Memo to Roberts: Obama was criticizing NY Times with call back
SUMMARY: On ABC's This Week, NPR's Cokie Roberts falsely claimed that following his interview with The New York Times, President Obama "call[ed] the reporter back to say, you know, I -- basically, I am not a socialist." In fact, in the follow-up call, Obama criticized the Times' question, stating, "It was hard for me to believe you were entirely serious about that socialist question." Obama later said: "I think that it's important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we've actually been operating in a way that is entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word socialist around can't say the same."
On the March 8 edition of ABC's This Week, NPR senior news analyst Cokie Roberts stated that President Obama "must be concerned about ... socialism as a term -- because his interview with The New York Times yesterday, and then calling the reporter back to say, you know, I -- basically, I am not a socialist." In fact, according to the audio posted on the Times' website, in his post-interview follow-up phone call with the Times, Obama did not say, "I am not a socialist" -- he had explicitly made that point during the interview. Rather, in his follow-up call, Obama criticized the Times' question, stating, "It was hard for me to believe you were entirely serious about that socialist question." And as host George Stephanopoulos noted, Obama later said during his phone call, "I think that it's important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we've actually been operating in a way that is entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word socialist around can't say the same."
From the March 8 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
E.J. DIONNE JR. (Washington Post columnist): You know, it's fascinating because there is -- socialism has never been closer to reality in our lifetimes if you listen to some of our conservative friends. And the notion that Barack Obama, over the long run, is going to increase the size of government by about 2 percent, maybe less, as a share, of gross domestic product -- mostly that's because of health care -- that's going to happen anyway 'cause as we get older, more and more of us are going to collect Medicare. So, that's going to happen anyway.
And suddenly, this is a form of state socialism.
ROBERTS: But he --
DIONNE: It's exactly the same kind of argument that was made against FDR when he instituted Social Security, raised the minimum wage, instituted some public power through the TVA [Tennessee Valley Authority] -- and that didn't seem to cause capitalism any problems.
ROBERTS: But Obama must be concerned about it, because he -- about socialism as a term -- because his interview with The New York Times yesterday, and then calling the reporter back to say, you know, I -- basically, I am not a socialist. There is --
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm not a socialist. What he --
ROBERTS: -- something going on there.
STEPHANOPOULOS: What he -- I think you're right, but what he also pointed out, [Washington Post columnist] George Will, is that it wasn't him -- he, who took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It wasn't he took over AIG, a big insurance company.
If throwing money at a problem is socialism, wasn't Bush spawning socialism in Iraq ?
Don't confuse the wacks with the facts.
Isn't this the same Cokie Roberts who has a lucrative speaking business with her husband going around to corporate conventions , a la Chamber of Commerce boosterism?
Funny...mmfa scolds Roberts for her socialism comment...and then gives Steffi a pass when he agrees with Roberts.
It gives the appearance that Rhambo has sent mmfa a memo concerning criticism of members of his morning coffee clatch.
I highly doubt anyone from the White House contacted MMFA.
I was watching the Sunday morning news programs this morning, and my wife has decided that I can't watch them any longer, because I end up yelling at the TV. If I can pick up this BS paying half attention to what is going on during the shows, then I'm sure someone at MMFA can really pick it up.
I can't believe the amount of BS rhetoric that was being thrown around this morning on the Sunday shows, especially by Boehner. I can't wait for THAT guy to go away.
Ok...I get it...you're upset with the media.
Does that include Stephanopoulos...who agreed with Roberts?
Or does he escape the wet-noodle lashing administered by mmfa to Roberts?
I haven't watched any news media besides the clips on blogs for years now. The media always seems to frame the debate to benefit republicans. Even Democrats in the media tend to frame the debate or argue on republican terms.
And that's the problem. They always buy into the phony premises, responding by saying things like, "Well yes, but..."
Stephanopoulos's words are transcribed above for all to see. You want his name in the headline too? Is that what's bothering you? Getting pretty desperate for a way to change the subject, aren't you?
Getting pretty desperate for a way to change the subject, aren't you?
Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Dude's obviously got bupkis.
Major Bingos, Clams.
Well said, Clams. Wesley is applying the once daily, "This is silly", tactics of the former poster known as Tommy.
not exactly wesley. george did point out that obama did say that it was not him who took over fannie mae and freddie mac and aig. in other words, it was the socialist bush who did that.
in other words, roberts seemed to suggest there might be something to the socialist tag and obama was concerned about that, but stephanopolous said he might be concerned but obama had also pointed out that bush had done some of these same things.
Well, since you like to use words like "usurped", you are probably aware that truthfulness is an absolute defense to any claim of slander. So far, Obama has pledged to "redistribute" wealth from the wealthy to the less-fortunate through unconscionable taxation policies. He has also printed money that the government doesn't have to bail-out a corrupt banking system, a mediocre auto industry and is prepared to greatly increase the size of "big government". In other words, he is interfering in a "capitalist" form of government.
