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(Honolulu, HI) -- FrumForum Exclusive: In an interview with FrumForum, RNC Chairman Michael Steele slammed President Obama’s efforts for bi-partisanship as “disingenuous”; argued that the GOP’s obstructionism was simply reflecting the will of the American people; and defended against criticisms that Specter’s floor-crossing was prompted from within the GOP.
“If you go back and look at efforts by the leadership… the letters of invitation by members to sit down with the President, the offers to help draft and craft part of the healthcare bill… [Yet, we have] been rebuffed,” said RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
“I think that from the standpoint of watching last night, you have to scratch your head, and go, ‘So, now you want to do bipartisanship’? It’s just disingenuous,” he added.
Steele disagreed with the contention that Republicans had everything to gain from being obstructionist. “I don’t think they do, I know that the leadership appreciates this, and that it’s not their intent to sit back and wait for all the spoils to roll to them because people are mad at the Obama administration. That would a foolhardy route to take.”
Instead, Steele argued that what appeared to be obstructionism was merely a function of an administration that had become unaligned with the wishes of the public. ““The Democrats have the energy, they have the numbers, they have the agenda,” Steele said. “And yet they can’t get it done. Why? Because that’s not what the American people want.”
On the other hand, the chairman insisted that “the leadership is prepared to lay out an agenda on healthcare, on job creation, [and] on national security.”
Responding to FrumForum criticism that he had said ‘good riddance’ in reaction to Arlen Specter’s move to leave the Republican Party, giving the Democrats their 60th vote in the senate, Steele said: “He was a political opportunist, he looked at the numbers and saw that he couldn’t get elected. Instead of standing on the principles that he said he believed in, he decided it was easier… to cut and run. That’s not helping the party, that’s not growing the party.”
The chairman also disputed that there were efforts to push the senator out, saying: “Arlen Specter is a grown man, and if he isn’t prepared to stand in the realm of public opinion… that’s on him… I can’t push you out of anything. I can only invite you in.”
balconesfault // Jan 29, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Responding to FrumForum criticism that he had said ‘good riddance’ in reaction to Arlen Specter’s move to leave the Republican Party, giving the Democrats their 60th vote in the senate
And this, of course, is Republican bi-partisanship.
Specter voted for an Obama agenda item, and thus was best out of the Republican Party.
Can anyone point to a serious action of bipartisanship by the Republican Party over the last 12 months? Not a single Senator or Representative here or there … but a true honest attempt by the Republicans to work with Obama, rather than just to block him?
teabag // Jan 29, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Anyone who saw Obama at the House conference today would if they had an open mind that Steele is so full of it that he is overflowing with BS.
cporet // Jan 29, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Here is the link to C-SPAN.
http://www.c-span.org/WATCH/MEDIA/2010/01/29/HP/R/28993/president+spaeak+at+GOP=retreat.aspx
andydp // Jan 29, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Never mind C-Span: its time to find out what Marx would say about GOP Obstinacy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7cry-4pyy8&feature=related
Or, for the “younger” crew:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7cry-4pyy8&feature=related
andydp // Jan 29, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Sorry for the error… This should be the link for the “younger crowd”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBIrXH1-q0&NR=1
TAZ // Jan 29, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Steele is so wrong on so many issues………………..
Admitting to obstructionism and crediting it (blaming it) on the American people is nuts.
This guy needs to be replaced.
JeninCT // Jan 29, 2010 at 4:43 pm
This administration never needed the Republicans and acted as such, shutting them out. Their agenda failed on its own merit.
I agree with Steele. Spector is a political opportunist and as a result he’ll be gone next year. Good riddance is right.
teabag // Jan 29, 2010 at 5:25 pm
JeninCT,
You must be really dizzy from so much spinning. Stop and smell the flowers.
GOProud // Jan 29, 2010 at 6:55 pm
balconesfault serves up a big helping of false choices: “Can anyone point to a serious action of bipartisanship by the Republican Party over the last 12 months?”
Ummm, the House GOP leadership provided Obama with meaningful cuts to the budget in an Obama-generated WH meeting with them and they were told: “We won, we get to decide” by Obama.
teabag // Jan 29, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Pants on the ground
Pants on the ground
Lookin’ like a fool with your pants on the ground
That was the house GOP today after Obama made them look like a bunch of dumb kids. So funny. Best political TV of the decade. No wonder the house GOP are so upset that they allowed the cameras in. They looked like fools.
Kanzeon // Jan 29, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Can someone explain to me why Obama should engage in bipartisanship?
I thought the rules were: If you have enough votes, you win, and if you don’t, you lose. If you need the other side to get enough votes, you reach out.
Anything else is fake. Why should the Republicans have signed onto the Democrats’ stimulus plan? If they did, they would take political heat for its failure, and there is enough in it they didn’t like so they wouldn’t want to take that risk. Similarly, why should the Democrats adopt Republican ideas that don’t fit the Democrats’ agenda if they have enough votes without them?
I dislike hyperpartisanship, to the extent that it results in lying and exaggeration. But I also don’t see the point of pretending the rules are other than what they are, and acting as if there is some objetive standard for playing nice. Instead of uniting people, this fake bipartisanship dance just divides people, gives the parties another reason to bash each other.
teabag // Jan 29, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Another interesting thing about the Republican house conference and Obama.
