Obama's meeting with Republicans backfires!

Brn2bfree

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Apr 1, 2009
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Boehner Tells Obama to His Face That His Health-Care Proposal Uses Tax Dollars for Abortion; Obama Dismisses Boehner's Statement as 'Talking Points'

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told President Barack Obama to his face at Thursday's health care summit that the president's new health care proposal, which is based on the bill approved by the Senate, would allow taxpayer-funding of health plans that cover abortion. The president did not respond directly to Boehner's direct charge, but suggested that all that Boehner said was merely the "standard talking points" and Democrats would "profoundly disagree" with many of them.

Boehner also criticized the president's plan for creating "a new entitlement program that will bankrupt our country" and "an employer mandate ... that says that employers, you've got to provide health insurance to the American people, or you're going to pay this tax."

On the abortion issue, Boehner told Obama: “For 30 years, we’ve had a federal law that says that we're not going to have taxpayer funding of abortions. We've had this debate in the House. It was a very serious debate. But in the House, the House spoke. And the House upheld the language we have had in law for 30 years, that there will be no taxpayer funding of abortions. This bill that we have before us--and there was no reference to that issue in your outline, Mr. President—begins, for the first time in 30 years allows for the taxpayer-funding of abortions.So, Mr. President, what we've been saying for a long time is let's scrap the bill. Let's start with a clean sheet of paper on those things that we can agree with."

In response, Obama did not directly address Boehner’s flat assertion that Obama's proposal would use tax dollars for abortions. Instead, he accused the Republican leader of wasting the group's time with talking points.

“John, you know, the challenge I have here--and this has happened periodically--is we're having, every so often, we have a pretty good conversation trying to get on some specifics, and then we go back to, you know, the standard talking points that Democrats and Republicans have had for the last year," said Obama. "And that doesn't drive us to an agreement on issues. There are so many things that you just said that people on this side would profoundly disagree with--and I would have to say, you know, based on my analysis, just aren't true--that I think that the conversation would start bogging down pretty quick."

Boehner was the lone legislator to bring up abortion at the event, even though it has been a major issue in the health care reform debate. In the House health care bill that passed in November of last year, an amendment sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) was included that specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for health plans that cover abortion. A similar amendment sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) was not allowed to be included in the proposed Senate bill.

CNSNews.com - Boehner Tells Obama to His Face That His Health-Care Proposal Uses Tax Dollars for Abortion; Obama Dismisses Boehner's Statement as 'Talking Points'
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Obama's meeting with Republicans backfires!

Obama was going to embarrass the Republicans and this was going to be a perfect photo opportunity for The Obama. He was going to illustrate that the Republicans were....

1. How the Republicans were disagreeable...
2. How the Republicans were mean spirited
3. How they don't care about people suffering.
4. How the Republicans side with the big insurance companies.
5. How the Republicans are unwilling to compromise.

Instead what came about was, Obama was shown that he was the following.


1. He was unprepared..
2. He was ill informed.
3. He was whinny, arrogant and cocky.
4. He had to shut down discussion because it would embarrass him.
 
I don't know if it backfired but it was a sham. The Democrats are going to go with the Nuclear Option in the end. They intended to do this before they held this sham. Their bill is a massive debacle and they really should go back to the drawing board. Pelosi is absolutely wrong as usual. Incrementalism is the right way to go. Address each issue individually and with small pieces of Legislation. No one understands this Reid & Pelosi Boondoggle. Not even Democrats understand it. It's just too big and indecipherable. Too bad the Democrats are too partisan & stubborn to see this. Their 10% approval rating really does say it all about this Worst U.S. Congress in history. Pretty sad stuff.
 
I see it a bit differently. The meeting was a failure, but I can't agree with much of these things in the OP. Boehner was not truthful; however.

The Senate's bill would require each State to have 2 plans available re: abortion: one that covers it, one that doesn't; however, NONE OF THE FEDERAL SUBSIDIES PROVIDED are legally allowed to be used to cover an abortion. In other words....NO, Boehner, the bill doesn't use tax-payer dollars to cover abortions.

