Grayson: "Obama Has Gone Too Far In Reaching Out To Republicans At The Cost Of Progress"

[democracy1st]

Run time: 02:55 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei8cNsAlmfA   Posted on YouTube: January 30, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 30, 2010 By DU Member: democracy1st Views on DU: 4912

 
http://MOXNews.com/
January 29, 2010 MSNBC The ED Show


http://grayson.house.gov/


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533/

[quantass]

1. Agreed,

[timtom]

2. Alan Grayson is helping MY healing process, as well.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Grayson is great. Sure wish he were a Senator. He could share his spine with lots

of fellow legislators.

[Mithreal]

6. Could share that spine with some DU'ers too.

[pnorman]

10. "Could share that spine with some DU'ers too."

Me, for example?

I think Obama has been playing a smart game, in making a "good faith effort in reaching across the aisle". By now, it should be absolutely clear to the vast majority of Americans, that the Reptilican Party, "The Party of NO!", is composed largely of uncooperative and self-centered BRATS. That may cost many of them dearly in coming elections. I admit to having serious doubts during the latter half of last year, but the SOTU Address and that Baltimore Smackdown has put them all to rest.

[pattmarty]

11. Assuming this year he finally gets something done. He better hurry......

.......up and get his ass moving with his "smart game", he only has until November before Republicans make gains.

[Mithreal]

16. Then maybe I was talking about you. If words like that are comfort, well,

then you just aren't applying what you already know. We'll see, I expect 2010 to heat up the rhetoric for the votes but be another flaccid performance. Words can be energizing but you can't feed your kids with them or pay the mortgage. I suppose you could if you were in marketing or something similar but maybe you know what I mean.

I agree with your remarks about Regressives.

I am less concerned by the conservatives in their party than the conservatives in my own, the President included.

Good faith effort? Who is he waiting for to tell him they just aren't that into him. He has shown no sign he is done having his hand slapped away.

I am tired of his naiveté and excuses. I get it that he doesn't give a damn what I think. I was one of his organizers and he shows practically no signs of acknowledging my hand reaching out. I will keep trying but I have no expectations he will do anything differently.

But hey, it was good enough for you, so can't be all that bad.

[pnorman]

23. Vent your spleen on me if you wish. Perhaps it may have a much needed therapeutic effect on you.

I and my fellow "Naderites in 2000" have taken a lot worse here on DU, in recent years. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7267942&mesg_id=7270472

Q: Were YOU one of those"Lieberman in 2000" pragmatists?

pnorman ("Spineless In Seattle")

[Mithreal]

25. Well, thank you for the offer, but maybe one of us is misreading the other.

To your question, A: abso-freaking-lutely NOT.

Proud liberal and progressive here. No fight too large, no fight too small. When it comes to average Americans, I stand up for them and for myself included.

Where you get that idea?

The fight is over ideas not personalities.

There are plenty of people that hold opposite views on DU that I still like and even respect, doesn't mean I will treat their ideas with kid gloves.

[pnorman]

49. Never mind all that jive. Which candidate did you support in 2000?

Nader or Lieberman??????

pnorman (aka: "Spineless in Seattle")

[Mithreal]

57. Stop talking turkey then.

Since when were these the choices?

I have little patience for this type of thinking, so please explain if you want a response.

[bertman]

28. Mithreal, the gist of your post #16 was RIGHT ON!

[bertman]

27. pnorman, the President has been being stonewalled by the Republicans since Day One of

his presidency. I think it's great that he is trying to highlight that over the last week, but it should have been done starting back in March of '09. By waiting until now to talk about Republicans being obstructionist (he still doesn't use that term, by the way) he has hurt the country. Of course, it's better late than never.

This most recent attempt to highlight Republican's Obama Waterloo efforts is a direct result of the Massachusetts Senatorial debacle. Why did it take that type of event to make the President (or his advisors) take on the Republicans in a meaningful way?

I am heartened by the President's pushback this week, but I'm also very doubtful that he will go to the mat with them. Or the Democratic leaders who have not been tough enough on the Blue Dawg Turds.