Just in case you need it:
socialism |ˈsō sh əˌlizəm|nouna political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.• policy or practice based on this theory.• (in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.
What unconsionable taxation policies? The ones that were in place before Bush cut them with the understanding that they were not permanent. Those taxable policies?
What about Reagans continuous tax raise on me and my small business? Raising, doubling, the Social Security tax rate. Unconsionable socialist that Reagan guy.
I thought the banking bailout started during the past Administration with their blessing. TARP or something like that. "And is prepared to greatly increase the size of "big government"...where is that written. Shouldn't we call it bigger government. I don't watch Fox so you must update us here on MMFA.
Maybe you need to read your own definition, because it doesn't support your argument at all.
clams, Read, how dare you suggest such a useless form of communication? Listening and repeating are much easier. <>
Truthfulness is an absolute defense to any claim of slander?
Are you kidding?
"It is almost impossible to overtake, and kill, and bury a lie. If you do, some one will erect a monument over the grave, and the lie is born again as an epitaph." Robert Ingersoll
Obama is the new Robert ingersoll. He doesn't return serve on lies. He has better weapons at his disposal. He has wit, eloquence, intelligence, charm and force of personality far beyond those who spread the calumnies about him.
He's like a giant fighting a swarm of vicious insects. The man can hardly turn around without running against a new or a vigorously repeated old lie. Sort of like the ones you're telling, pan flute man.
Yes we should just make our taxes like most of the rest of the world where all taxes are hiden taxes so you do not know what you are paying. That would suit the right then they could say we have lo or no taxes.
As always, thanks for your concern.
While you're giving one sided lessons on political ideologies, I thought it would be best to let you know that there is no "capitalist" form of government anywhere on this planet.
You're confusing government with economic systems, but that's understandable. Your marching orders call for you to interject any discussion about the Obama administration, at least once each paragraph with a charge of socialism.
And before I dismiss the class, The United States has never been run as a pure capitalistic system. It's always been a balance between capitalism and socialism.
And whenever our capitalistic side gets out of control, we, the people, are the ones who suffer the most. When this happens, we, the people, usually demand that the government start paying attention to wages, not interest and dividends.
It's a fine balance, that has worked against anyone earning a salary and for everyone who invests. The difference this time is that your side, got a little carried away with their Ponzi scheme.
Thank you for taking all that time and effort to cut and paste a definition of socialism and sharing with all of us your vast knowledge. There are many fellow americans who do need help and this country is big enough. Someday you may have to share a foxhole with one of those if there is ever a real war , tactical or an economic one. You are allowing yourself to be manipulated by the GOP political machine and claim redistribution of wealth when it is actually a call for all to pay taxes, not just some.
What's that got to do with the factose-intolerant, lunatic-fringe likes of you, little fella?
Nice try, little factually-challenged fella. No sale. He's returning the tax rate for the top two percent to the 39 percent they paid under Clinton when the reagan/bush deficits were eliminated and the budget was in surplus before shrub and the gops ran the joint into the toilet from the 35 percent they pay now.
Get yourself a case and a clue.
So far, Obama has pledged to "redistribute" wealth from the wealthy to the less-fortunate through unconscionable taxation policies.
Please provide proof of this "pledge". We'll wait...
The direction the transcript was going... it sounds as if E.J. was speaking the truth by giving a brief history lesson on how a certain breed of person uses the age old scary term "socialism"and then suddenly was shut out of the rest of the conversation...
I place the blame squarely on the special interests, corporate whores, and rightwing ideologists that do all they can to undermine the USA and do all that they can for nothing more than their sick perverted want of money and power more so than I do the likes of Cokie Roberts for the damage being caused to our society.
Of course... I'm not excusing Cokie's allowing herself to be whored by those interests. She must realize that it does America no good when she defends an interest that would not give a darn if she was one of their mouth pieces or not.
A gal with the sobriquet, Cokie
A faux journalist, oh so hokey
Is a smug beltway groupie
Whose mind has gone soupy
And whose brain has become rather pokey
Nicely done. She's a beltway group-thinker, a rich gal and seems kind of peeved that her kind may finally have to pay a bit more to keep the ship 'o state afloat.
The cons don't ever mention that Reagan instituted the biggest tax hike in history. Socialism, indeed!
She's doing the Beltway Hokey pokey. It's all about them. Ha!
Now Julia, you know me...can't resist such bait ;-)
You put your greedy fist in,
You pull your millions out,
You put your rightie lies in,
And you shake them all about,
You do the beltway pokey
and you turn yourself around
That what it's all about.
Thanks for the rhyme. I thought I would do my own Cokie Roberts ditty. I will keep it at 4 lines.
