Axelrod hits Grassley and Enzi for not ‘negotiating in good faith.’
Axelrod hits Grassley and Enzi for not ‘negotiating in good faith.’
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs used his daily press briefing to criticize “Gang of Six” health care negotiator Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) for attacking Democratic health care proposals with “generic Republican talking points” when he delivered the weekly Republican radio address on Saturday. “I think Sen. Enzi’s clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship and decided that it’s time to walk away from the table,” said Gibbs. Now, another top White House aide has dug into Enzi as well as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who recently sent a fundraising appeal saying he was working to “defeat ‘Obama-care.’” In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, senior adviser David Axelrod said the two senators appeared to be “satisfied with the status quo“:
“If you’re sitting at a table negotiating in good faith, then you probably don’t send out mailers saying, ‘Help me stop Obama-care.’ That’s just common sense,” Mr. Axelrod said. The two senators’ actions, he said, “suggested they don’t want to participate” in bipartisan talks. “They’re satisfied with the status quo. We are not,” Mr. Axelrod said.
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After watching how the Repignofascists in the House and in the Senate have taken over the debate on health care it would be so refreshing to see a Democrat in the Congress do the same thing. Instead we have to rely on Axelrod and Gibbs to do the heavy lifting. How unfortunate that our spineless Democratic leadership is so afraid of Faux “News” and Rush Limbaugh that they refuse to say what needs to be said. At least Axelrod and Gibbs have a spine.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 amGive em hell Ax…
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 amAxelrod hits Grassley and Enzi for not ‘negotiating in good faith.’
– - And that reverberates in the D.C. echo chamber and not much further. The Democrats need to get their talking points out to the public in these townhall “meetings” and let the public know what weasels the GOP is.
Some saturation TV and radio spots that speak down to the lowest common denominator level wouldn’t hurt either. Recognize your audience and tailor the message for it.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 am“I think Sen. Enzi’s clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship and decided that it’s time to walk away from the table,” said Gibbs
Gee…. ya think?
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 amDems I think are really, really walking a thin line. They gained the majority and yet they still let the Republicans set the tone and the pace for Congress. This isn’t new, but it is really frustrating and just shows a politician is out only for himself.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 amThe two senators’ actions, he said, “suggested they don’t want to participate” in bipartisan talks.
Why, exactly why, did the people in the Obama administration ever believe differently?
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:56 amBetter late than never.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 amAnd when Rahm Emanuel told progressives to shut up and not attack Blue Dogs he showed the administration’s hand too.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 amThe Republicans did everything they could to stop the bill and now they will be left behind. They can go back to their caucus and figure out how they can help influence legislation rather than saying no to everything.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 am#5 aquarius2
Someone pointed out a while ago that the while the Republican’s DON’T know how to govern, they DO know how to campaign.
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 amI think it was a brilliant move to extend the hand of bipartisanship, knowing full well it would be rejected. It has shown that the Republicans care more about defeating Obama than they do about Americans.
Now that is done, he can, in good conscience, go around the Rs and get things done.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:00 amIt appears team O’Bama has finally begun to get everyone on the same page, and stick with the message in all speeches, press releases and appearances.
That has always been an effective tool for the Repubs, repeatedly hammer home the message, whatever it is, until it sinks in.
The old saying, “never bring a knife to a gunfight” seems to be taking hold with the timid, too polite Dems.
It’s about time.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 amI realize that both Axelrod & Gibbs deserved positions in Obama’s admin.
I think they’re both honest men who work hard at achieving the President’s requests.
I don’t think they’re the greatest communicators, however. Neither has the ‘resonant voice’ needed to get people’s attention, nor are they very charismatic on TV when debating against the White Wing.
I’m hoping, and I believe this will happen, that President Obama takes the bull by the horns and commences regular comments to the American public about a host of issues, including health care reform, war & deficit spending.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:01 amBadmoonman,
Excellent point at #3.
Aside from those of us who are news junkies, comments from Axelrod and Gibbs – while they are greatly appreciated – do not get far beyond the beltway.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:02 amTaking that message to the streets and saturating the broadcast media with those facts will get the public attention. Right now, they are confused and ill-informed because the media focuses on the sensational and not the facts. So, the facts have to be brought forward every day, and we need all Democrats to do it.
This is a choreographed corporatist duel for public consumption. Health insurers win, courtesy of their blue and red sponsors.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 am“I’m going to negotiate a new contract for my work and if I don’t get what I want I’m going to take down the company. Now, let’s talk!”
In the real world where does this leave you – unemployed!!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 amYes…Yes…Yes!
The Whitehouse needs to grow-a-pair and get out and kick some butt around.
However…I’m still fearful that they will cave to the industry and Rushpublics.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:05 amIf any Dem believes at this point that any Republican is capable of negotiating in good faith on ANY issue, then they deserve to get their butts handed to them. And that is exactly what will happen.
This is naive to the point of defying logic!
Is there any Dem left with a sense of reality or a spine?