[Turborama]

32. In answer to your question...

Another question. Why didn't he bring in David Plouffe earlier, or even let him go in the 1st place?

[Barbara2423]

45. The president should bring in Howard Dean.

[Turborama]

48. I agree 110%! n/t

[Enthusiast]

52. The Baltimore smackdown

gave us all a lift.

President Obama couldn't simply continue to "turn the other cheek". Because the filthy Republicans would only continue to smack it.

[ProgressOnTheMove]

4. I like Grayson, but I think Pres. Obama is at least right in holding quesiton times with Republicans

Their voters mostly just listen to one side. The debate is essential they can take both points of view and see where they lie in the middle. He can only keep trying tieh Republicans because that is true democracy, it's just unfortunate the party his trying negotiate with are less than cooperative. He's not really trying to give in to Republicans, but trying to make them see that maturity can give people good government, it's a painful process but he's determined to get there.

[Mithreal]

7. He might take that attitude and approach DIRECTLY to real average American Republicans

Their representatives have ZERO intention of working with Obama. His naivete is epic fail yet again.

[Turborama]

24. "His naivete is epic fail yet again"?

Did you watch him school them at their retreat on national television? Hardly what could be called "naivete" or an "epic fail". Especially when you consider the administration's http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x429287">motives.

Also, look at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x428784">what happened during his SOTU address and what he said in his latest http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x429519">weekly address. It's becoming more and more evident that his game plan is to expose them to the general public as the obstructionist frauds they are, and he's succeeding.

[bertman]

30. Turborama, I wish I had your faith in the approach the President is taking. The Corporate Media

are going to spin his efforts into oblivion along with ignoring them and featuring Republican leaders who will blame Obama, blame Obama, blame Obama.

Speeches and addresses and Q & A's are not going to do the job. Hardball political arm-twisting is what will win this for the Democrats. I sure hope the President is up for it, but I'm highly skeptical.

[Turborama]

34. Just after the past week's efforts that I highlighted in the above post...

There's already a lot of material for hard hitting campaign ads, and the more he does this, the more ammunition he'll have.

BTW I agree with what you said up-thread about they should have started doing this earlier. But, as you also said, better late than never.

[bertman]

36. Hard-hitting campaign ads will help for sure, but solid accomplishments would be better.

My consolation is that it seems he is ready for a fight. HOORAY!!

[Enthusiast]

53. Thank you, bertman!

The corporate media will be on display for all to see this Morning. How will they frame Obama's Baltimore smackdown in a negative way? It will be some convoluted exercise to say the least.

[oedura]

9. The Republicans...

......are not interested in being mature or providing good government.

[bjobotts]

38. Will Obama ever concede that repubs aren't concerned with fixing the nation, only gaining power &

and protecting the wealthy and their multinational corporations. They obstruct everything...even issues they supported just to destroy the Obama administration and the dems. You cannot name one thing they've done for the good of the country plus they ignore the answers to their false accusations, refusing everything if it comes from the dems. They have a huge megaphone to spread their lies and propaganda but the dem's responses seldom even get mentioned by the MSM.

There are not 2 sides to fixing our problems and Obama must realize by now these repubs will never help in solving the problems they created...they can't because they have not changed one bit from the Bush policies.

Every repub that gets elected is just another way of saying "Bring back the Bushies"

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. I concur!

[DirtyDawg]

8. Ed suffers from the same....

...affliction that too many of these 'talking-head moderators' do - they simply won't listen to what their 'guest' is saying, and/or recognizing that he, or she, is making a valid point that will enhance the interview and let it continue. Instead, he's sitting there thinking about the next question, or questions that he had decided ahead of time he was gonna wedge in regardless. Tweety is the worst, but Ed's right there.

Of course those peckerwoods, and woodettes, at Faux over-talk - or more precisely, over-shout - their guests, but it's almost always when those folks are making a valid point, and we all know that isn't allowed in Roger Ailes fiefdom.

