THOSE ’CLOWNS’
President Obama is “getting bad advice from … clowns” on Afghanistan and “sucking up to the wrong people” on health care, Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told a Detroit radio station Saturday, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Mr. Conyers made the comments during a discussion about the effects of the recession on urban poor people, radio host, the Rev. Horace Sheffield, told the newspaper.
The congressman expressed frustration that health care legislation is too solicitous of insurance companies and special interests, Mr. Sheffield said.
“He wasn’t angry. He was just deeply concerned that some of the issues being focused on don’t address the human reality,” said Mr. Sheffield, who hosts the program “On the Line” on WGPR-FM.
According to a news release from Mr. Sheffield, the congressman said: “President Obama is sucking up to the wrong people and insurance companies as Obama pushed a weak health care package.”
On Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Sheffield quoted Mr. Conyers as saying: “President Obama is getting bad advice from those clowns in the White House. We should be ending those wars now. America should be providing food instead of bombs from drones that kill innocent civilians.”
A transcript of the show was not available.
DANGER AHEAD
“For decades, a rule of thumb in Washington has said that there should be popular support and a bipartisan majority before approving an initiative that significantly affects tens of millions of Americans,” Fred Barnes writes in the Wall Street Journal.
“Health care reform - ObamaCare - has neither, yet Democrats want to impose it anyway. If they succeed, the consequences could be devastating for the country and probably for the president and his party,” Mr. Barnes said.
“The reasoning behind the rule is simple. Forcing drastic change on an unwilling public is likely to cause national disunity, stir angry protests, increase political polarization and deepen distrust of Washington. But if popular opinion and both political parties support the change, discord will be minimal.
“Discord is all but certain if ObamaCare in anything like its present form is enacted. A majority, or at least a large plurality, of Americans oppose it. Their opposition is raw and intense, as we’ve learned from the spate of contentious town-hall meetings held by Democratic members of Congress last summer. A Washington Post/ABC News poll of Oct. 19 confirmed the obvious: Far more Americans ’strongly’ oppose ObamaCare (36 percent) than ’strongly’ support it (26 percent).”
LOOSE CANNON
“After almost 30 years doing this, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything members of Congress do. But even I was taken aback when Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) referred to an adviser to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as a ’K Street whore,’ ” political analyst Stuart Rothenberg writes in Roll Call.
“Democratic colleagues called the comment ’absurd’ (Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey) and ’inappropriate’ (Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland), and Rep. Anthony Weiner (New York) even said that the freshman congressman is ’one fry short of a Happy Meal.’
“I didn’t meet Grayson during either of his two congressional runs (2006 and 2008), but I heard plenty about him. My first and only meeting with the congressman occurred earlier this year, in late March, in Orlando, Fla., when we spoke at the same event,” Mr. Rothenberg said.
“At the time, a handful of names of possible GOP challengers were already floating around, including former state Sen. Dan Webster and Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty. Both have since passed on the race.
“Smart freshmen from difficult districts, when asked about their re-election prospects, will respond either that they are focused on doing their job on Capitol Hill or that they know that they’ll have a tough fight on their hands and will do everything they can to deserve re-election. Some even say something nice (e.g., ’He’d be formidable’) about a potential opponent.
“Grayson did none of those things. Instead, with not a whit of humility, he proceeded to bash, then dismiss, Webster and Crotty. A Grayson aide has since said in print that potential opponents have decided against challenging the congressman because ’they don’t want to be gutted like a fish.’
“Grayson’s problems, from what I can tell, include an exaggerated sense of his intellect to cover up some self-esteem issues and a misguided belief that voters supported him because they actually liked him.”
Mr. Rothenberg added: “Those who say that Grayson will or won’t win re-election at this point are getting too far ahead of themselves. The race is a long way from developing. But it’s already clear that Grayson loves controversy, thinks he can do no wrong and is widely seen as the loosest of cannons. That’s enough to almost guarantee he’ll be in the political fight of his life.”
LACK OF DIVERSITY
“On Sunday I went to the Prudential Center in Newark to hear President Obama make the case for Gov. Jon Corzine’s re-election here in New Jersey,” Melissa Harris-Lacewell writes at www.thenation.com.
“Already a strong supporter of Gov. Corzine I wasn’t going to be convinced. And I wasn’t particularly excited about standing in a long line, on a chilly afternoon to listen to two men I’ve heard speak dozens of times. But I was determined to go. One year ago I’d been in Newark to hear candidate Obama make his closing arguments, and I wanted to check out what an Obama rally looks like one year later,” Ms. Harris-Lacewell said.
“Some elements of the atmosphere were familiar: insanely long lines, intense police presence, surprisingly jovial mood despite the chill. One thing was noticeably and distressingly different: The crowd waiting to see President Obama in Newark on Sunday was much less diverse than the crowd that greeted him in the waning days of the 2008 election. By my estimation the supporters in Newark [Sunday] were not exclusively, but certainly predominately, African-American.
“The event mirrors recent trends in the polls. Presidential job-approval polls by Gallup have tracked two consistent trends in President Obama’s ratings: overall decline and a widening racial gap between black and white Americans.”
• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.