There's other things, also. But meh....to each his own.
 
What backfired? These holier than thou republican scumbags, instead of addressing real points of concern on the bill, they sit and make a big deal that abortion, a legal medical procedure, which is a minute part of healthcare


sorry, obama is right, making arguments about abortion is so insignificant in the healthcare debate, it is a talking point. But we already know a lot of republicans cater to ignorant fundies

The only people made to look a fool in the eyes of anybody with a critical thinking mind and not blinded by delusions of ideology, are the people that make abortions, such a miniscule part of the healthcare issue, to be a big deal. Give it a rest already!
 
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is this really the talking point du jour (given this is thread three by the wingnuts on the subject, i'm figuring it is).

from this end it looked like the repubs made themselves look prety stupid.

but whatever.
 
Just do the Nuclear Option and get it over with for God's sake. People are now suffering from Health Care-Burnout. People just want the politicians to shut the h*ll up. Most common sense thinking Americans understand that this is a massive indecipherable Democrat Boondoggle. Their 10% approval numbers tell the story. Let them force it through and then conduct a Revolution and vote them all out of office. The Nuclear Option will not work out well for the Democrats. So this meeting may not have backfired but the Nuclear Option likely will. I guess we'll see though.
 
I don't know if it backfired. All the folks here who liked it yesterday like it today. All those who hated it, still do. If the goal was to convince anyone, it seems not to have worked. It seems to have energized both sides in to kamikazi attacks on the other. Since it was billed as away of making a consensus, that part has been a dismal failure. It just made the Republican base madder, and I think any independents that watched it may have come away with more questions than answers.

I don't think it can be called a success. But for Obama, anytime he gets face time on TV, he considers that a tremendous plus. I am sure he is satisfied with the results.
 
1. How the Republicans were disagreeable... umm, they were. both sides were.
2. How the Republicans were mean spirited they were. is it a "real" point, when having an intellectual discussion about a very intricate, detailed healthcare system, that the bill is "long?" Is that like saying: "OMG....we have to....to.....readddddd!!!!" That's being mean spirited, sorry. Also, calling out a politician on Campaign promises when it's been accepted practice in Washington, even by THE ACCUSER, that Politicians can't really come through on all of their campaign promises......is looking for trouble, NOT looking to compromise on Healthcare. It wasn't the time or the place, and Ironically, it WAS on TV. Geez. Not mean spirited, at all. They also used the CBO report in a dishonest way, which you could have spent 5 minutes reading the report after the little tit for tat happened and found that out for yourself.
3. How they don't care about people suffering. He said explicitly that he knows they care.
4. How the Republicans side with the big insurance companies. "small steps"///incremental
5. How the Republicans are unwilling to compromise. They are.

Instead what came about was, Obama was shown that he was the following.

1. He was unprepared.. No, he wasn't.
2. He was ill informed. He seemed to have a pretty solid grasp on the facts, actually.
3. He was whinny, arrogant and cocky. I'll give you arrogant and cocky, but when the Repubs wanted to bicker about non-issues like the bill's length or campaigns, instead of talking about Healthcare specifics, what do ya say?
4. He had to shut down discussion because it would embarrass him. Didn't see that.
 
G.T.'s right on this one.

Thanks. It's just so played that Partisans try so hard to paint the opposite side's President/Leaders as some sort of evil Demons because they fucking disagree on their views. It's a warped fucking view of the world.
 
CNS thinks that Obama's plan for the summit backfired??? Of course they do. They were friggin' founded on the premise that other news organizations supported the liberal pov only!!! They are a right wing organization!!!

I guess the OP thinks that liberals on this site are as uninformed as most of the Obama haters.
 
Wanna know why the GOP did it?

Simple.......right now, it's almost March (3rd month), and elections are in November (11th month), which means they have 8 months to start laying out their campaigns.

All they were doing at the beginning was trying to get talking points for their campaign ads coming up in a few months.