[bjobotts]

39. Ed mentioned his radio audience. Have you ever heard the folks that call in to his show?

[bjobotts]

40. Ed demonstrates he is not informed enough to answer callers statements and educate them with truth

[Enthusiast]

54. It ain't Tweety,

it's Towel Snappy.

[JoePhilly]

12. While true ... Obama did RUN on reaching out ... I know we HATE that, but he did ...

So ... let's all take a deep breath.

Obama ran on reaching out to the right. Independents liked that. Even some Dems liked that.

So he did need to TRY.

Now ... some of us also KNEW that the GOP would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, work with him. Which is why he still needed to TRY.

HE could not just ignore the GOP. They already call HIM the one who created the divide, imagine if he had actually ignored them in total.

His trip to the GOP retreat was awesome because it allowed him to point out that he HAS tried to reach out .. and the GOP is has no intention of working with him, even if he accepts some of their proposals.

I love Grayson ... but as a member of the house ... he gets to punch the GOP in the face as much as he wants. He can apease his district. Obama has a COUNTRY to deal with.

I hope Obama starts do the direct Q and A thing with the GOP ... it removes the media as the filter of the discussion.

He should debate Boehner and McConnell once a week ... the GOP would be screaming "NO MAS, NO MAS!!"

[pundaint]

17. While he may have mentioned reaching out to the right, it was not among the top three

messages of his campaign, and we certainly didn't think that the reaching out was to be from the right side of the political spectrum.

[truedelphi]

37. No it was not among the top three things that were part of his campaign

What an image he created. He was running as a Progressive by late October of 2008.

Which he conveniently forgot about by Mid November of 2008, when he selected Rahm Emmanuel and Geithner.

Among the top three are these two: Health Care Reform, and his insistence that if Wall Street did not honor Main Street, by creating lending programs, then he would IN HIS FIRST YEAR, make sure that regulations were written that mandated certain banks actions OR ELSE.

Instead by March of 2009, he is saying he never did understand the economy, or anything about economic matters, as he had only focused on the two wars while he was campaigning. Then he didn't work out any White Papers in his first year on the banking matters nor did he ask Congress to pass any laws or regs regarding the Banksters.

But hey - once or twice in 2009, he went and yelled at those Banksters! And they were so scared -- some of them didn't even show up for the meeting.

[bertman]

31. He reached out. They slapped his hand. TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME.

Now it's time for a fight, not a reconciliation or a compromise. That's what worries me most about the tactic we are seeing employed by the President. Yeah, it makes us all feel good when we see this brilliant, articulate, fully-engaged Chief Executive stand up to the Republicans on their own turf, but that's not what is going to win the battles.

It's time to get down and dirty.

Debates are a waste of oxygen and valuable time.

[Enthusiast]

55. One thing we know for certain,

the American people don't respect "weak". Even if much of that "weak" is a fabrication of the Republicans and THEIR M$M.

[Lorien]

46. WHY do so many people confuse "Independent" with "Centrist"?

Independents are Greens, Libertarians, Socialists, Communists, teabaggers...people who are much further to the left than the Dems, or agnostic repugs or repugs who like to smoke weed or people who don't care and don't vote. It's a HUGE mistake to think that those who don't align themselves with either party are "centrists".

And yes, he should ignore the GOP. Bush not only blew off Dems, he bullied them and it worked. They came to heel. The needs of the American people and the planet as a whole far outweigh any need for bipartisanship. Obama may dream of being called 'the great uniter", but he's doing so at the expense of the country and the world.

[bertman]

56. Lorien, this should be a thread of its own. Perfect.

[davidwparker]

13. ... head to Iowa. You have support, are wealthy, and don't need the gig.

Save the Democratic brand.

[graywarrior]

14. Maybe he's gone far enough and gets that

Maybe that was his plan. Maybe Grayson doesn't know everything.

[SlingBlade]

15. More like Grayson, Less like LIEberman

That is the ONLY thing that will save this Party in the long term.

Short term is FUCKED, Thank you very much to the "Change You Can", Believers who have
encouraged these assholes to ignore the base by promising a vote no matter WHAT the fuck they do.
This is YOUR party, Not Mine. Mmkay !

