W.H. official: Liberal critics will be 'muted' once Obama unveils budget

[jefferson_dem]

:popcorn:

W.H. official: Liberal critics will be 'muted' once Obama unveils budget
By Jordan Fabian - 01/26/10 12:27 PM ET

A White House official on Tuesday said that liberal critics of President Barack Obama's proposed discretionary spending freeze will be "muted" once they are fully rolled out.

Rob Nabors, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), emphasized to reporters that the spending freeze will not affect all agencies and that the White House is still committing to accomplishing its goals.

"The liberal crtiics will be somehwat muted when they see the details of what we are proposing," he said on a conference call with reporters. "People are all afraid that their favorite program is getting gutted."

The administration's announcement Tuesday that it will take on the $1.4 trillion deficit by freezing discretionary spending has already earned criticism from both liberals and conservatives, but has been praised by centrist Democrats who are concerned about the ballooning deficit.

The administation will unveil the new budget next week, Nabors said.

Liberals, along with many House Democrats, are concerned that a spending freeze will hamper the government's ability to stimulate the economy that is still stuck in a recession.

"It is a top line freeze, it is not a freeze on every agency," Nabors countered.

<SNIP>

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/78051-wh-official-liberal-critics-will-be-muted-once-obama-unveils-budget

[Jennicut]

1. Well, yeah...if people waited to actually see the details

But collectively freaking out is a DU pastime.

[phleshdef]

18. They don't care about that. They are LOOKING for stuff to complain about.

When you are in that mode, details are not what is important. Finding more avenues to bitch are what takes top priority.

[cliffordu]

31. Some get paid to complain, I am sure.

Nixon called it ratfucking.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Nothing will mute Teh Critics!

[CreekDog]

30. Why mute us? TPTB aren't listening anyway

:wtf:

[DJ13]

3. Muted, or told by Rahm to shut the F up?

[Renew Deal]

11. He's not the only person that should be saying STFU to some of these people.

There's a lot of whining over not much news so far.

[mkultra]

20. agreed. let the chorus sing "STFU!!!!"

[seeinfweggos]

41. +1 nt

[asdjrocky]

4. You mean we haven't been muted yet?

I just can't take these people any more.

[mkultra]

21. i woudlnt take that shit if i were you

if i were you, i would leave DU for GOOD! that would probably teach them.

[asdjrocky]

26. Nice try.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

45. Absolutely....

I'm sure that in no time at all we'd all be weeping for you to return. "Oh Ignored, we should have listened to you."

:rofl:

[TheKentuckian]

5. I'll be muted when the cuts are redirected into more effective or needed areas

that are dying for additional resources.

We need a lot more money in the economy not less. Spending more effectively is great but net cuts are tomfoolery at this stage in the game.

[Enrique]

6. Rahm's going to go around cutting off people's tongues?

:scared:

[jefferson_dem]

8. Ha.

For all Rahm's legendary nastiness, Obama sure has governed like more of a lamb than a lion. And I'm a "fanboy".

[LakeSamish706]

7. I'll be muted when the cuts include military spending and that means ending

these stupid wars that are costing big dollars and big lives.

[bahrbearian]

15. +1

[amandabeech]

37. +2

And reinstate extended unemployment benefits.

Those things provide a huge economic stimulus and not so much of the money spent goes overseas.

Food, shelter, medical bills and haircuts stay here.

[Beetwasher]

9. Yeah, Nothing Like A Whole Lotta Freakout Over Nothing

I mean without that, what would we have?

[tridim]

22. Without it we'd have the old DU back.

A place where I used to enjoy reading reasoned opinion instead of knee jerk bullshit posted by suspect newbies.

[centristgrandpa]

10. "It is a top line freeze, it is not a freeze on every agency," Nabors countered.

i feel better already ! these guys are suppose to be smarter that the avg. bear. aNd i though the bush admin were idiots...

[phantom power]

12. Since it's gonna be so great, give us a sneak peak and "mute" us now...

tell us a few areas of govt spending that are going to increase. And tell us a few areas that will decrease to compensate, and explain why we uber-liberal critics are going to find that awesome. So awesome that we'll forget about how military spending will be exempt from all of it, which is the sort of thing we used to righteously bash Republican for.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. These "liberal' critics" won't be listening.