McStupid especially. Shit.......his first statement was nothing more than a campaign stump speech.
 
I will tell admit that Republicans are MUCH better and delivering talking points than Democrats are. I don't deny that there's been a pendulum swing in middle america towards the republicans...due in no small part to the ability of their media cronies and their elected officials to keep parroting phrases like "2400-page bill" and "death panels" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook. Find an easily digestable sound bite...regurgitate it ad nauseum. Joe Q. Public will eventually absorb and believe through sheer force of will. It's not enough to put for the same message with different verbiage. You have to use the same phrases over and over.
 
I will tell admit that Republicans are MUCH better and delivering talking points than Democrats are. I don't deny that there's been a pendulum swing in middle america towards the republicans...due in no small part to the ability of their media cronies and their elected officials to keep parroting phrases like "2400-page bill" and "death panels" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Yea, I mean it's pretty conducive to a Debate where you "really" want to help Americans get adequate Healthcare.... to lie about a bill over and over and over for months, and then in the debate subsequently tout "opinion poles" against the bill as a reason against it. There's no integrity in Politics, on either side. It disgusts me, tbh.
 
Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook. Find an easily digestable sound bite...regurgitate it ad nauseum. Joe Q. Public will eventually absorb and believe through sheer force of will. It's not enough to put for the same message with different verbiage. You have to use the same phrases over and over.
You mean like "tax cuts for the rich"...or...."choice and competition"...or..."doing nothing isn't an option"....or..."let me make this clear"...or..."the American people want X"...or..."the chiiiilllllldrrreeeeennnnnn"...or ...."Hope & Change"?
 


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In Obama's attempt to be bipartisan, I think he and others weren't confrontational enough. I think the act of getting the GOP to agree to a televised meeting was a success. Unfortunately the Dems didn't change their methods enough to turn the meeting into a success.

They needed to change the process. I swear they needed a whiteboard. Process goes like this:
1. write general issue on whiteboard (e.g. let's cover pre-existing conditions)
2. poll the room for majority agreement from each of 3 camps (dems, repubs, and independents)
3. each camp break up into a small group and propose language
4. reconvene and share the language each camp came up with
5. see if one of the three can be agreed as a starting point
6. refine the language on that point
7. reestablish that the majority of all camps can agree on that language.

Of course this is kind of like re-inventing the wheel of committee and subcommittee legislating and to be sure an issue like this isn't going to be hammered out in one day or even a week.

But I think if you listed all the points that needed to be covered, confirmed agreement on some and identified where there wasnt agreement on the major points - you'd at least have a broad view of where to take the bill.

Ultimately, this is why you have to use the brute force of a majority vote...it's the clearest way to confirm agreement or not.
 
Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook. Find an easily digestable sound bite...regurgitate it ad nauseum. Joe Q. Public will eventually absorb and believe through sheer force of will. It's not enough to put for the same message with different verbiage. You have to use the same phrases over and over.
You mean like "tax cuts for the rich"...or...."choice and competition"...or..."doing nothing isn't an option"....or..."let me make this clear"...or..."the American people want X"...or..."the chiiiilllllldrrreeeeennnnnn"...or ...."Hope & Change"?

Most of those examples are things that only came out of Obama's mouth. If the rest of the Dems picked them up and repeated them too, yeah you'd have a start.
 
Democrats need to take a page out of the Republican playbook. Find an easily digestable sound bite...regurgitate it ad nauseum. Joe Q. Public will eventually absorb and believe through sheer force of will. It's not enough to put for the same message with different verbiage. You have to use the same phrases over and over.
You mean like "tax cuts for the rich"...or...."choice and competition"...or..."doing nothing isn't an option"....or..."let me make this clear"...or..."the American people want X"...or..."the chiiiilllllldrrreeeeennnnnn"...or ...."Hope & Change"?

Most of those examples are things that only came out of Obama's mouth. If the rest of the Dems picked them up and repeated them too, yeah you'd have a start.
Those are examples of things that have been flopping out of the mouths of democratics since Christ was an altar boy, party man.
 

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