(Sung to the tune of "I'm a little teapot")
I'm a Sunday pundit, coarse and loud.
Cokie's my handle. I'm here to spout.
When Rush gives me talking points, I'm so proud.
Don't tip me over...my brains pour out.
Oh gosh, thank you and Mary for the laughs. You all are cracking me up!
Clueless Cokie has no journalistic credentials whatsoever. Then again, she never did. Her only claim to fame is that her parents were members of Congress.
We're in this fix in the first place because of eight years of nitwit nepotism. We don't need any more of it in the media.
I, too, watched most of the talk shows today. The best statement I heard, which I hope gets repeated often (but I doubt it will because so few Dems seem to have the sense of "wording" for public consumption--i.e. public comprehension and retention--that Reps do): CRONY CAPITALISM.
The problem that I see is that Dems aren't making their points well at all. Capitalism is a fine foundation--EXCEPT when it is abused or favors one group over another (like Orwell's 1984: we're all equal, although some of us are more equal than others).
In other words, Dems need to counter socialism claims by pointing out that we basically fell into this economic hole due to the perpetual cronyism of the "capital class"...IMO.
You're Orwell reference is wrong. You're using a quote from "Animal Farm" and attributing it to "1984".
Obama's no socialist, no way no how!
http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng42.html#anchor792932
And what exactly is the CDSA and the 'New Party'?
http://www.chicagodsa.org/page2.html
You know that you had to sign a pledge to get the new party's endorsement!
http://www.populist.com/11.96.Edit.html
New Party members and supported candidates won 16 of 23 races, including an at-large race for the Little Rock, Ark., City Council, a seat on the county board for Little Rock and the school board for Prince George's County, Md. Chicago is sending the first New Party member to Congress, as Danny Davis, who ran as a Democrat, won an overwhelming 85% victory. New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago.
Looks like either you and "Nate" are one and the same person, or plagarise from the same rightie web sites. The whole attempt to paint Obama as a "socialist" is so lame, so both of you are copy/pasting for nothing.
Mary59,
I look for this thread and for DJNATE comments to soon disappear from the site. I was banned by the 'moderator' because my previous comments that described president Obama as a socialist were unacceptable. You don't see DJ's comments above or below anymore do you?
Mary, we have debated before and you don't ever agree with me, maybe regarding Scripture an exception, but is there any other reason to have me banned other than a demand an honest accounting of philosophy by the left? My language, I doubt it. But look at the links, like I had asked eweston to do. Hopefully dissent won't be banned by the left.
WHAT STEPHANOPOULOS DOES OR SAYS ISENT THE ISSUE.THE ISSUE IS A MAN COMING INTO OFFICE FACED WITH THE WORSE ECOMONIC TIMES IN HISTORY CAUSED IN BIG PART BY WALL ST GREED CORRUPTION FRAUD COLLUSION WHICH WOULD MAKE IT PRIME TERRITORY OF THE R . I . C . O . LAWS. SECONDLY THE OVERSITE COMMITTEES AND MEDIA PEOPLE WHO WERE REARRANGING THE DECK CHAIRS WHILE THE FINANCIAL SHIP WAS SINKING UNDER BUSH. I DONT BLAME BUSH I BLAME THEM. BUSH DID EXACTLY WHAT HE HAD TO DO AS A CONSERVATIVE AND THAT TO STAY IN THE BIBLE BELTS GOOD GRACES AND STRONG DEFENCE. SO I DONT BLAME BUSH BUT THOSE WHO ALLOWED FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO RAPE AND PILLAGE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ITS PEOPLE. THERE IS NO CURE FOR THERE TYPE OF GREED. I AGREE WITH THE PRESIDENT BUT AS LONG AS THE PEOPLE RUNNING THOSE INSTITUTIONS ARE IN PLACE YOUR LEAVING THE DOOR OPEN TO MORE OF THE SAME. JOSEPH CAPRIO
Joseph
You had me convinced with the first H after W.
Kindly turn off your shift lock if you want us to read to the A.
You have some strange ideas of what "socialism" is. St. Peter would disagree with you.
One thing socialism surely has in common with communism, is the belief that there is no place for religion, or God, anywhere.
Prove it. Spain is a socialist country and they are a very religious country.
and have our country vote...
In case you missed it, there are already elections in this country. And guess what? The socialists WON! You'd better get use to it.
No. We need to define what "general welfare" is once and for all. There are some kooks that believe that means all of the swiss cake rolls that you can eat. When a lib is not attacking someone they do not know because their opinion is different then we need to debate what is at the core of their belief. Government is God. God provides all. Let's stop the excuses to fail right now. I'm tired of listening to people and all of their excuses to fail.
Socialism has won, but just as every other instance, it ALWAYS fails. So you are in for a spoonful of failure pal.
Socialism has won, but just as every other instance, it ALWAYS fails.