Voters deserve better from the Democratic Party.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 amFinally. The Dems have got to learn that the Repugs will NEVER work with them. You can plead, appeal to their sense of decency, conjole them to do the honorable thing, and the Repugs just don’t give a sh*t. The will obstruct, lie, spead hideous rumors just to see Dems fail. Death panels, Rationing, Granny’s death, Obama is a secret terrorist… the list goes on and on… The Repugs will do anything to make Obama and the Dems look bad (Unfortunity, some Dems make it very easy). The Repugs one hope is to keep it’s rabid base happy. Good luck with that fellows. Their base is getting smaller and smaller. Add the Xenophobia, and Religous Rights influence, the GOP will be the way of the Whigs.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 amSo hoping now that haft time is over>>>> they will start to play this game better make the adjustments and go on the attack!!!!!!!
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:11 amOh comon guys, Obama is just now starting to tighten the rope he has been giving the gop. They have done his bidding. They have hanged themselves. All that is left is to kick the stool out from under them.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:12 amDavid Axelrod: Master of the Obvious.
I guess he had to reinforce the blinding evidence that the GOP, by and large, has zero interest in effective healthcare reform.
Woe is the party that cast out honourable politicians like Lincoln Chaffee. (Not to disparage Whitehouse, but Chaffee, like his father before him, was every progressive’s favourite Republican)
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:13 amRanting Tommy,
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 amYou also make a good point. Obama has continually shown that he is willing to play fair (to our frustration) and the repugs have demonstrated intransigence and belligerency. They have lied to his face, saying they want to cooperate, then they tell their constituents they will vote “no” on everything, won’t even read pending legislation, and have no intention of compromise.
The strategy of waiting to the eleventh hour to drive home this message is nerve-wracking, but even the most unsophisticated Americans understand fair play, and the repugs have demonstrated they will not participate if they can’t have it totally their way.
If 67% of the public, which includes Democrats, doesn’t fully understand the health care bills etc. isn’t that where all the emphasis should be placed? Forget the town hall brownshirts, they are incapable of learning and just want to put on a show. Other negative elements may be just plain people who hate where their own economic plight is, and who think being negative is a way to “feel better.” It’s hard to work at, think about, and BE positive. It’s easy to be negative. Takes no effort and it appears that you know more than you do.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 amEducation! Please!
Republicans are tools, that’s nothing new. It is the uncooperative Democrats I blame. If they got elected in conservative areas it is because people wanted change. They need to get with the program. That’s why I’m only donating directly to candidates and not giving to the groups that fund al candidates.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 amThe Obama we’re all waiting for.
http://www.dailykostv.com/w/000339/
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 amI think Axelrod phrased that just right.
We all know the real reason why Enzi and Grassley aren’t interested in bipartisanship is that they want the president to fail. And they don’t care who or what they have to destroy to make this happen. Always party before country.
But if Axelrod spoke that truth, he would appear mean-spirited and a poor sport.
So he went with Enzi and Grassley being “satisfied with the satus quo.” Which is also true. Maintaining the status quo means no health care reform. No health care reform means President Obama “fails” (at least this is how they plan to spin it). And the gravy train from the health insurance industry lobbyists and PACs is just a bonus.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 amWell, well, well… I’m watching MSNBC and they have Gingrey the Bozo saying we’ll give Obama his Health Care as long as it DOESN’T have a Public Option. MMmm… Could it be the Repugs are getting afraid of the the fire they started? That one Rep who laughed at that young woman, the people who booed the other Repug for a blantantly false assertion, the fact that Dems and Progressive are mobilizing in big numbers at Repug Town halls? The fact that the so-called Repug protesters are the same people who look like the ‘Tea-Baggers’ and ‘Birthers’? I feel the wind beginning to shift. Hopefully.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:26 amNice. Glad to see this in print.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 amAnyone who thinks Obama is calm because he doesn’t understand is kidding themselves. Have you so quickly forgotten when it looked like mccain had a chance?
The blue dogs are already in the bag. What you see is probably cover for the. The votes are committed I think.
I seem not to be the only one who believes this way:
Providing Cover for Blue Dogs
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 amMarie says:
Aside from those of us who are news junkies, comments from Axelrod and Gibbs – while they are greatly appreciated – do not get far beyond the beltway.
Taking that message to the streets and saturating the broadcast media with those facts will get the public attention.
Obama and the Dems made the mistake of letting the bill slide to the fall session. They need to decide what will be in the bill, pass it and then saturate the media to drown out the Republicans, tea baggers, birthers and tenthers. The Dems need to go on the offensive so that the Republicans are put on the spot.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 amcover for them(the blue dogs) in conservative districts.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 amI hope you’re right, Fred.
It ought to be made clear to the Blue Dogs that if health care were to fail, they’re the ones who would suffer, because they’re the ones in the swing districts who would be damaged by any perceived Democratic Party failure.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:41 amNot only did the repugniscum have to be exposed for their duplicity in bipartisanship, but the blue dogs had to see for themselves: even if they think they can work with repugs, they will be stabbed in the back by them in the end, and they will lose their constituency as well.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:42 amIt’s a no-win situation for blue dogs who have been too dense to see the truth, but have been bribed by the profiteers in the health industry.