They'll forego actually listening the speech and turn to listening to true luminaries like Jane Hamsher, and Glen Greenwald, and Glenn Beck, and Ed Schultz, and Perry Logan.

They've stuck their fingers in their ears before, they'll do it again.

[jefferson_dem]

17. They are all united, invested in FAILure...

Perry Logan? Good God. Is that crazy fucker still around?

[tridim]

23. Here's a picture of their hero..

and Randi Rhodes too.

[jonnyblitz]

40. yeah we just love that raging homophobe, janet parshall.

:crazy:

[HopeOverFear]

14. You enjoy this, don'tcha? Gettin people all worked up...

:rofl:

[Cha]

16. Yeah,Right.

They'll find the next rage pronto. :popcorn:

[CoffeeCat]

19. As a "liberal" I'm insulted...

So I guess the White House views the base of the party as a bunch of crying babies
who will be shut up--once they see that the budget goody bag contains a few presents
for them. "Now...now...children. There's something here for everyone!"

Jesus.

Our democracy is going down the tubes. Our system of government is owned
by the corporations--who buy votes in Washington. The healthcare lobby
purchased a non-reform healthcare bill. We're upset with the corruption
and with the sleazy transaction. We're not upset because we don't get
exactly what we want. We're upset because "We The People" are inconsequential.

We're upset that we're spending money on fabricated wars, while our economy tanks.
We're upset that Obama had an opportunity to reinstate Habeas Corpus--and he did
not do it when he had the chance. He promised that he would--and even outlined
his plans to reinstate Habeas in his Blueprint For America.

We believed that the Democrats would stop the destruction and corruption machine that Bush
had going at full force. That's what we friggin voted for!

Are they actually suggesting that we will shut up and be placated by the fact that they'll throw
some money at some of the pet projects that the "liberals" enjoy so much?

TRY BEHAVING LIKE A LEADER AND RESTORE OUR DEMOCRACY--AND KEEP YOUR DAMN PROMISES!

And by the way--"muting" a group, is another way of shutting up the noise. Is that
what we are...NOISE? Excuse me, but we didn't run for President, promise hope and
change and convince a majority of the electorate that we would roll back the damage
of the Bush years. YOU lead us down the path and we followed--trusting in your leadership.

Now, when we point out the fact that Obama isn't delivering on his promises and is kow
towing to the corporations--we're noise that needs to be "muted"?

[Autumn]

25. Damn, Coffee Cat

Impressive.:toast: I salute you.

[slipslidingaway]

24. So the administration is taking on the liberals again ...

"The liberal crtiics will be somehwat muted when they see the details of what we are proposing," he said on a conference call with reporters. "People are all afraid that their favorite program is getting gutted."

Where is the quote to conservative critics?

:shrug:


Rahm Goes Apeshit on Liberals in the Veal Pen

By: Jane Hamsher Friday August 7, 2009 2:21 pm

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/08/07/rahm-goes-apeshit-on-liberals-in-the-veal-pen/

"On Tuesday, Common Purpose held its weekly meeting where lobbyist Erik Smith and a comm person from the White House tell liberal interest groups what they should be saying that week. Then if anyone gets out of line, they kick their asses. Along with Unity 09 and the 8:45 am call, they exist to form a solid left flank and keep the White House immune from liberal criticism. I like to call them collectively "the veal pen."

This week’s meeting was somewhat remarkable — as Jonathan Martin reported, Rahm Emanuel showed up. But Martin’s account is an entirely sanitized version of the meeting. It sounds like Rahm dictated it himself, in anticipation of the stories that would no doubt immediately start to materialize about the heated event. In JMart’s version, Rahm made a "request" and said that "he didn’t like seeing dollars used by liberal groups to target congressional Democrats."

Um, it’s missing a few words, most of them four letters in length.

