Soledad O'Brien Calls Out Tea Party Dog Whistle

While sitting in the doctor's office this morning holding a fistful of insurance forms (ironically), I happened to see this smackdown of Tea Party fanatic Amy Kremer by Soledad O'Brien. Kremer had no explanation for why she thinks Obama doesn't love his country, beyond the fact that she doesn't like him, and that he is a black man in the White House.

My husband thought heard Kremer say something about the Tea Party only talking about fiscal responsibility, not social issues. Yeah, well tell that to Paul Ryan, Todd Akin, Michele Bachmann and every other doofus backed by Tea Party money.

It is a social issue to talk about cutting off Medicaid and Medicare and letting people drift away without a safety net. Or when someone thinks they have the right to say who "loves their country" and who doesn't. Are they going to segregate us all based on that? To them, no Democrat loves their country, so it's a bogus argument.

But props to Soledad O'Brian for calling it a dog whistle! Indeed!

   

O'BRIEN: Welcome, everybody.

Our team this morning: Dana Bash is with us. She's CNN senior congressional correspondent.

Mayor Michael Nutter joins. He's the Democratic mayor of Philadelphia.

Amy Kremer is with us. She's the Chair of the Tea Party Express. It's nice to see you, Amy. Thanks for being with us.

Ryan Lizza is a Washington correspondent for "The New Yorker."

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

. . . [*snip*] . . .

 

O'BRIEN: Amy, let me ask you a question. Because someone sent to me this tweet -- I swear to God I can't see anything anymore -- that you sent out at the end of August at 10:55 p.m. "Huge difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is that Mitt loves America. We need a president that loves this country." I think that's from -- I missed this one, but someone forwarded it to me.

Do you think that President Obama doesn't love this country? What does that mean?

KREMER: I think that he is more about a global -- being a global -- oh, what's the word? Being more one world, global, with you know other countries and it's not about the shining city on the hill, the greatness that has always been America that our founding fathers were about. I do believe that. I -- I mean, I absolutely believe it. I'm not going to run from that.

Look, I mean, President Obama, and I know I'm going to take a lot of heat for this, but he's never run anything. Mitt Romney, you asked me what is the case for Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney time and time again has taken companies that are failing and turned them around to make them successful.

I mean, he turned the Salt Lake City Olympics around. He ran the state of Massachusetts. Because what I'm saying is we are -- we are failing. We are about to go off this fiscal cliff. And we need somebody that can turn it around.

President Obama has not turned it around. I'm sorry he hasn't --

 

 

NUTTER: But the Governor has also -- but the Governor has also taken over companies and put people out of work. At the expense of losing jobs and making money for himself and for his investors. If you're going to tell one side of the story, tell the other side.

KREMER: I mean and you know and President Obama's energy policy, if it's -- and in President Obama's energy policy if it's implemented, it's going to cost -- I mean let me see. I have the numbers right here because I'm not very good with numbers. But it's going to cost us 7.3 million jobs by 2020. And $1 trillion in compliance costs between 2020 and 2030.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: I just never understand what any of that has to do with loving the nation. I mean, I honestly, I always feel like that's a code word for something else.

(CROSSTALK)

KREMER: I just I mean, I don't feel like he is --

NUTTER: What is the basis for questioning the President's love for this country? How can you say that?

KREMER: I just I don't believe that he loves America the way that we do.

NUTTER: Based on what? We who?

KREMER: He is more about one world -- I mean more about --

NUTTER: What does that mean?

KREMER: I just explained it to you.

NUTTER: Well, clearly, I'm not understanding.

KREMER: Well, I mean, don't know how else to explain it.

LIZZA: His foreign policy -- his foreign policy that you look at it and say, oh that's Obama wants America to be gone and he wants one world?

KREMER: I mean we are not leading. We're waiting on others to tell us what to do. That's never been the American way.

 

 

 LIZZA: What specifically? What specifically?

KREMER: I believe it was Syria. Was it Syria that or one of the conflicts where we -- the French told us we could go and do what we needed to do. Were -- that's -- that's not the American way. We need to lead.

NUTTER: Well, maybe this is America now.

KREMER: But this is the thing the foreign policy -- it's not about foreign policy we're never all going to agree on foreign policy. But why the Tea Party Movement has been so successful is because of the fiscal responsibility.

LIZZA: I think what you're saying is leading from behind, right?

KREMER: Yes.

LIZZA: So I was the journalist that actually reported that quote. So the leading from behind is something that was told to me. And actually, what it refers to is the strategy in the UN, the U.S. led a coalition in the UN to get military authorization to topple Gadhafi.

So the quote actually is the opposite of what you're saying. It actually refers to the strategy that Obama used in the UN to get all of the nations to support the U.S.'s use of force resolution because after the Bush years, it was really hard for the U.S. to go to the UN and get support because Bush was really, really unpopular.

O'BRIEN: But people didn't care about foreign policy. I guess my question is, when I hear somebody say that someone doesn't love the country, and you know I'm very susceptible to the dog whistle thing.

KREMER: The what?

O'BRIEN: That dog whistle that there is a message in that. When someone says that somebody doesn't love the country and you're talking about the President I just find that to be a very odd comment.

KREMER: I don't believe -- I mean look, we're sitting -- I mean we're sitting here, is our goal really in this administration to be the leader that we always have been, to be that shining city on the hill?

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: What does that have to do with love for your country? Mitt loves his country and President Obama doesn't?

KREMER: If you love this country and you want to restore our heritage and that sort of thing, you go out there and you lead. You don't wait on others to tell you what to do. And you take those bold steps. I mean, I don't think that that's what the objective of this administration is.  

