Rattner Unrepentant On Allegation Suskind Book 'Drive-by Shooting' Of Obama
As noted here yesterday, former Obama car czar Steve Rattner, in a Politico piece, lashed out at Ron Suskind, depicting Suskind's book on bad times in the Obama White House as a "drive-by shooting" of President Obama and his staff. That hardly seemed in the spirit of President Obama's pious call, in his much-touted Tucson memorial speech, for people to speak in a way "that heals, not wounds" .
Joe Scarborough called Rattner out on the matter on today's Morning Joe. But Rattner blithely batted away Scarborough's depiction of "drive-by" as "harsh" and "rhetorically inflammatory." Video after the jump.
Watch Rattner blow off Scarborough's criticism. You'll also hear Mika Brzezinsk, with an exasperated "please," dismiss Joe's calling out of Rattner.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: I need to ask Steve a question here. Steve, you know, I am, as you know, it may be it's just because I'm sort of passive, I'm flatliner, very Zen. And you look at me and --
STEVE RATTNER: I think most people would describe you that way. I agree. That's definitely a good way to think about you.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Even-tempered, predictable.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm even tempered. So, I've been talking about keeping calm and carrying on, and avoiding rhetorical flashes. But you had a column yesterday where you accused--in Politico I believe it was--where you accused Mika's dear friend --
BRZEZINSKI: What?
SCARBOROUGH: Ron Suskind, of a, quote, of committing a quote "drive-by shooting" of the President of the United States. That is awfully hostile, and if I may say so, it goes against the president's very call for civility in this country.
BRZEZINSKI: Please.
RATTNER: Well, I didn't think the book was particularly civil. The book basically portrayed a White House of a dysfunctional president, a dysfunctional economic team, anti-women, a whole thing. And all I tried to do was say look, I was there for six months, I was there every day. Maybe this stuff was going on, but it was not the White House I saw. I saw a calm, carrying on, to your point, decisive president.
. . .
SCARBOROUGH: What do you mean by "drive-by shooting" of the president?
RATTNER: Well I meant that he took things that people said to him for their own interests without really confirming them, without really putting balance into it. And I think there was a lot of people who spoke to him who got sort of rewarded by being treated well, and others who didn't who got rewarded by not being treated very well.
SCARBOROUGH: It did seem harsh, to me. It did seem like a harsh assessment. Just follow my guide, though, in the future. Just keep calm and carry on. I think drive-by shooting, I think that was rhetorically inflammatory. That's all I'm going to say.
RATTNER: OK.
SCARBOROUGH: And I think we can move on now and talk about important matters.
- Mark Finkelstein's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Clintons kept a tighter ship
Submitted by American Delight on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 10:27am.
It's interesting that the Clintons were able to keep a lid on insiders bad-mouthing them in books while they were in office, but Pres. Obama has not been able to do so.
Ron Suskind's Books
Submitted by Conservator on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 10:50am.
When he wrote about the Bush administration, it was a new gospel for the left. Now that he has written a similar book in content about the Obama administration, leftists like Steve Rattner call it a "Drive-by Shooting" of the President - who would have thunk it?
I wonder if the MSM will
Submitted by jkwtrading on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 10:57am.
I wonder if the MSM will bother to bring up Rattner's scam. I doubt it stealing money is not in their own moral compass.
The Morning Joe crew
Submitted by Marsh on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 1:43pm.
The Morning Joe crew was a non stop chorus of blaming Palin for the "hostile" atmosphere that led to the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords . The fact that her attacker was obsessed with Giffords before he had ever heard the name Palin uttered was brushed aside.
So now every guest that enters their spin zone has to be taken to task for any phrase that smells of a violent cliche because the crew won't acknowledge their Palin fixation.or the farce they have carried on since that tragic day.