Rep. Ellison: 'Gibbs Crossed The Line'

[IndianaGreen]

Rep. Ellison: 'Gibbs Crossed The Line'

Progressive Democrats fired back at Robert Gibbs on Tuesday, following the White House press secretary's sharp critique of what he called a "professional left" that is perpetually unsatisfied by President Obama.

"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs said in an interview with The Hill.

"They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality," he added. "They wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president."

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), an active member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Gibbs went too far. "This is not the first time that Mr. Gibbs has made untoward and inflammatory comments and I certainly hope that people in the White House don't share his view that the left is unimportant to the president," he said. "I understand him having some loyalty to the president who employs him, but I think he's walking over the line."

Ellison said that Gibbs's resignation would be an appropriate response. "I think that'd be fair, yeah. That'd be fair, because this isn't the first time. And, again, people of all political shades worked very hard to help the president become the president. Why would he want to go out and deliberately insult the president's base? And why would he confuse legitimate critique with some sort of lack of loyalty. Isn't this what the far right does? Punishes people who are not ideologically aligned with President Bush?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/rep-ellison-demands-that_n_677195.html

[bluethruandthru]

1. Gibbs "confused legitimate critique with some sort of lack of loyalty test" just like

some on DU do.

[Zenlitened]

2. K&R. Ellison sums it all up nicely. - n/t

[Booster]

3. I think Gibbs should be embarrassed and humiliated by Mr. Obama

but I don't think he should be fired because, after the Shirley Shirrod debacle, it will look like Obama is jumping to conclusions agains and he will look weak and unleader-like (is that a word?). Gibbs should comment on the extreme right who are calling for someone to get killed rather than the extreme left, who may or may not be able to pass a drug test (just kidding).

[rhett o rick]

8. Gibbs is speaking for Pres Obama, Face is, the Pres has nothing but contempt for the left. nm

[Whisp]

15. calling out your ugly lie.

[rhett o rick]

19. Please explain. Gibbs speaks for the President. Is that a lie? Gibbs despises the left.

Rahm speaks for the president. Rahm despises the left. Explain how you think the president doesnt despise the left.

I challenge you to call out my lie. Show some kind of evidence that the President doesnt hold the left in contempt.

[Forkboy]

22. Go ahead and explain.

[Forkboy]

21. Gibbs is just parroting what Obama thinks.

Comments like this aren't made out of the blue in politics. Obama may not have said this word for word, but the intent was made clear long before Gibbs decided to engage in the jibber jabber.

[Booster]

26. I don't disagree with you. I think it was calculated, but we've got

to play the game too and just keep voting in Dems until we get a REAL one. We Dems can't give up just because one of our own didn't live up to what we expected. One of them will someday so we have to keep trying. Look at the alternatives they are giving us: Palin, Newt, Romney - do you really think any one of them would be better?

[ProSense]

4. I don't agree. Gibbs' comment was spot on. In fact,

it's Ellison who may not be aware of the dynamics.

[rhett o rick]

5. Spit it out. You hate the left also. What are your principles? Tell us where you stand on the issues

I dare you. Tell us that you disagree with the left on the issues. I dare you. You take pot shots at the left, so who are you?

[ProSense]

7. I hate the left?

No, I hate assholes.

[rhett o rick]

9. I knew it.

You constantly attack the left. Who do you support? What issues do you disagree with the left on?

[ProSense]

13. "Who do you support? "

The Democratic Party. Why, who do you support?

[rhett o rick]

18. I will be glad to explain what principles I support. But that is not the mystery.

They mystery is what do so-called "centrists" support. They will never say. They will only bad mouth the left.

[Forkboy]

24. Yeah, who would have seen a question coming in answer to a question?

[Forkboy]

23. You won't get an answer, just another question turned back at you.

[rhett o rick]

6. Tell us what issues you disagree with the left on? nm

[Zenlitened]

10. You're linking to a DU poll with (at the moment) 39 votes?

This is how you maintain that Rep. Ellison might be unaware of the political dynamics at play?

This, in support of your opinion that Gibbs was somehow "spot on," though how a such comments could be spot-on anything but Amateurish Gaffe is unclear.

Laughable. In a sad, head-shaking sort of way. :wow:

[ProSense]

14. Yes,

all the pretend that Gibbs simply made up the "Obama is just like Bush" point is really bogus. People have been spewing that nonsense for more than a year.

[Zenlitened]

17. Uh-huh. So that's the issue here, in your view?

Whether or not anyone has ever used that inartful phrase or not?

Nothing of the wider concerns, for example the sneaking suspicion that many folks in the White House feel contempt for the left... none of that has come through in this debate for you?

[rhett o rick]

20. Give a link to someone on the left stating that "Obama is just like Bush". That's bullshit and you

know it.

[depakid]

16. Couldn't exactly link to rude pundit's "see how brave he is" column

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[rhett o rick]

12. Why doesnt your pal Gibbs attack the right???? or Wall Street??? Why does he only attack the left?

Is he speaking for the president?

[ecstatic]

11. Kewl! Is he the new Kucinich??!!

:crazy:

[ProSense]

25. Ellison says the report is

wrong.

[rhett o rick]

27. That doesnt diminish what Gibbs said. Are you defending what Gibbs said?

Not that it matters, but Ellison apparently has be re-calibrated by Rahm, and is now back pedaling.

The point is that the White House has openly declared war on the left. You try to deny that but the WH has never denied it. They continue haranguing the left.

Why doesnt Gibbs pick on the right? Oh yeah, the code word is "bi-partisanship".