If theres one thing the gNOpers are good at its parakeeting luntzian lunar in unison
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 amThe so-called ‘Blue Dogs’ are cowards. Why did Obama win 365 electorial vote compared to Mccain’s 100 or something? (Forgive me, I forget the math) Because people want CHANGE. The people who protest the Health care reform are the same who voted for Bush. I love those so-called polls. Who are they polling? The same people they ahve been polling for years? Are they polling young people? Are they polling new voters? I don’t think so. Many young, new voters are like my daughter. They work full time and don’t get Health Care. Apparently MSM think the only voters are the Older people who are protesting. TEAH RIGHT! And MSM also claimed that the Repugs would hold on to the House and Senate in 2006, and that the election of 2008 would be a nail biter.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 amBy the way, I read the local paper from Austin, Texas (Austin American Statesman) online this morning. Austin as you remember was the location of the Secede from the Union gathering in which 200 supporters turned up.
Well the local Rep Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex) actually attended a PRO REFORM gathering in Austin in which 2,000 enthusiastic supporters attended.
I’m sure it was just an oversight that THIS RALLY was not covered by mainstream media, cough, cough…
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:59 amI’m thinking passage might be at hand, just on the basis of the furious escalation of Republic rhetoric and tactics, and all around headline grabbing. They’re like rabid wolverines, trying to keep the big bad bear at bay.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:01 pmFred: “Oh comon guys, Obama is just now starting to tighten the rope he has been giving the gop. They have done his bidding. They have hanged themselves. All that is left is to kick the stool out from under them.”
Exactly! It amazes me how people panic and get hysterical when this thing isn’t even close to over. All Obama and his administration have done so far is demonstrate very clearly to the middle of the electorate that Repubs are B.S. when it comes to health care reform. Obama is not stupid and he’s not naive. He saw how they campaigned. Why would he have expected anything more than this despicable conduct from Repubs? I think he has simply had to demonstrate this reality to the middle of the electorate, which had been bamboozled into thinking bipartisanship was the goal. I hope that has been what’s going on here.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:15 pmWell, duh!!!
We have been posting for 7 months that none of the ReichWinger scum bags will do anything to contribute to the country’s goodwill.
It’s just not in their gene set.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pmIt’s about time. Putting on my quality-management consulting hat, there are two reasons that people don’t buy:
1. They are unaware of their problem.
2. They are not sufficiently disturbed to take action to correct the problem.
President O. has some selling to do.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:01 pmVile, lying Republicans cannot act in an honest and forthright manner. They are gradually showing themselves to be snakes in the grass. The are vicious, hateful and partisan. Funny how all of a sudden, a few months after President Obama was elected, birthers, teabaggers, deathers, RipVanWinklers all come out of the woodwork, all in a dither about government spending, government deficits, “government takerovers” and such. Not a peep was heard out of these clowns when Cheney and Bush staged their fascist coup in December 2000, when they slept through the biggest terror attack in the history of the world, when they criminally attacked and illegally occupied Iraq and while Cheney and Bush shredded our American Constitution. Not a word out of these clowns when the GOP was attacking our Democracy. Not a peep…
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:34 pmThis from Politico:
The bloggers at Firedoglake and Digby are writing about this now. I don’t think Obama wants a public option, but he sure wants to force people to buy insurance. His political contributors wouldn’t be happy if he did anything else.
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:41 pmI fervently hope that this story is an omen that although Obama has bent over backwards to work in a bipartisan manner, the people now see the repubs for their true form and the dems are ready to do what needs to be done.
As for the repubs true form, I have a picture from the “Lost in Space” movie – something like, “My father always said evil will assume its true form.”
September 2nd, 2009 at 2:19 pmAxelrod hits Grassley and Enzi for not ‘negotiating in good faith.’
Somebody tell old Axelrod it doesn’t matter what the republicans do. The Blue Dog Demos are the ones he needs to negotiate with.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:04 pmAxelrod should be commended for his statements. He is direct and to the point on the issue. I am tired of Dems who are trying to finesse this issue. The Republicans need to be directly engaged rather than let them continue propagating their lies.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:09 pmCry me a river.
September 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pmkwsventures says:
Cry me a river.
For sure-great song by Joe Cocker but it has nothing to do with topic.
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:26 pmkwsventures says:
Cry me a river.
<<<<
Kiss my A$$ you ignorant punkass troll
September 2nd, 2009 at 5:03 pmkws – could I just piss down your leg instead?
i don’t feel like crying (don’t hear or see anyone on my side crying either), because my team’s winning, and yours is losing.
i see and hear your type crying amazon deltas of crocodile tears day in and day out.
i think it’s weak, and a sign of diminished masculinity.
can you not see the scoreboard from your undisclosed location?
September 2nd, 2009 at 6:42 pmGive the dumb dems just a little more rope so they can hang themselves. Just let Obami keep appointing whack jobs like that Communist Van Jones.
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:38 pmvery thanks for article!
September 4th, 2009 at 11:02 am