Kiss a little more Re-Pug ass and let me know where it gets you in say, Oh I don't know
Let's say, Tuesday, November 2 2010 !

Fucking Quisling Sell Out Fucks, FUCK YOU ! :puke:

[Mithreal]

18. I honestly think he would like less pressure

that would come from having a Republican Congress.

I think that was what the Retreat and monthly meetings are about, building bridges for failure.

Please don't get TS'd, I think what you have to say is important.

[SlingBlade]

58. Your Right ...

Don't forget the last great republican president Bill Clinton

Things went considerably better for him AFTER the Dems lost the majority in '94
Sure he had to suffer the slings and arrows of Re-Puke leadership
But he nearly got everything he wanted, Including NAFTA

And it is that piece of legislation in my mind that allowed a basically broke Clinton
to become a Rich Clinton thereby enabling him to hang with play golf and generally
hobnob with the likes of the Bush Family and others in the upper reaches of American society

Nope, I'm not angry, I'm just fed up with the hypocrisy and more importantly
this Freeper mentality by fellow Dems that we continue to throw our votes behind candidates
simply because they have a "D" behind their names.

The hell with what they DO
It's what they SAY that counts, Right :argh:

[Capn Sunshine]

19. Grayson, and all of you, missed the point of this

Except Graywarrior, noone seems to see what the President is doing. WE have a very real problem with the electorate. They want results, and the republicans are willing to fuck up the posssibilities of results because their 2010 strategy is based on "look, no results"

Obama has short circuited this by his reaching out. Now , republicans will be seen either working with the president, OR WALKING AWAY.

Not everyone is as tuned in as DU. They believe what the MSM tells them.
Now, right before their eyes, they will see what we've been talking about. Work with the President,who is reaching out like he said he would, or walk away AND THEN WE ARE JUSTIFIED TO RAM IT ALL DOWN THEIR THROATS.

[FrenchieCat]

20. Aye! You and I agree.

[Roaddogg.jj]

21. Obama

feels he must reach out... I Support

[Turborama]

29. Yep

You nailed it.

[Hansel]

33. Exactly. Obama has a strategy to expose the Republican leadership

as the obstructionists that they are and he must do it in a very public way so that "Mr. and Mrs. Average American" gets it. Then the propaganda the right spoon feeds them 24/7 will be far less effective and, in fact, will likely backfire.

He knows the leadership is not going to work with him. He also knows that the leadership doesn't speak for all of the Republicans. If he can present himself to the American people as a far more reasonable and sane man than the Republican leadership paints him as, moderate Republicans will feel safer working with him. In fact he said as much yesterday. He is trying to free the saner Republicans from the death grip of the certifiably insane ones who are always out their with their mouths flapping. He is trying to make them irrelevant.

[bjobotts]

41. I must be ahead of the curve Capn. I thought we were already there,that it is apparent

[theFrankFactor]

43. Democrats Give Republicans The Power! Wake Up! There is No Excuse For This Impotency!

None!

[dhpgetsit]

22. During the primaries, one of the things I liked about Obama was that

unlike Hillary, he was not in favor of more nuclear energy.

:nuke: :shrug:

[niceypoo]

26. 'It takes two to tango'

At what point will Obama realize that the GOP wont support anything he does no matter what he does? Sooner than later, I hope.

[bjobotts]

42. Repubs only believe in Line dancing.

[screenwr]

35. Obama

Obama -- less talk -- more action

[theFrankFactor]

44. Less Talk More Action? EXACTLY! My Money Says He Won't Do Shit.

He's not supposed to. He's a second generation Clinton corporate stooge.

[Jim Sagle]

47. Less Republicanism too

[justicia]

50. Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

I lost my hope in Obama. I lost my job and don't see things getting better anytime soon....

[Enthusiast]

51. Agree with Grayson.

Not only has President Obama wasted his and our time reaching out to Republicans but, as far as I'm concerned, Ed has wasted his time reaching out to Republicans. I don't know why he continues to have these specimens on his program.

We Democrats should simply tell all Republicans "Get fucked." After what they have said and done it is the best they deserve.