Alan Grayson: Obama’s budget “could end up dragging down the entire party”

Washington Examiner ^ | Apr 10, 2013 | Sean Higgins

[markomalley]

That’s what Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., said in a press call today hosted by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee regarding the president’s new budget proposal.

The call, which also featured Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was intended to be a warning to the administration to back away from the budget’s modest entitlement reforms. Grayson argued they could doom the party by undercutting its rhetoric on entitlements:

Based upon the budget the Republicans submitted, the [Paul] Ryan budget, it was pretty clear up until this point that the Republicans were the party in favor of cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, and the Democrats were the party against it.

Now, with the president’s proposal, we face the threat that we will be stigmatized as the party that kind-of is for it and kind-of is against it, kind of depending on circumstances. Kind of, kind of, kind of…

Asked by the Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove if they thought the president’s budget was an effort at Bill Clinton-style triangulation, Ellison conceded that maybe that was the case  – as he put it: “ the president is going to the center, counting on us to be loud on the left” — but that liberals like himself had no choice but to oppose it anyway.

Grayson added that “this is not some Sistah Souljah Moment, okay?” He argued:

With regard to whether the president actually somehow will benefit from this politically, I think that is completely wrong. I think that not only will the president fail to benefit from this politically but it could end up dragging down the entire party, depending upon exactly how this unfolds.

You may recall that I lost my election two years ago and 62 other members of the House who were Democrats lost their elections two years ago because the Republicans took a shot at convincing the public that Obamacare was in fact a cut in Medicare.

Now, in essence, what is happening is that the president is potentially handing the Republicans the same weapon to use against us in 2014 that they used so effectively and dishonestly against us in 2010. So I think that politically it is a horrible move.

I think you’ll be able to see that in the polling. I’m sure that there will  polling that comes down in the next couple of weeks. I don’t think  the president’s numbers are going to move up. I’m pretty sure the president’s numbers are going to move down. What I am hoping is that the Democratic Party’s numbers don’t move down in concert with what I expect to see with the president’s numbers.

[tet68]

“....could end up dragging down the entire party....”

Why not, it’s dragging down the whole country!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks markomalley.

Alan Grayson... in a press call today hosted by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee... which also featured Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn... Grayson argued [lied] ..."that the Republicans were the party in favor of cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, and the Democrats were the party against it... You may recall that I lost my election two years ago and 62 other members of the House who were Democrats lost their elections two years ago because the Republicans took a shot at convincing the public that Obamacare was in fact a cut in Medicare..."

IOW, Obamacare is and always has been in fact a cut in Medicare, in black and white in multiple places in the Obamacare law Grayson and Ellison both voted for.

[MasterGunner01]

If Grayson is right about Obama dragging the Democrat Party down, so much the better. However, it appears that the GOPee elite establishment RINOs are trying to beat the Donkeys to the bottom — or at least tie with them. The GOPee and RNC boss Rancid Prius are disgusting.