Obama fails his first serious interview

[_mledbetter]

From his lying about "you didn't build that," statement, to his fubarred misrepresentation of the Libyan tragedy, lying about Obama apologizing for American values, to his outright lie about Obama taking money from Social Security benefits, to his refusal to reveal his tax returns because he feels he's above reproach, to his lying about raising taxes on the middle class, etc.

Are the taxes on the middle class going to go up when the Affordable Care Act is implemented? I believe that's what he was talking about. The money has to come from somewhere.

Are you saying that Obama didn't go around apologizing to the world on behalf of our country? I seem to remember a few bows he made to the Saudi King. Is this just right wing conspiracy?

He's right about the Libyan 'tragedy'. We now know that the White House was warned ahead of time about an attack and they did nothing. Why does the White House keep changing their story?
http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/2 ... ?hpt=hp_t1
Also, I thought Obama was the great healer and was supposed to change our relationship with the middle east. He's doing a fine job, and things seem so much better, don't they?

I think these are all legitimate criticisms.

Also, I'm about as worried about Romney's tax returns as I am of Obama's college records.
All they will show is that he paid capital gains taxes and paid 10% tithing to his Church.

So what, why do we always have to demonize rich people? I think the left fall for this demagoguery far too often. I wish I were rich. I'm going to keep trying, that's for sure. Good for those who have made it. Good for those who's parents made it rich and passed it on to their kids.

[_mledbetter]

I thought you were talking about how Romney took the comments and neglected to share the last phrase which emphasized that he believed Washington COULD be changed. Romney has been saying Obama admits he can't change anything, "But I can."

That's what politicians do though. Look at Obama and his record with Green companies like Solyndra. You remember how he was going to transform the economy with green energy jobs? Where did those go? A lot of his friends and contributors got rich and the companies went bankrupt. Jobs were once again shipped overseas to build solar panels and windmills in Asia and Europe. As far as Romney is concerned, I guarantee you that guy is party first, himself and family second, and Mormon third. He's one of the establishment, just like Obama. Obama had his turn. He even had a majority in the Senate and the House for 2 years, and what did he get done? Sure, a bunch of bills were passed, but what's the end result? Jack!

It's crony capitalism on both sides and they win when they can get us to fight among each other all the time. I don't think anything in this country is going to change until we wake up, and start voting out incumbents no matter what their party affiliation. If the problem isn't fixed in 2 years, vote in the next round, and then the next until these idiots balance the budget and start fixing problems in this country.

[_palerobber]

I think the Romney/Obama debate is a toss up. Team Obama has shown themselves to be very good at baiting Romney into gaffes, like the latest "changing Washington D.C. from the outside" gotcha that they pulled by producing a video of Romney basically stating the same thing. The question is, how fast will Obama be able to think on his feet? He hasn't shown himself to be very impressive in that regard (absent the teleprompter). Also, he's really untested against a formidable opponent like Romney. I mean, who has he had to debate against? The psycho Alan Keyes (personally I thought he lost against Keyes)? the coke head Bush?

Romney's not a bad debater, but i think Obama will "win" fairly easily because:
1. Romney's unlikeable and that will come across on stage.
2. Romney's policy positions that he'll be arguing for (we hope) are just plain less popular.
3. Romney's campaign has relied heavily on misleading attack ads where there's no direct response.

regarding Obama, you need to go back and watch the way he smoked McCain (and Hillary Clinton) in 2008. people who talk about telepromtrs have swallowed their own spin.

The Ryan/Biden debate is going to be a slaughter. Biden is way out of his league.

this one will come down to how well prepared Biden is to fact-check Ryan in realtime. we know Ryan will state some outrageous untruths. if Biden can push back effective on even some of them, then i'll call it good enough.

