Conservatives React to Obama-House GOP ‘Question Time’

[Jennicut]

Conservatives React to Obama-House GOP ‘Question Time’
By David Weigel 1/29/10 2:15 PM

Well, that was more interesting than anyone could have reasonably expected it to be. The sense I’m getting from conservatives and GOP strategists is that the discussion between President Obama and House Republicans in Baltimore was a boon for the president — maybe unfairly so, because the format made even things Republicans mock about Obama (pinning some early problems on the Bush administration) seem forceful.

Reaction from Weekly Standard editor and Fox News pundit Mary Katherine Ham:

Debatable how much this back-&-forth actually achieves, but it *looks* like change/openness. Had O tried it earlier, woulda done him good.

Former Weekly Standard blogger/McCain campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb:

Obama did well, got the better of GOP today. Fortunately, we got the better of him the last six months or so. And health care is dead.

American Spectator blogger Quin Hillyer:

What an arrogant SOB. He repeatedly accuses House Republicans of lowering the tone of debate, and denies that his side has done ANY politicizing or any insults, etc. This is just outrageous. His tone was utterly inappropriate, his body language even worse. That was not a polite give-and-take (although Republicans were certainly polite); it was a stern, rhetoric-filled, in-your-face lecture.

National Review’s Daniel Foster:

It would be hard to argue the exchange is anything but a plus-plus for Obama and the GOP. Both sides emerged from it looking as if, contra the public’s greatest fears, they more or less know what they are talking about on issues like the deficit and health-care reform. The president avoided the temptation to speak in platitudes and sound bytes, and the Republicans went a long way toward showing that they are hardly a party of obstructionists with no solutions to offer Americans.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the speech reactions — Fox News, alone among cable networks, cut away mid-broadcast and went to a newsless interview with Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.).
http://washingtonindependent.com/75200/conservatives-react-to-obama-house-gop-question-time

I am having some good laughs today.

[DrToast]

1. Yep, that's all you need to know: Fox News stopped broadcasting it

Roger Ailes himself probably put a stop to it.

[joeybee12]

2. All i gotta say is...

:evilgrin:

[Froward69]

3. Denial is

not just a river in Egypt.

It seems the right just can't accept that THIS president is competent.

[Shrek]

4. A second blogger at National Review also liked it

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWU2ODkxMWQwYTc2OTBhNWUxYTcxOGRmODAzYTg0MTU=

This afternoon's event was the closest Americans have come to a version of Questions With the Prime Minister. Like everyone else, I think this event did Obama a great deal of good; it was the antidote to everything that was insufferable about the State of the Union - the uninterrupted platitudes, the dishonest framing, the aversion to acknowledging alternative views, the endless droning, etc.

The questions from the Republicans were pointed but fair, and I think every member who asked a question thanked Obama for coming. I think most intriguing was when Obama was basically asked to take some responsibility for Pelosi shutting out House Republicans on major pieces of legislation. I've mocked some of Obama's recent town halls, with questioners tending to ask deeply personal or sometimes simply inane questions. This setup eliminated the 11-year-old girls asking President Obama why some people were so mean. It was serious, it was substantive, and it had a decent level of detail.

The fact that it went so long, and that Obama didn't head for the door quickly, suggests that he enjoyed it.

Two big questions arise from this event: Will he do a similarly- formatted, televised Q-and-A with Democrats? And if this turns out to be the mutual political winner that is seems to be, how soon will we see another?

[Froward69]

5. HE Did enjoy it he said so himself...

thats why it is more than one hour...

[WCGreen]

6. Inane questions from a 11 year old girl vs untethered vitriol at GOP Q & A's...

I say our side wins hands down...

[tishaLA]

7. The American Spectator blogger is a fucking liar

Pres Obama said precisely the opposite--that Democrats were also unfair in some of their characterizations--so this idea that he denied it is pure fan fiction.

[monmouth]

8. I heard that too. He specifically said Democrats were to blame also, they

did the same thing...