...Rahm was always going to beat the shit out of progressives to vote for a bad bill. The goal of the whip count effort was to make it impossible to pass a bad bill by getting progressives to commit to vote against one in sufficient numbers, such that Rahm had to either beat the Blue Dogs up or fail. But first he was always going to beat up the progressives.

The organizations that are usually at the Common Purpose meeting include Rock the Vote, the unions, the LCCR, the Sierra Club, HCAN, Bob Creamer (Jan Schakowsky’s husband) of Americans United for Change, CAP, Media Matters, MoveOn, Campaign for America’s Future and numerous other groups that earn their seat at that particular table by not bucking the White House. (The notable exception is MoveOn, who bravely sent a letter to their members telling them to contact the White House and tell Obama to rein Rahm in on triggers. I’m going to guess THAT precipitated quite the phone call..."


White House May be Dictating, But We’re Not Stenographers

By: Jane Hamsher Wednesday April 8, 2009 12:36 pm

http://firedoglake.com/2009/04/08/white-house-may-be-dictating-message-but-not-to-us/

"Ben Smith has an article on Common Purpose, one of the many groups Rahm Emanuel has set up to coordinate messaging among liberal interest groups.

There are a variety of vehicles through which this is done — the 8:45 am call, Unity 09, Campaign to Rebuild and Renew America — and they’ve been extremely successful. When the banks told the White House they wouldn’t cooperate with the PPIP plan unless they got their bonuses, and the administration made the decision to "ratchet down their rhetoric," the call went out to the liberal interest groups to stay silent too…and silent they remain..."

[Kltpzyxm]

29. So the administration is taking on the liberals again ...

Of course. They have to show they are tough!

[slipslidingaway]

35. Guess it is good news for some people - Welcome to DU :))) n/t

[slipslidingaway]

27. kick for those nasty liberals ...

:sarcasm:

[southernyankeebelle]

28. Well you know they want to play hardball. We can too. I can sit home just as easily as voting. If

I don't see him listening to his base that put him in office well then he will be a one term president. I will vote for another democratic. I am sick and tired being taking advantaged of. These people keep forgetting and send requests for money or a call for money. I tell them the same thing over and over. Either there is a public option or better yet single payer or they don't get my vote or my little contribution.

[IndianaGreen]

32. Cutting spending at a time of economic downturn is Hooverism

and to do this for PR purposes is reckless.

[seeinfweggos]

43. ah, glittering generalities, how enlightening

and you have no idea on what he's going to freeze spending and on what he is going to increase spending. and admit it, it really doesn't matter. you have been taking a a crap on obama forever. sorry he's not a marxist. sorry nobody else is either. it must be frustrating.

[HopeOverFear]

33. I wish some of the replies to this thread could be MUTED.

oh WAIT, they can.... thank you, ignore feature.

[JVS]

34. I take it that this is statement describing a temporal relationship and not a causal relationship

[bvar22]

36. Outspoken "Liberal" here who would LOVE to be "muted"...

..by the White House turning AWAY from DLC (Republican) Economics and actually proposing something that will be good for the American Working Class.

...though if THAT happens, I won't be "muted", I WILL be CHEERING loudly.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

38. To the White House: Don't put me in the same category as the rest of the liberal whiners...

Throughout the campaign, the president said -- OVER AND OVER AND OVER -- again that he was going to take a scaple and go through the government budget, line by line, and get rid of wasteful or ineffective programs and spending.

I work for HUD and there are indeed many ineffective programs and wasteful spending.

Rachel made me so angry the other side when Bernstein was on. She didn't understand the different between "streamling" government through specific line-item cuts versus what McCain was proposing, which one putting a freeze on spending ACROSS GOVERNMENT!! There is a difference, and no matter how much Bernstein repeated himself over and over again, she kept repeating the same dumb question and whining/complaining.

I'm angry at the president for lots of decisions that he's made, but had we liberals paid enough attention doing the campaign, he is doing EXACTLY what he said he was going to do!!!!!!

[Phx_Dem]

39. +1,000,000,000,000!!!

Amen brother (or sister).

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[seeinfweggos]

44. well, with friends like you.....

or have we completely given up the pretense of a Democratic site.