[_palerobber]

Asked why the United States was not better prepared, with better security at its embassies on the Sept. 11 anniversary, Obama responded by repeating the admonitions about not tolerating violence, but continued to discuss the incident in the context of the controversial video depicting scenes from the life of Mohammed.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81470.html?hp=t1_3

He's going to be bait in debate.

OMG! this changes everything. lol.

speaking of debates, remember that GOP debate in 2007 when Romney called Obama "Dr. Strangelove" for saying he'd go into Pakistan unilaterally if necessary to get Bin Laden? and all the republicans in the audience laughed and laughed -- it may have been Romney's best received zinger of the whole 2007-08 primary cycle.

yeah, Obama's really vulnerable in a foreign policy debate with Romney. lol!

[_palerobber]

Are the taxes on the middle class going to go up when the Affordable Care Act is implemented?

no.

Are you saying that Obama didn't go around apologizing to the world on behalf of our country? [...] Is this just right wing conspiracy?

yes.

...this has been another episode of Easy Answers to Easy Questions, thanks for joining us.

[_Kevin Graham]

== Are the taxes on the middle class going to go up when the Affordable Care Act is implemented? I believe that's what he was talking about. The money has to come from somewhere.

No, they won't go up. But that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Romney's denial that his own plan would increase taxes on the middle-class. Obama brought this up as a legitimate point and based in on the non-partisan Tax Policy Center's study which calculated Romney's plan would necessarily raise taxes on the middle-class by at least $2000 per year. In response Romney said there were "five studies" explaining that this wasn't true, but then politifact nailed him for lying about this.

== Are you saying that Obama didn't go around apologizing to the world on behalf of our country?

That''s exactly what I'm saying. It is one of the well refuted points of this election season, and Romney's latest accusation regarding Libya is no exception.

Before the corpses of American citizens were cold, Romney rushed to the media and declared with bombastic certitude that the President responded to the attack by first apologizing instead of condemning it. That is a flat out lie no matter which angle you look at it and when challenged on it he changed the subject and insisted he was right. The chronology simply doesn't support this conclusion and Obama outclassed Romney on televison when, instead of attacking Romney, he simply said he'd let the American people judge whether or not what Romney did was Presidential.

== I seem to remember a few bows he made to the Saudi King. Is this just right wing conspiracy?

I thought we were talking about apologizing, not showing respect in a traditional manner. Trust me, the Muslims think their leaders shaking hands with an infidel President is far more submissive than any kind of bowing our Presidents have engaged in. And yes, this is standard protocol in dipolmacy. Bush and Nixon are both caught on camera bowing before other world leaders. Bush even gave a Saudi Prince a kiss! Funny how the Right Wingers didn't pitch a fit about that.

== He's right about the Libyan 'tragedy'.

No he isn't. He's demonstrable wrong in everything he said. Do you really believe Obama's first reaction was to "apologize for American values", and not to condemn the act? That's what Romney said and it sent off a firestorm of criticism from pundits on both sides of the fence because Obama did exactly what Romney said he didn't do. And I guarantee you if he were referencing temple demonstrators Romney would be singing a completely different tune about them demonstrating "American values." I mean he is essentially defending freedom of speech when he refers to values, but Obama never condemned the man for making this movie and neither did the Embassy. It just said it didn't agree with it, not that it was "apologizing" for American values.

== We now know that the White House was warned ahead of time about an attack and they did nothing. Why does the White House keep changing their story?

But none of this is true, and it comes straight from the script provided by drudge, brietbart, FOX and a number of other credibility-free outlets. The only source used by the Right Wing media, to accuse the Obama administration of willfully ignoring actionable intelligence, was an anonymous source mentioned in some UK publication. But everyone involved has rejected any of this, including Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

== Also, I thought Obama was the great healer and was supposed to change our relationship with the middle east. He's doing a fine job, and things seem so much better, don't they?

