White House: Healthcare reform foes not 'un-American' -- Knew this was coming --

[jefferson_dem]

I truly wonder if Pelosi and Hoyer served as willing foils, with the hot rhetoric, so POTUS could step in and play grownup in the health care debate. I'll need some :popcorn: before tomorrow's town hall in NH.

White House: Healthcare reform foes not 'un-American'

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama fought back against critics of his drive to remake US healthcare, but stopped well short of agreeing with top allies that outspoken foes of the plan were "un-American."

"We are having a vigorous debate in the United States and I think that's a healthy thing," Obama said as he attended his first North American summit in Guadalajara, Mexico, while US lawmakers were on a month-long August break.

"I suspect that once we get into the fall and people look at the actual legislation that's being proposed, that more sensible and reasoned arguments will emerge, and we're going to get this passed."

Obama was scheduled to travel to Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Tuesday for what could be a rowdy "town hall"-style meeting at a time when some foes of his healthcare overhaul have shouted down lawmakers holding similar events around the country.

The president's Democratic allies in Congress have alleged those boisterous displays are part of an orchestrated campaign of disinformation and intimidation aimed at cowing lawmakers out of backing his ambitious plan.

"Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades," Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wrote in USA Today.

<SNIP>

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090811/pl_afp/uspoliticshealthwhouse

[wndycty]

1. Yeah but Hoyer and Pelosi NEVER called health care foes un-American they called. . .

. . .those disrupting the town halls and not allowing others to speak are in fact un-American.

[jefferson_dem]

5. I know...

And I screamed like a mutha at the teevee and bloggers every time I saw them suggest the editorial called protesters themselves "un-American." Still, that's an awfully loaded label - the kind of shiny object the msm adores, and Pelosi/Hoyer surely expected the blowback.

[dflprincess]

7. Actually they called the tactics unAmerican

without calling the people engaging in them unAmerican. They tread a very fine line and did it well.

[DJ13]

2. Love the guy be he is soooo naive

The Republicans will run over anyone who doesnt learn to fight back.

Bully tactics are how they operate.

[Cant trust em]

6. So we should start calling them un-American?

Sorry, but I think I'll leave the McCarthyish propaganda to the republicans.

[DJ13]

9. No, but he didnt need to get in the middle of it

That makes him seem like a patsy to the Republicans.

[MichiganVote]

3. Here come the suck up's.

[Cha]

10. What are you talking about? Suck ups?

Are you on the wrong thread?

[MichiganVote]

16. Gosh, I don't think so. Are you my guide?

[Cha]

17. Fuck no.

[ProSense]

4. Except that's not what the WH said

Asked whether Obama agreed, White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters aboard the Air Force One presidential airplane that "there's actually a pretty long tradition of people shouting at politicians in America."

But "if you just want to come to a town hall so that you can disrupt and so that you can scream over another person, he doesn't think that that's productive," Burton said as Obama headed back to Washington.

"And as a country, we've been able to make progress when people actually talk out what our problems are, not try to shout each other down."

[Cha]

12. So how do they get the article and headline in

the OP out of that?

What is this? Twisting words by fucking yahoo?

[jefferson_dem]

15. Not productive (Obama) versus un-American (Pelosi/Hoyer).

I like Obama's framing better.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Looks Like We've Almost Won This Thing

Almost there... finish line close...

:hurts:

[Cha]

11. Yeah, flush your shit

down.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. I Need A Beer

This has become so depressing. We coulda got it done, but "poof", it's gone.

I hope Dr. Dean is right and we get more change.

[Cha]

14. It's not over..barely begun..

this is a yahoo article and this is what was said by Bill Burton..

ProSense (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-10-09 11:12 PM
Response to Original message

"4. Except that's not what the WH said
Asked whether Obama agreed, White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters aboard the Air Force One presidential airplane that "there's actually a pretty long tradition of people shouting at politicians in America."

But "if you just want to come to a town hall so that you can disrupt and so that you can scream over another person, he doesn't think that that's productive," Burton said as Obama headed back to Washington.

"And as a country, we've been able to make progress when people actually talk out what our problems are, not try to shout each other down."


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