The Fainting Couch: Obama Aides Mull Calling GOP Extremist

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Other Politics
Posted on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 09:58:18 AM EST
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Do we need to get one ready for weenie liberals? Apparently the Post Partisan Unity Schtick will be nothing but a bad memory -- Obama aides mull calling GOP extremist:

President Obama’s political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said. [. . .] “We need to get out the message that it’s now really dangerous to re-empower the Republican Party,” said one Democratic strategist who has spoken with White House advisers but requested anonymity to discuss private strategy talks.

(Emphasis supplied.) Weenie liberals are worried:

The party’s House and Senate campaign committees are resistant, not wanting to do anything that smacks of nationalizing the midterm elections when high unemployment and the drop in Mr. Obama’s popularity have made the climate so hostile to Democrats.

That's why Dems will get creamed in November.

Speaking for me only

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The Fainting Couch: Obama Aides Mull Calling GOP Extremist | 27 comments (27 topical)

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Well (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:38:47 AM EST

that's one half of the equation but whatever happened to we have to do healthcare so the Dems can campaign on it? It seems no one wants to touch that issue.

Anyway isn't it kind of late to be doing this? I guess you can say better late than never but Alan Grayson has been doing this for quite a while hasn't he?

dear lord (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by Capt Howdy on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:38:50 AM EST

not wanting to do anything that smacks of nationalizing the midterm elections

they dont deserve to win.

Even if they weren't already (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by ruffian on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:44:32 AM EST

natioanlized, what is wrong with making that argument on local level? 'a GOP run by extremists will do xyz locally'


: it all they (none / 0) (#14)
by Capt Howdy on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:56:23 AM EST

have got. really.

fortunately (none / 0) (#7)
by Capt Howdy on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:14:50 AM EST

not everyone is this stupid

WASHINGTON -- President Obama's political advisers, looking for ways to help Democrats and alter the course of the midterm elections in the final weeks, are considering a range of ideas, including national advertisements, to cast the Republican Party as all but taken over by Tea Party extremists, people involved in the discussion said

: IMO this will come off (none / 0) (#25)
by BackFromOhio on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 05:34:12 PM EST

as left-wing liberal elitism. I.e., it will backfire. It's just childish name-calling. Ads should address valid issues raised by Tea Party and show how Dem ideas, accomplishments deal with these issues more effectively -- if Dems can make such arguments.

This strategy (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by jbindc on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:54:50 AM EST

Just looks desperate - it's a Hail Mary pass to the endzone, but unfortunately, the receivers all got tangled in up in their own feet at the 20 yard line.

Seriously? This is all they've got?

In a way (none / 0) (#5)
by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:59:41 AM EST

it's just another variation on the GOP is worse. People want something to vote FOR not against.


This just reminds me (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by jbindc on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:10:39 AM EST

Of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". If you constantly
urine around telling me how scary the other guys are, eventually your bluff gets called and you are revealed as someone who has mo positive ideas or accomplishments to put forth. It loses it's effectiveness pretty quickly.

Janet Jackson had it right - "What Have You Done For Me Lately?"


: or it's (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by CST on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:59:01 AM EST

calling a wolf a wolf. Personally I find the tea partiers very extremist. Eliminating the 14th amendment. Eliminating the dept of education. Eliminating social security and medicare (not cutting, eliminating). Putting immigrants/welfare recipients/etc... in prison camps. No abortion, even in the case of incest or rape. Etc... etc....
I dunno, that all sounds pretty extremist to me. And those are all real views held by republican party candidates.
And guess what? That message is working (maybe cuz it's true unlike "we saved the economy"). O'Donnell's election might have saved the senate for Dems. That must really hurt...

Well they could run (5.00 / 4) (#8)
by hookfan on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:17:33 AM EST

on more drones to kill people with, greater restrictions on access to abortion services, increasing poverty rates while giving even less restrictions on banker bailouts, keeping unemployment high, focusing on tax breaks for business rather than direct job creation, more ordered assassinations without due process, greater spying on the American public, promoting even less restrictions on insurance premium price increases (i.e., stop sending threatening letters), greater restrictions on out of country access to prescription drugs, more arrests on medical marijuana users. But that would be too close to their actual record, and might obscure the meme that republicans are the only extremists.


Honesty sucks (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by jbindc on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:19:48 AM EST

Who needs that when we can talk about Christine O'Donnell and witchcraft?


: Especially when (none / 0) (#10)
by jbindc on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:29:58 AM EST

The left's favorite distraction ("Look over there - it's Sarah Palin"), finished fifth in this past weekend's "Value Voters Presidential Straw Poll". Every time there's a straw poll - Palin finishes near last with single digit numbers. She's consistent.
But, she's not the boogey-man the left wants her to be, but she, like the other candidates she's hyping are certainly convenient to defelct attention.
The Democrats' mantra should be to quote from "The Wizard of Oz" - "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!"

"FOR not against." (none / 0) (#15)
by Capt Howdy on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:58:44 AM EST

there is an old political saying. no one votes for anything. only against.

or something like that. IMO it happens to be true.


