1 Boring Old Man

Backed Into A Corner, Boehner Admits That Obama Is Not A Socialist
ThinkProgress
By Amanda Terkel
September 20, 2009

RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently sent out a fundraising letter saying that President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress are attempting a “socialist power grab.” Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory pressed House Minority Leader John Boehner [R-OH] on whether such language was appropriate. Boehner tried to dodge the question, insisting that “you can call it whatever you want,” but the fact is that Obama’s the one scaring the American public. Gregory continued to ask whether Boehner believes Obama is a socialist, to which he finally admitted he doesn’t:

GREGORY: Do you really think the President is a socialist?
BOEHNER: Listen, when you begin to look at how much they want to grow government, you can call it whatever you want, but the fact is —
GREGORY: What do you call it though?
BOEHNER: This is unsustainable. We’re broke.
GREGORY: That’s fine. Do you think the President is a socialist?
BOEHNER: No!
GREGORY: Okay. Because the head of the Republican Party is calling it that.
BOEHNER: Listen, I didn’t call it that, and I’m not going to call it that.

Boehner is lying. He has said that what Obama and Democratic leaders are doing is socialism. From his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference a few months ago:

Well, the stimulus, the omnibus, the budget — it’s all one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment… All of these bills seek to replace our economic freedom with the whims and mandates of politicians and bureaucrats.

Basically, Boehner admitted today that all he was doing there was fear-mongering and attempting to scare the public for political gain. Today on CNN’s State of the Union, Obama responded to these charges from conservative leaders, stating, “You know, I’m amused. I can’t tell you how many foreign leaders who are heads of center-right governments say to me, I don’t understand why people would call you socialist, in my country, you’d be considered a conservative.”

The worst part of the Health Care debate is that it’s not a Health Care debate. What matters isn’t David Gregory backing Boehner into a corner where he has to admit that calling Obama a Socialist is a scare tactic. The important parts are Boehner’s comments – like "when you begin to look at how much they want to grow government." This is the Republican charge – that this Democratic Administration is specifically motivated by a desire to grow government. In another comment, he says, "This is unsustainable. We’re broke." In saying that, he ignores why we are broke [Bu$hCo], that a large number of Americans have no access to health care, and that health care costs are so out of control that the only way to stop the bleeding is for the government to assume a regulatory role.