astounded Pres. Obama still doesn’t know tea parties were led by moms, dads worried about future…that’s serious and no game!”
ThinkFast: April 29, 2009
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) writes that, as a moderate member of her party, “you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe.” She adds that “the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania.” House Minority Leader John […]
In an op-ed in the New York Times, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) writes that, as a moderate member of her party, “you often get the distinct feeling that you’re no longer welcome in the tribe.” She adds that “the political environment that has made it inhospitable for a moderate Republican in Pennsylvania.”
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) said President Obama’s push for progressive policies, including a hate crimes bill, “makes me want to throw up,” and declared Obama has “no plan for keeping America safe.” When asked by the Washington Times to grade his party’s 100 days of opposition, Boehner replied, “I think our team’s doing fairly well, considering the barrage that’s coming at us.”
Yesterday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Obama administration’s state secrets privilege claim, allowing an “extraordinary rendition” case brought by five detainees against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan to proceed. The Justice Department has invoked state secrets in three court cases since Obama took office. Glenn Greenwald has more.
“American authorities confirmed the first death outside of Mexico from swine flu” today, as Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on CNN this morning “that the first American death of the disease was a 23-month-old child in Texas.” Besser gave no other details about the child.
Today, the Supreme Court will be hearing a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which “requires selected jurisdictions across the country to ‘preclear’ new voting rules with the Justice Department or a federal court.” The NYT writes that it would be “judicial activism” to take away Congress’s right to protect minority voters, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has an op-ed with evidence that the VRA is still needed.