: If (5.00 / 1) (#23)
by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:40:04 PM EST

simply voting against was enough we would have been looking at President Kerry in 2004. The "lesser of two evils" only goes so far.

Non story. WH: '100 percent inaccurate' (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by BTAL on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:32:50 PM EST

W.H. denies report on GOP ad buys
The White House is pushing back hard against a New York Times report that the president's political team is considering a national ad campaign that would cast the GOP as taken over by tea party extremists.
The story is "100 percent inaccurate," a White House official told POLITICO.
Times Washington bureau chief Dean Baquet counters that the "piece is accurate."
But White House complaints seem to have had some effect on The Times. The paper walked back the story over night, changing the headline and the lead sentence of the piece to de-emphasize the notion that the White House is weighing an anti-GOP ad campaign.

: Beat me to it (none / 0) (#26)
by Romberry on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 07:44:18 PM EST

It does indeed look like a non-story. On the bright side, it at least gave BTD a chance to trot out "weenie liberals." ;)

Maybe they're just tired of hearing (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by Slado on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:47:18 PM EST

THIS

He's lost any sort of credibility. Attacking an organic movement like the Tea Party is self defeating when your record is so poor.

Time for the "Change" he promised. Not the partisan "witch hunt" for an unorganized group of people who have a simple message you can't reply too. Less government.

If Obama wanted to take this course (5.00 / 1) (#27)
by BDB on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 09:45:40 PM EST

he needed to do it in January 2009. Having adopted a lot of the GOP rhetoric and policy position, it's a bit late to be complaining about re-empowering them. Between putting "deficit reduction" before job creation, Wall Street before Main Street, and being Bush's third term on executive power, it's hard to take seriously Obama led complaints about how "extreme" the GOP is. If they're so extreme, then why has he adopted so many of their policies?

I thought, when you said (none / 0) (#1)
by scribe on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:28:34 AM EST

that the Obama admin was about to "consider calling GOP extremist", particularly in the context of the fainting couch, that they were picking up the phone to see if they could compromise away something new on some pending issue, so as to get tangled in the dance of sucking some Republican's hind teat for a vote they'd never get.

I was wondering who on the speed-dial was going to be the lucky beneficiary of getting their legislative priorities met while giving nothing in return. DeMint? Graham? Cormyn? Someone up for election, fer sher. Gotta help them look good, to be bipartisan....

I was so crestfallen when I found out you meant the Admin was actually considering calling Republicans "extremists", something approaching accuracy.

What other shock to my system will this Monday morning bring????

I did the exact same thing - (none / 0) (#11)
by Anne on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:33:50 AM EST

"wonder which one of the GOP extremists they're going to call?"

But, hey - even if it does't work the way they intend, the beauty - for some - of defining extremism on the conservative end of the spectrum, is that it also defines extremism on the other end of that spectrum; what a great way of further marginalizing the hated liberals, huh?

Genius.


The hated liberals would like (none / 0) (#13)
by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:47:07 AM EST

single payer health care for all and O'Donnell wants to dictate what you do in your bedroom. Can't you see they are equally extreme?


That's the beauty part! (none / 0) (#17)
by Anne on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:00:19 PM EST

Two birds, one stone...

I'm guessing, though, that the inevitable result of Dem "brain-storming" will have them "reaching out" to the conservative extremists by inviting them to the memorial service for the hated liberals.


: Yep (none / 0) (#18)
by MO Blue on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:06:18 PM EST

The DNC's new logo should have read "Together we can eliminate all liberal policies."
Too long I know but you get the idea.

You know its kind of funny to hear (none / 0) (#19)
by Socraticsilence on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 12:11:44 PM EST

Congressional Dems worried about Obama's popularity dragging them down when in most polls he's about even (+/- 5 depending on the pollster)- whereas there collectively in the 20s and individually around Obama's level at best. (if you look at the regional breakdowns Obama's basically being dragged down by being in the 20s in the former states of the confederacy whilst being around 50-55% in the West and Northeast and in the mid-to high 40s in the Mtn West- the midwest is a mixed bag).

: Regional breakdowns (none / 0) (#22)
by christinep on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:38:25 PM EST

Socraticsilence: What sources are you using for the regional snapshots? I wonder if those breakdowns are figuring into the hesitancy by national Dems to go for the big national push? Someone upthread mentioned a combo of national via local screen message. E.g., in Colorado, its all about "the deficit" as #1 monster--some of it is pure mountain states politics, but the race to show who can "save the most $" may help Democrat Betsy Markey (who last time defeated the infamous Republican Connie Musgrave)while nudging Dem Senator Michael Bennet in a way to dampen traditional Dem support in the cities. A tightrope walk--tho Bennet may have been helped in the "enthusiasm gap" department over the weekend when his Republican opponent, the Tea Party-backed Ken Buck stated in scheduled debate that he was opposed to repealing DADT. In this climate, every move could be determinative.

: Well (none / 0) (#24)
by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:42:56 PM EST

there's the enthusiasm gap. People might "like" Obama or tell pollsters that but not enough to motivate them to show up.