Reply #48: Actually, Gibbs referred to Kucinich at one point in defining the so-called Professional Left

[suffragette]

Original interview:

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left
During an interview with The Hill in his West Wing office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs blasted liberal naysayers, whom he said would never regard anything the president did as good enough.

“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.”



In press briefing about the above:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/08/11/press-briefing-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-8112010



Q Do you want to name any names?

MR. GIBBS: I left my membership list back in the office.

Q Of the professional left?

Q Well, who wants to eliminate the Pentagon?

MR. GIBBS: I think that was -- wasn’t that a proposal during the presidential campaign? Didn't Dennis Kucinich -- or maybe it was adding the Department of Peace.

Q The Department of Peace --

Q There’s a big difference between adding a Department of Peace and eliminating the Pentagon.


The term gets used variously at different times by those using it to criticize and minimize discussion and dissension from (or perceived as from) the left wing of the party, whether that is from bloggers, forum contributors or even long-time members of Congress, as above. And as the party gets pushed ever farther to the right, more people than ever, even people who might formerly identify themselves as centrist, find themselves as labeled far to the left when they call for action on policies traditionally endorsed by the party platform.