That's a straw man. No one ever said, especially Obama, that he was going to "heal" relations to the point where a billion Muslims can be expected to cease from all violence when provoked in the worst way. To Muslims, insulting Mohammed is a crime punishable by death. Sad and stupid, but true nonetheless and no President ever pretended they could turn Islamic doctrine on its head. The timeline of events proves that this situation escalated as this film's transcript was translated into Arabic, relased to the Arab media, and then reached a climax when a religious zealot in Florida decided to perform a public demonstration mocking Muhammed. He advertised the event in advance so the Arab world knew he was going to do it, and the killings took place shortly after his demonstration began. To balme Obama for any of this is just ridiculous.

== I think these are all legitimate criticisms.

But they've been disproved for quite some time now.

== Also, I'm about as worried about Romney's tax returns as I am of Obama's college records.

Come on, man. Do you have access to Reagan's college records? Please present them to me. Since when in the hell are college records required for disclosure? One thing has nothing to do with the other. The problem is Romney attacked his previous political opponents by claiming they were afraid to relase more than two years of tax returns because they had something to hide. Romney's own father said that anyone refusing to disclose more than two years of tax returns, should be held accountable because anyone running for office generally knows they're going to be running for office two years in advance. So they make sure their financial records are spic and span for just those two years. But we only have 1.5 years of Romney's tax returns and he absolutely refuses to share more. That is beyond hypocrisy and he has already stated that he won't release them because he will be criticized for what's in them.

== All they will show is that he paid capital gains taxes and paid 10% tithing to his Church

Dude, if that were true then he should have no problem releasing them. This doesn't make any sense.

== So what, why do we always have to demonize rich people? I think the left fall for this demagoguery far too often. I wish I were rich. I'm going to keep trying, that's for sure. Good for those who have made it. Good for those who's parents made it rich and passed it on to their kids.

Who said anything about demonizing the rich? Romney isn't criticized because he is rich. Most politicians are rich. Obama is rich too. I think he and his wife had a combined income of +$10 million over the previous decade. You say "so what" as if you already know for certain that his tax returns will only tell us he is rich. But you don't know that. And thanks to Romney's hypocrisy, none of us ever will.

[_LittleNipper]

The Obama family certainly was not poor. Obama lived on the Hawaiian Islands. Many can only dream of ever visiting there. I feel Romney has done more with his wealth than most.

[_krose]

Wait, did you just say Biden is out of his league? Strange.

I'm so tired, you're just confusing me now. I think I meant it the other way around. :p
Biden is in over his head with Ryan. I guess we'll see.

No, I took it the way you meant it. I'm just surprised by how much confidence you seem to have in the magnificence of Paul Ryan. I think it's a mistake to underestimate how much personal appeal Biden has.

As you say, we will see, but I anticipate a very successful Biden performance. Consider healthcare, for example. I don't think fiscal numbers and harsh Ayn Rand philosophies hold up well next to stories of real people suffering, and no one conveys empathy better than Joe.

Also, it will be a lot harder to get away with the kinds of claims Ryan made at the convention with someone right in front of him with the facts.

[_krose]

The Obama family certainly was not poor. Obama lived on the Hawaiian Islands. Many can only dream of ever visiting there.

I'm sure his grandparents were neither poor nor rich, but somewhere in between.

However, your point about Hawaii is absurd. Not everyone who lives there is rich. Not even close. My sister and her family lived on Oahu for several years during that same time period, and no one who knows them would ever consider them anything but lower-middle class economically. They definitely rely on their Social Security and Medicare benefits.

[_Droopy]

Are the taxes on the middle class going to go up when the Affordable Care Act is implemented? I believe that's what he was talking about. The money has to come from somewhere.

No, they won't go up.