Fox were happily broadcasting the event, then when it was obvious that it was not going well for the GOP they literally suddenly pulled the plug like the Russians used to do if a dissident suddenly got onto the air.
I guess they and their audience are unable to handle the truth! so funny and sad at the same time.
JeninCT // Jan 29, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Kanzeon wrote”
“Can someone explain to me why Obama should engage in bipartisanship?”
Obama didn’t need bipartisanship until Brown got elected. Now, he has to deal with the Republicans, at lease in the senate. Obama’s problem is that if he were to engage is true bipartisanship, it would dramatically change his standing among his base and probably alter his agenda too much. He doesn’t want to do that, ergo the scolding during his SOTU.
I agree that bipartisanship is overrated. Let the Republicans say no until the next election, so the voters can restore the balance of power that causes the wheels of the legislature to slow down to where the damage done is minimized.
PracticalGirl // Jan 30, 2010 at 1:52 am
Teabag:
FOX Noise did pull the plug on the House conference a half hour early, but to be fair, I think there was something else they had to consider. The pace of their network as well as their audience’s need to hear all spin, all the time is not conducive to a one-camera, one microphone show. Much as I despise the network, I know the business, and this was at least as much of a programming decision as it was politics.
That said OUR PRESIDENT ROCKS!! Tell me one GOPer who has the cajones to stand in front of the opposition, with no staffer to save him, and debate. Cue the crickets!!
kevin47 // Jan 30, 2010 at 2:41 am
I agree with Kanzeon, and I would actually argue that partisans should be partisans. Each party should make the case for its platform, and seek to enact as much of it as possible. Compromise is sometimes necessary, but is a means to an end. Compromising for the sake of “getting things done” will lead to the passage of a bunch of mediocre legislation nobody likes, and nobody will defend.
If I were the Republicans, I wouldn’t make a big issue out of bi-partisanship. It’s a mirage, and easily can be fabricated by the party in charge. Today’s little shindig was a smart political move, and the sort of thing the party in charge gets to do when it runs the executive branch. Leave it at that, or point out the substantive disagreements.
“Tell me one GOPer who has the cajones to stand in front of the opposition, with no staffer to save him, and debate. ”
Virtually all members of Congress hold debates with the opposition. It happens every election cycle. This is a different manifestation of the same game, and if it works well, I’m sure GOP presidents down the road will do something similar.
balconesfault // Jan 30, 2010 at 5:29 am
And no teleprompter!
teabag // Jan 30, 2010 at 8:34 am
I cant think of one GOPer who has the depth of knowledge of the opposition bills much less his own who could stand before the Democratic caucus with good grace and answer all their questions. He exposed all the BS non bills as just that.
Budgets without any numbers. Health plans that supposedly cover everyone at no cost!!! it was great to watch a grownup in front of a load of children.
And what he said was exactly true. The GOP has boxed itself into a corner of its own making. By giving the crazies the say in the party they have moved way right of where they were even a year ago.
oldgal // Jan 30, 2010 at 9:51 am
Hysteria and obstructionism are the biggest enemies of problem resolution. I say this from years of experience successfully trouble shooting complex systems. This country has serious problems, that is why we need bipartisan solutions – we need the best ideas all have to offer. Both parties are guilty of generating hysteria and obstructionism and it is time for them to grow up and act like serious adults. I can actually remember times when the folks in congress put the country ahead of their party – things worked better then.
JeninCT // Jan 30, 2010 at 9:52 am
teabag wrote:”I cant think of one GOPer who has the depth of knowledge of the opposition bills much less his own who could stand before the Democratic caucus with good grace and answer all their questions. ”
Can you even name one GOPer? I didn’t think so.
athensboy // Jan 30, 2010 at 11:18 am
Fox News abdicated its role as a legitimate news organization by avoiding coverage of Obama speaking to the GOP House members. Mainly because it doesn’t fit into their propaganda objectives.Check out the blogs this morning, Fox News is getting blasted for their avoidance of this news story. Obama without a teleprompter doesn’t fit into their lies about him.
balconesfault // Jan 30, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Check out the blogs this morning, Fox News is getting blasted for their avoidance of this news story.
And you know what? They won’t care.
Covering news that might put Obama in a good light is not part of their producers job description.
teabag // Jan 30, 2010 at 5:03 pm
JeninCT
Yes I can name dozens of GOP Senators, Congresscritters and outsiders. None would be worthy to shine Obama’s shoes.
teabag // Jan 30, 2010 at 6:11 pm
Fox News are cowards. I notice it more and more on the right. People who run away from truth and facts. Just hide.
I guess it’s the same with their reaction to terror. They pee their pants and hide under the bed.
GOProud // Feb 2, 2010 at 11:17 am
Wow, I’ve watched the FF threads often hi-jacked by the Obama Thugs and Echo Chmaber Circle Jerks like TeaBagged and Balconesfault and AnnieM and PracticalGrrrl, but this is the first time I think they’ve ever supported an entire thread INside the “protect Obama” echo chamber.
No wonder they’re running so scared these days –can you imagine WeScream4HowieDean saying “We’re going to VA to lose, then to NJ to lose another one, then up to Kennedy’s seat to lose another one –all with the greatest political campaigner and partisan mind ever, Barack H Obama! Yee-hawww! It’s on to Illinois to lose the corrupted throne of our President that even money couldn’t buy.”
Ouch. We can smell the fear, boys. Call the wagon for another DOA Democrat.