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| Administration to Tea Parties: We're on Your Side |
| 2010-04-20 |
| Tea Partiers, the Obama administration is on your side. That's been the message from the White House over the past few days, as top officials dispute charges that Washington is on a spending binge and encourage conservative protesters to count their blessings. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, when asked about the Tea Party protests, said in an interview Sunday that the Obama administration is paying more attention to deficit and spending concerns than the Bush administration did. "We've just been through eight years where many people said deficits don't matter. We can pass huge tax cuts, pass huge new programs without paying for them. That debate has changed fundamentally," Geithner said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "You don't hear people say anymore deficits don't matter. You don't hear people saying we can pass enormous expansions in government without paying for it. That's an important change." And President Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday that Tea Party activists should "be saying thank you" to him for the tax cuts passed by his administration. The change in tone comes as surveys show distrust in the government is rising to historic levels. A Pew Research Center survey released on Monday found almost 80 percent of Americans say they don't trust Washington. Dana Perino, former White House press secretary under the Bush administration and a Fox News contributor, said that the Obama administration is wise to try to appeal to the Tea Partiers. But she said the claim that Obama is tackling the deficit is off base. "He's right, in one sense, to finally stop degrading people who affiliate with the Tea Party movement. But if his policies meshed up with his rhetoric, it would probably be a stronger sell point," Perino said. Obama has established a bipartisan commission to study ways to bring down the national debt and rein in deficits. But his spending has far outpaced that of his predecessor. President Bush ran up a $458.6 billion deficit during his last full year in office. Obama ran up a $1.4 trillion deficit in fiscal 2009 -- that covered part of Bush's final year, but budget projections show deficits will continue to top $1 trillion for several years under Obama. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Oh thank goodness Obama. Your on our side? Why I don't believe what you say? How come I feel like I'm about to be had? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-04-20 16:40 |
| #11 |
| Posted by: No I am the other Beldar 2010-04-20 11:36 |
| #10 ..said the wolf to the Farmer. Seeing a lot of that out here as well TW. One condidate has even forgone the traditional reds and blues color format. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-04-20 11:05 |
| #9 I woke up to an interesting commercial on the local news station this morning. Someone running for something within the county ran an ad claiming to be more conservative than her opponent, who is running as a conservative, with a list of things said opponent had done/voted for that a real conservative would not have done. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-04-20 10:34 |
| #8 P.S. - Preview now works - thanks to whomever. I'd be surprised if I was the only one that 'pinged' the problem. Thanks, Richard & Admin. On the latest lies: Ditto across the board. Anyone have video of this being said? |
| Posted by: logi_cal 2010-04-20 10:18 |
| #7 From the official WH press manual that Robert Gibbs uses: Our position on the Tea Party movement is that they're our friends! Our bestest friends ever. BFFs, every one of them, totally! |
| Posted by: Mike 2010-04-20 08:59 |
| #6 'Join' your enemy. Compromise their structure and message. Get a portion of their 'involved' to see things your way (by whatever means possible). Smile as the enemy goes down in flames. I've been hearing this 'we're with you' since about two weeks ago. Another 'smoke & mirrors' strategy I'm afraid. P.S. - Preview now works - thanks to whomever. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2010-04-20 08:11 |
| #5 Barry appears to be losing base as gays heckle him at Boxer fundraiser in LA. Link |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-20 04:36 |
| #4 Just a little reminder of how stupid Obongo thinks everyone is. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-04-20 04:11 |
| #3 In other news: President Mamoud Amadinejad to to deliver upcoming Lag BaOmer festival Ahavat Yisrael (love one another) prayer in Meron. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-04-20 04:08 |
| #2 why would they stop lying now? this admin hasn't been straight about anything yet |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2010-04-20 01:52 |
| #1 THE WHOLE DANGED ADMINISTRATION must think Tea Partiers are smokin crack to believe that sh*t! AFter this non-sense, Cheech and Chong just moved ahead of Bambi in my polls! |
| Posted by: Shoting Unelet2578 2010-04-20 00:59 |