Gregory's Surprising Praise: McConnell's Obama Knock 'Really Resonated'
If not an unmitigated frozen-flying-pig-in-Hades moment, then certainly something noteworthy for its rarity, coming from the lips of David Gregory . . .
On today's Morning Joe, the Meet The Press moderator, in one surprising swoop, managed to praise a statement from Mitch McConnell while simultaneously seeming to acknowledge that President Obama's economic program has failed. Video after the jump.
Gregory's surprising statement came in response to a question from Willie Geist as to whether the Obama administration's characterization of the GOP as "the party of 'no'" is fair.
Watch Gregory's unexpected answer.
WILLIE GEIST: Hey David, it's Willie. I want to ask you a fundamental question we've been talking a lot about around this table. The argument from the White House and from many on the left is that the president can't get anything done because he has a party of "no" working against him. Is that a fair characterization based on the evidence we've seen over the last two-and-a-half, almost three, years now, of the way Republicans have handled themselves? Are they out to see the president fail, or are they just standing up for their core beliefs?
DAVID GREGORY: Well, I think it's both. I think it depends how you want to cast it. I think liberals and defenders of the president will say this is the party of "no." I think conservatives would say this is the party of "we're going to stop him from doing more; stop him from hurting the economy further." I mean, the president--Mitch McConnell said something several weeks ago that I think really resonated, which is: the president got everything that he wanted and it didn't work. He got a big stimulus. He got health care reform, he got financial reform. The economy hasn't moved.
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Comments
Does Obama Need an "R" Rating?
Submitted by Annie Ashe Fields on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 9:19am.
Have any parents out there found themselves having to DEFEND themselves to their children because of what Obama & Democrats have been saying about people who vote Republican?
Because, finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take having them hear, from their PRESIDENT, that I want them to choke on dirty air, leave disabled children abandoned in the street, and am a 'terrorist' 'enemy' because I go to Tea Party gatherings.
I wrote a piece on how I handled it at my blog. Feel free to read & share - maybe with a fair-minded Democrat ;)
the president got everything
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 9:36am.
the president got everything that he wanted and it didn't work. He got a big stimulus. He got health care reform, he got financial reform. The economy hasn't moved.
That was what, 2 years ago? Ancient history. He counts on everyone having forgotten that.
You will notice that the Obama administration is acting like all that never happened and that they have to start right now (We can't wait!!) doing something about the mess we're in.
Forgetting? Hope not!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 9:43am.
The one thing not mentioned was the unemployment.
Of course, we know the 9.1% number is bogus, it's closer to about 20%, so if he's hoping people might forget that, how does someone forget they've lost a job and can't find one?(which is part of the economy anyway, unbeknownst to some liberals but beknownst to conservatives*gasp!*)
I'm not sure which which level of disgust is higher, the disgust I have against the American people for letting this happen by voting for this fraud, or the Republicans for having overboiled linguini for spines, or that it's gotten this bad in this country and people are deadset on giving the fraud a chance to fix it when we know he's not trying to fix it at all. Either way, it's all disgusting.
-Jon
Jon, the thing is why do they
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 11:41am.
Jon, the thing is why do they not report the true unemployment number? We need the truth under any administration. Have we become so spoiled or jaded we want only what sounds better?
True numbers
Submitted by jon_torlin on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 1:53pm.
Remember who's reporting these numbers. And what they consider as employment.
This bogus administration's mission is to break the private sector, and to them, unemployment in terms of the private sector doesn't count for much of anything, and I don't remember which it was, but the financial news reported that there were more government employees being hired than there were of private sector employees and that's what they use to report the unemployment rate.
But it's like you say, they report a better sounding number regardless of the fact that so many millions are out of work, and of course you and I both know they don't want to help the private sector to fix that, they want those people "helped" by the government.
-Jon
JT, I have been wondering for some time
Submitted by antiObamunist on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 2:44pm.
how the economy has continuously been shedding jobs at 400,000 per week and gaining only about 150,000 while the "REPORTED" unemployment rate stays rock steady at 9.1%. The labor department MUST be cooking the books even beyond any scheme used to date. It seems they must be mis-categorizing workers as "not looking for work".
On a related subject, I have recently found out that Massachusetts, and likely many other states, makes it easier and less costly to hire H-2 visa workers to be employed by subsidizing mandated health insurance. Employers in this liberal bastion are understandedly taking advantage of this system and pay only a small percentage of the insurance. Its another case of foreign workers being given jobs that "apparently" american citizens can't be given equal access to.
And to finish my off topic rant, the most transparent promised administration in history has struck another blow to opaqueness in proposing a new Federal regulation allowing the government to lie to its citizens and the courts in FOIA requests by allowing the response, as the new RULE states "as if excluded documents did not exist." They should rename the new rule "don't ask don't tell" or "I don't have to tell you if I don't want to".
Apollo 13 to U.S.......America we have a problem......!!!!!
We have a problem when entrenched bureaucracy and patronized politicians could be allowed to outright lie to media and the american people under the color of law. This can not be allowed or it will lead to the certain end of the Republic. Republican party where are you, Tea party where are you, loyal americans sure are you when you are most needed? Call your congress critters and PUT THE HAMMER DOWN or we will never find the truth on fast & furious, solyndra, obamacare, Libya or any other nefarious actions of government.
Fool me once shame on you,
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 11:39am.
Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. This should be the watch word for any legislation Obama or his cronies push.
Fudging the numbers?
Submitted by clairesolt on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 9:49am.
Remember the Clinton admin fudged economic numbers to help Gore in 2000.
Trying the same thing over again
Submitted by c5then on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 10:01am.