No, you failed. Most of Europe has been socialistic longer than the existence of our country. Socialism has been around a lot longer than unfettereed capitalism and has been proven to be quite successful. You have no clue. That's obvious.
Can you provide background on your assertions?
I thought that socialism as a concept started around the time of the French Revolution -1789. When do you mark the start of the existence of our country? When you say "unfettered capitalism" do you mean Laissez-faire capitalism? In what time period in US history was Laissez-faire capitalism practiced?
Government is God.
Wrong again. Government is THE PEOPLE. You. Me. Us. Why do you hate your fellow man so much?
"One thing socialism surely has in common with communism, is the belief that there is no place for religion, or God, anywhere."
I thought Europe was the bastion of socialism we were basing our policies on. Yet, I'm pretty sure I saw churches in Sweden. I'm pretty sure they have churches in Germany, France, the Netherlands, whatever other country is deemed "socialist". I guess they were just for decoration.
Nobody's trying to destoy religion. Take your medications.
That should be "destroy", of course.
You have no need to reply to me. I am here to learn more about other folks that are liberals who chose to learn more about a level headed condervative who nails the truth down with facts. I am not here to repeat anything that you can hear ANYWHERE.
You know for a fact that many liberals are also globalists that want the same thing for the same person anywhere on planet Earth.
I'll reply to you whenever I like. I could just as easily tell you that you have no need to post here at all.
What are you talking about? Are you claiming to be presenting "facts"? Demonstrate how Spain (as mentioned by another poster) is trying to eliminate religion. Your point is invalid, and I have the right to point it out.
"You know for a fact that many liberals are also globalists that want the same thing for the same person anywhere on planet Earth."
That wasn't your argument. You were talking about how liberals want to get rid of religion. I also don't know that for a fact either, because I honestly have not heard that argument either implicitly or explicitly from hardly anyone. You probably heard it from the voices in your head that say they want to eliminate religion because that's an integral aspect of socialism.
spain is a bad example. that place is rooted soo deep in its catholic traditions there is no way the Church would be destroyed there
This is exactly why I stopped watching This Week.
The other words we should watch being thrown around are WAR ON WEALTH.
I find this particularly appalling because we are in a real WAR with real soldiers dieing every day. But maybe I'm being thin skinned.
Erin Burnett from CNBC was on Bill Maher using the term "soak the rich" this last Friday. Of course Bill called her on it. She's basically the more palatible version of Rick Santelli. Ha!
Cokie Roberts is a lifetime "CONSERVATIVE", and "twisting" a lie about President Obama in her "Republican", misleading, yet bias way is nothing new. Hmmm.
This is from the Chicago Democratic Socialist of America newsletter called New Ground,
http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng42.html#anchor792932
Chicago New Party Update
by Bruce Bentley
About 50 activists attended the Chicago New Party membership meeting in July. The purpose of the meeting was to update members on local activities and to hear appeals for NP support from four potential political candidates. The NP is being very active in organization building and politics. There are 300 members in Chicago. In order to build an organizational and financial base the NP is sponsoring house parties. Locally it has been successful both fiscally and in building a grassroots base. Nationwide it has resulted in 1000 people committed to monthly contributions. The NP's political strategy is to support progressive candidates in elections only if they have a concrete chance to "win". This has resulted in a winning ratio of 77 of 110 elections. Candidates must be approved via a NP political committee. Once approved, candidates must sign a contract with the NP. The contract mandates that they must have a visible and active relationship with the NP.
The political entourage included Alderman Michael Chandler, William Delgado, chief of staff for State Rep Miguel del Valle, and spokespersons for State Sen. Alice Palmer, Sonya Sanchez, chief of staff for State Sen. Jesse Garcia, who is running for State Rep in Garcia's District; and Barack Obama, chief of staff for State Sen. Alice Palmer. Obama is running for Palmer's vacant seat.
I added the emphasis. Here's a link to the archives of the Democratic Socialist's newsletter......
http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/index.html
Here is the mission statement of the Democratic Socialist's party of which President Obama has held membership:
Our mission is to establish democratic socialism as a political force in the United States and around the world by training and mobilizing socialist activists to participate in a vibrant and diverse socialist organization at both the local and the national level. DSA both educates the public about democratic socialist values and policies and builds progressive coalitions to win victories that move the U.S. and the world toward social democracy. In the near term, democratic socialists struggle for reforms that shift power and resources away from corporate elites and put them in the hands of ordinary citizens. In the long term, democratic socialists fight for a world in which all people share equally in the governing of the economic, political and cultural institutions and relationships that shape their lives.
Dear Ms Roberts
Socialism: Refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organizations advocating public or state ownership and administration of the and distribution of goods. And a society characterized by equality for all individuals, with a fair method of compensation...
Sincereely,
Thomas Pritchard