                         O'BRIEN: So I'm going to stop you there. Mr. Mayor, stop. Because I have had so many people screaming in my ear that we have so gone over. I thank you for this conversation. We've got to take a break. We're back on the other side. 

John Sununu Loses it with CNN's Soledad O'Brien

Why is it that Republicans can't go on national TV without trying to out-shout someone? It's either just a macho thing, or they are running scared. I'll take the latter.

Because let's face it, no surrogate can prove that Romney isn't being influenced by Paul Ryan now. There's just no distance between them, as presidents and veeps are mostly one unit. But Sununu sounds in denial about that.

In this clip, Romney surrogate John Sununu erupts at Soledad O'Brien on CNN over whether Romney is embracing the Ryan Budget view on Medicare. Sununu gets so flustered he tells O'Brien to "put an Obama bumper sticker on her forehead." OMG At the end he gives a non-apology apology, and Soledad calls him out on that, too! Good for her!



CNN Transcript August 14, 2012

SUNUNU: It is. The nominee is Mitt Romney. Paul Ryan joins Mitt Romney. The budget plan, the approach on Medicare and all of that is going to be the Romney plan. What he has is a man as his number two who understands the details of budgets who has demonstrated a willingness to take on tough issues and who knows how to communicate with the public --

O'BRIEN: Isn't the Ryan plan the Romney plan --

SUNUNU: No, it isn't.

O'BRIEN: Let me read you a quote.

SUNUNU: It isn't. You keep wanting to say it and I'm telling you, it's not.

O'BRIEN: Then let me read you a quote from Mitt Romney. This is from Ryan Lizza's article. On March 20th in Chicago, "I'm very supportive of the Ryan budget plan. He said, I think it would be marvelous if the Senate were to pick up Paul Ryan's budget and adopt it and pass it along to the president." That sounds like a lot of support. Am I wrong?

SUNUNU: It's support for the concepts that are in the Ryan plan. But Mitt Romney for six months has had on the table his package, his plan and his approach for dealing with Medicare. If all you want to do is keep repeating the garbage that comes out of the White House, then you've got a problem. The American public is going to see that the plan that is being put forward is the plan Mitt Romney has put forward.

O'BRIEN: Let's read then what comes out of MittRomney.com, which I have right here. Key elements of mitt's plan, nothing changes for current seniors, Medicaid is reformed as a premium support system, repackaged as a fixed amount benefit they can use to purchase an insurance plan. All insurance plans must offer what Medicare provides today. This is from MittRomeny.com It sounds awfully like the Paul Ryan Medicare plan.

SUNUNU: But it's very different. For example, when Obama gutted Medicare by taking $717 billion out of it, the Romney plan does not do that. The Ryan plan mimicked part of the Obama package there. The Romney plan does not. That's a big difference.

O'BRIEN: But you know, and I understand that this is a Republican talking point because I've heard it repeated over and over again. And these numbers have been debunked as you know by congressional --

SUNUNU: No, they haven't.

O'BRIEN: Yes they have.

SUNUNU: I have the Congressional Budget Office right here dated July 24th from Doug Elmandorf. Read page 13 and 14 --

O'BRIEN: I can tell you what it says. It cuts a reduction in the expected rate of growth, which you know, not cutting budgets to the elderly, benefits will be improved, the focus is on hospitals and focus is on health insurance.

SUNUNU: He gutted the program by $711 million.

O'BRIEN: The expected rate of growth is being cut.

SUNUNU: It reduces services to Medicare beneficiaries currently on the package. What the difference is, is that Romney says no impact to anybody 55 or over. The -- it is clear in here that the reduction in services starts on January 1st, 2013. And Obama stole that money to put it in the --

O'BRIEN: The hospitals agreed to that and drug providers agreed to that because their theory is they will make up by the number of people that come into the system. It doesn't reduce or cut the benefits. The older people who --

SUNUNU: It does --

(CROSSTALK) SUNUNU: Soledad, stop this. All you're doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there. If you're going to mouth garbage that comes out of the White House.

O'BRIEN: I'm telling you what FactCheck.com tells you. I'm telling what the CBO and CNN's independent analysis does.

SUNUNU: I have the CBO report right here.

O'BRIEN: And I'm telling you what it says. I've read it several times.

SUNUNU: Put a Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this.

O'BRIEN: You know, let me tell you something, there is independent analysis that details what this is about.

SUNUNU: No, there isn't.

O'BRIEN: Yes, there is.

SUNUNU: (CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Sir, let me finish. There's independent analysis, fact check.com, the CBO and CNN has already done its own independent analysis, and name calling to me and somehow acting as if by repeating a number of $716 billion that you can make that stick when that figure is being stolen from Medicare, that's not true. You can't just repeat it and make it true, sir.

SUNUNU: Reduction in services and reduction --

O'BRIEN: A reduction in the expected rate of growth, a reduction in the expected rate of growth.

SUNUNU: And reduction in services and reduction in support for Medicare advantage. That is taking money from the program.

O'BRIEN: Which by the way, Paul Ryan, right, has in his budget, which by the way -- SUNUNU: Mitt Romney does not.

O'BRIEN: Which Romney has said in the quote I just read to you, he thinks it's brilliant.

SUNUNU: But he likes the Ryan plan for its guts, but he has his own plan out there, which is carefully crafted to protect the seniors from 55 and up and does not take the $700 billion that Obama took.

O'BRIEN: John Sununu, always nice having you, pleasure.

SUNUNU: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It doesn't sound like he means it.

BERMAN: I just wish John Sununu would come out of his shell a little bit. He's very timid in the morning.