They are repeating the same mistakes that FDR and his administration tried in the 1930's and they are having roughly the same effect. Specifically not helping and in some cases making the matter worse. The only things that we haven't tried yet are national price controls to prevent deflation (hasn't shown up yet probably due to the offsetting massive inflation from QE2) and the federalized work corps.
Eventually all the bad debt has to be unwound and that destroys the money supply (which isn't being reported anymore - how convenient) which leads to deflation. Apart from the $14 trillion in federal debt, we also have $10 trillion in State debt and about $50 trillion in private debt.We can't grow out of that hole... it would take hundreds of years. Most of those debts are on someones books as an asset and they eventually have to be removed as they are defaulted on or paid off at 10% or 20%. The baloon is too high and the economy is suffocating due to lack of oxygen. Instead of trying to maintain the altitude because we like the view, we need to figure out a way to lower the baloon back down to where we can actually breath. Propping up the housing market and the banks and throwing borrowed money are holding the balloon artificially high. Let the housing market crash, let the banks fail and we can then move on with a normal economy and people can pick up the pieces and re-build.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Don't know where this goes!!
Submitted by ROSSMAN on Fri, 10/28/2011 - 10:45am.
The fed, states, and local communities, have a bank account for each person wanting to be elected, and all donations that they recieve are taxed at 60%, and the rest goes to the fed, state, and local coffers! this would take a lot more money to finance a canidate.. HANKY PANKY WOULD BE VERY COSTLY, OR WE WOULD HAVE A LOT OF TRIALS!! (JOHN EDWARDS) CLEAN THIS UP AND WE WILL GET HONEST POLITICIANS!! INCUMBENTS HAVE ONLY 6 MONTHS ALLOWED ON THE STUMP.. (ADDS ETC)
Now these fools get a clue? I
Submitted by amyshulk on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 3:40am.
Now these fools get a clue? I hope you realize what you've done Gregory. I hope it gives you nightmares.
Ronald Reagan
Are Republicans for or against tax cuts?
Submitted by coin of the realm on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:28pm.
Because 57% of the jobs bill is in the form of tax cuts and credits for hiring. I always hear that the tax burden on the job creators is hurting hiring, so why are they opposed to a measure that cuts taxes on small businesses, the so called engine of our economy?
Or, why will the tax cuts that Obama proposes increase the debt while republican tax cuts pay for themselves? Or why do the repubs still refuse to support a jobs bill with tax cuts for most everyone in this country, hiring incentives AND an open offer to add spending cuts? Is it bc it includes a modest tax hike on the super high earners or is it bc their real objective is not helping the economy but hurting Obama?
Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws. Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Caricature
Submitted by bkeyser on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:39pm.
You can't possibly be this dense,
The American Jobs Act was voted down
Submitted by kata on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:41pm.
in the Democrat controlled Senate.
The House may very well pass a bill with the President's tax cuts in it... oh wait. They did.
Shhh though. It's a super secret.
NIce Try But No Cigar
Submitted by ThePickle on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:44pm.
Oct 11, 2011 NYT: "In a major setback for President Obama, the (Democrat Controlled) Senate on Tuesday blocked consideration of his $447 billion jobs bill.
I added the the item in parenthesis in order to give the sentence proper context.
So why do Democrats hate the Presidents Jobs Bill?
You can come on here and spew your talking points, but the facts of the matter are that it remains the Democrat controlled Senate that has put up the resistance to the Presidents jobs bill and left it languishing in Congressional limbo.
No clue what R's are for, I
Submitted by amyshulk on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 1:49am.
No clue what R's are for, I can only speak for myself, and I well remember when the tax code was "fixed" under Pres. Regan. Too bad he didn't lock the dang gate - we're just back at the same {worse?} point again.
The root cause tells you the answer, and it's not shifting the pie around, giving these guys over those guys the breaks - it's in making it TRULY fair!!!
Ronald Reagan
That's Ok, amy.
Submitted by UpNorth on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 1:58am.
Small change has no clue, at all. About anything. But, we all know that, anyway.
UpNorth
Submitted by amyshulk on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 3:20am.
It's more like he stops thinking at a certain point, unable/unwilling to put the puzzle pieces into place.
I feel for the OWS'ers and those who stick up for them, since I think writing them off is a mistake - the same one the msm made with the TP. It's the underdog thing.
Will the OWS'ers actually *do* anything to effect change though? That's where my sympathy dries up, since their solutions seem to be "This is the pie, it's only thiiiiiis big. Right now, the eeeevil rich have too much of it, so we *must* punish them so the ones in the middle/lower/poor classes can get a bigger slice"
Since this is perfectly in line with the bigger gov't D's, who claim to represent the people, and it's just an excuse to spend even more, I really cannot figure out how that actually changes things.
It seems to me the every time they succeed in legislating this mindset, the middle class are the ones who get hurt, not the eeeeevil rich.
Ronald Reagan
Good graphic on job growth over the years
Submitted by coin of the realm on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:40pm.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/01/01/GR201001...
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027440.php
I think that it is insane to want to go back to the exact set of policies that have ruined the last decade.
Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes her laws. Mayer Amschel Rothschild
History is your friend, Coin.
Submitted by kata on Sat, 10/29/2011 - 5:44pm.
Research the context of the job growth and don't just ooh and ahh over the squiggly lines going up and down.
You really need to do a little studying on the graphs.
Submitted by UpNorth on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 2:02am.
No, seriously, you REALLY need to do a little, Small Change.
And, you need to step back from the WaPo, the idiocy there will make you stupid.
Never mind, too late.