Complete nonsense:

Unprecedented Tax Hike For 2013: Starting January 1, 2013, Americans will face a $494 billion tax increase, the highest ever in one year. Obamacare’s tax increase over 10 years barely edges ahead of Taxmageddon at $502 billion. The average American household would see its taxes rise by $3,800 in 2013 alone. And this is just for one year. Taxpayers would see even higher tax hikes in succeeding years.
Expiring Tax Cuts and Obamacare’s New Taxes: Almost 34% of the tax increases from Taxmageddon come from the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. Another 25% comes from the expiration of the payroll tax cut. Most of the remaining increases come from Obamacare, notably from the start of the hospital insurance 3.8% surtax on all forms of income over $250,000.
Taxmageddon Hits the Middle Class: Taxmageddon falls primarily on middle- and low-income Americans. That’s because 60 percent of the Bush tax cuts went to middle and low-income taxpayers. The expiration of the patch on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will cause these taxpayers to pay a tax they were never supposed to be hit with, and the expiration of the payroll tax cut is a tax hike almost exclusively on middle- and low-income families. That’s just the direct impact. Americans at all income levels will feel the pain of Taxmageddon because it will slow job creation and wage growth.

http://www.heritage.org/research/factsh ... he-horizon

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/08/20/oba ... tax-hikes/

http://blog.heritage.org/2012/09/20/mor ... acare-tax/

== Are you saying that Obama didn't go around apologizing to the world on behalf of our country?

That''s exactly what I'm saying.

Complete nonsense, that's exactly and precisely what he did, what he intended to do (as anyone who wishes to go back and do a bit of research on his actual behavior and comments to the leaders in question) and what he, his Secratary of State, and his State Department have been doing since the rioting and chaos began in the Middle East over the (pretext) of the Innocence of Muslims trailer.

The apologizing for our own First Amendment and the principles underlying it to uncivilized, semi-savage barbarians who have no concept of political, personal, or speech freedom and the public excoriation of the filmmaker (exercising his unalienable First Amercement free speech rights as are his birthright as an American citizen) and sense of embarrassment over an obscure video made by an obscure crackpot - one person among three hundred million Americans - with no connection to the government (most Arab Muslim are quite obviously under the impression that the state controls all speech, expression, and media access in America) as if this video actually had anything to do with the planned, organized global violence, rioting, and terrorism against the West now underway, has been among the most egregious foreign policy disasters, among a long string of disasters that has handed much of the Middle East into the hands of his friends (or the enemy of his enemy, America), the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist extremists, destroyed anything positive that had been obtained in Iraq and Afghanistan, and placed taste of American blood and American weakness in the mouths of people who respect only power and honor, in modern American history.

Before the corpses of American citizens were cold, Romney rushed to the media and declared with bombastic certitude that the President responded to the attack by first apologizing instead of condemning it.

which is exactly what the embassy, Hillary, and her State Department did and has continued to do since that time:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavli ... n_pakistan

That is a flat out lie no matter which angle you look at it

No, not really. He may have misspoke in a sense, but this is his Secretary of State and his State Department, and he is the chief executive.

I thought we were talking about apologizing, not showing respect in a traditional manner.

Bowing to a King is a sign of obedience and submission, in any setting, ancient or modern. This not an American businessman and a Japanese businessman bowing to each other and then shaking hands, this is an American President bowing to despots in closed, repressive police states who's core values and principles are utterly hostile to and incompatible with our own. Barack Obama believes, like much of the Left, that America is the central problem in the world and the root of most evil, and hence, his "apology tour" (comprising at least five major apologetic grovellings after his election).

Trust me, the Muslims think their leaders shaking hands with an infidel President is far more submissive than any kind of bowing our Presidents have engaged in. And yes, this is standard protocol in dipolmacy. Bush and Nixon are both caught on camera bowing before other world leaders. Bush even gave a Saudi Prince a kiss! Funny how the Right Wingers didn't pitch a fit about that.

Except that in those cases, right or wrong, those leaders were simply engaging in diplomatic protocol. Read what Obama actually said at each stop in his initial "apology tour" to see the salient difference.

The rest is a real yawner. Nothing to see here, but stimulating, in a twisted kind of way.