Obama on GOP cuts: “I’m not going to take money from old people and screw students"

[jefferson_dem]

GOP Pushes New Cuts

The two sides in debt talks seem to be hardening their positions as default looms. Howard Kurtz on Obama’s vow to protect seniors and students amid new GOP proposals that include saving $40 billion via a student-loan clampdown.

Jul 11, 2011 11:48 PM EDT PrintEmail

As Monday’s White House budget talks got down to the nitty-gritty, Eric Cantor proposed a series of spending cuts, one of them aimed squarely at college students.

The House majority leader, who did most of the talking for the Republican side, said those taking out student loans should start paying interest right away, rather than being able to defer payments until after graduation. It is a big-ticket item that would save $40 billion over 10 years.

At one point, sources say, President Obama pushed back against the mounting menu of spending cuts while the tax column on the negotiating sheets remained blank. He asked the Republican leaders how they expected him to take their proposals seriously.

“I’m not going to do that,” Obama said. “I’m not going to take money from old people and screw students,” not without some compromise on the tax-increase side.

<SNIP>

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/11/debt-crisis-deepens-as-eric-cantor-gop-propose-new-cuts.html

[Mimosa]

1. But he would 'take money from old people and screw students' WITH compromise???

Hmmm.

You can't spin this to the positive.

Another excerpt:

The Huffington Post reported that the president has offered to phase in an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67—but only if the GOP gives ground on tax issues.



See why we're worried?

[elocs]

4. I thought the same thing. How sadly funny.

I'm supposed to feel fine with being screwed as long as the wealthy pay more taxes?

[muffin1]

5. Yes.

Now eat your peas.

[elocs]

6. Unlike the wealthy & those in Washington,

the poor and needing know the pain of having to pull of their own bandaids and the economic necessity to eat peas.

[roxiejules]

15. A twisted reality based on a Manufactured Crisis

from James Galbraith:

http://www.newdeal20.org/2011/07/11/hawk-nation-a-guide-to-the-catastrophic-debt-ceiling-debate-51211/

"News reports hold that President Obama scored a political victory by agreeing to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block to achieve a "go-big" $4 trillion deficit reduction. Speaker Boehner had to concede that Republicans won’t vote for any package that includes tax increases -- and the deal died. So the gambit worked and the President emerged with a solid image as the alpha deficit hawk.

To which one can only say: how nice for him.

We’re in a summer that only Salvador Dali could paint, a reality so twisted that one almost yearns for the simple verities of the War on Terror or even the invasion of Iraq."

[woo me with science]

11. It's disgusting. nt

[yodermon]

12. the teabag caucus won't compromise.

they are *that* batshit. They've already bargained *backwards*.
Queen Sarah has already instructed them to *not* raise the debt ceiling, full stop.

Obama, of course, is unaware of this. :sarcasm:

[KittyWampus]

25. Since the Republicans aren't going to do that, Obama is slapping them in the face.

[muffin1]

2. Not without some compromise on the tax-increase side.

Yippee!

[JoePhilly]

3. Which apparently is code for "I plan to kill grandma".

:sarcasm:

[LaurenG]

7. 'not without some compromise on the tax-increase side'

he'll do it alright as long as the GOP gives something up. Wow - human beings are a negotiation tool.

[CrossChris]

9. He really needs to be scrutinized for signs of NPD as much as Bush was.

He treats humans like garbage. Ask someone from the Gulf Coast.

[w4rma]

8. Good rhetoric. (nt)

[ProSense]

10. Lawrence O'Donnell:

What you are seeing is the most masterful rope-a-dope ever seen by a president

[boomerbust]

13. Yes - It looks like Rope - A - Dope

With Obama playing the part of George Foreman.

[ProSense]

14. So

you think Boehner is Ali?

[Wait Wut]

19. Shameful comparison.

Ali is the American version of a Jedi master. I wonder who else fits that description? :)

[slay]

16. I'll hand it to Obama - he's a great liar

n/t

[ClarkUSA]

18. Prove it.

[Fire1]

21. Clark, you know better than to ask that shit. LOL!! n/t

[Vattel]

22. It's your view. You buy the Lawrence line that he is bluffing.

And if he is bluffing, he's doing a great job at it, making him a great liar. Personally, I'm not yet convinced that its all a bluff. Maybe he really is willing to cut medicare benefits.

[ClarkUSA]

29. I wasn't talking to you. I asked for proof of slay's smear.

[Vattel]

30. You mean the smear you implicitly endorse.

[libmom74]

17. "not without some compromise on the tax-increase side"

So it is ok to screw over old people and students if the Repukes agree to a few tiny tax increases for the uber wealthy? This is now being spun as an Obama victory? :banghead: Give me a fucking break!

[Fire1]

20. I noticed you didn't put quotation marks around the last part of

that sentence, which tells me you know he said no such thing. You must be a good student of psychology cause it worked like a charm.
You got people now responding to it as if it were a direct quote. I have to give it to you. Well played.

[jefferson_dem]

23. Read much?

This is the direct quote from POTUS: “I’m not going to take money from old people and screw students". The rest is interpretation, or paraphrasing at best.

[Fire1]

24. The rest is what I was referring to, einstein.

You know, the LAST part of the sentence.

[jefferson_dem]

27. That part Obama did not actually say and, as such, is not in quotes in the OP.

It's not that difficult. You know how quotation marks work, right?

[Fire1]

28. Never mind. It just went right over your head. n/t

[ZombieHorde]

26. Recommended and fingers crossed. nt