Posted on 11/16/2013 6:53:21 PM PST by markomalley
One of the leading critics of Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton’s effort to delay the onset of certain provisions of Obamacare has been conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.
“This would be a tone-deaf disaster if the Republican leadership lets Fred Upton ascend to the chairmanship of the House energy committee,” Limbaugh said on his radio show earlier this week. “This is exactly the kind of nannyism, statism, what have you, that was voted against and was defeated last week. No Republican complicit in nannyism, statism, can be rewarded this way.”
On Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Friday night, Upton suggested Limbaugh check with him before launching into his criticism, pointing to the reactions from conservative groups and the media to dispute Limbaugh’s notion.
Partial transcript as follows:
HEWITT: OK, now you have tempted me into breaking my no first name rule, because I’m going to use two of them. So Fred, yesterday, Rush urged the House not to touch this, because it in essence, it’s throwing a lifeline to the President and saving a bill that’s collapsing, don’t get near it, don’t ruin the brand, go for full repeal. What’s your response to that?
UPTON: Well, a couple of things, and you know, it would have been nice if he had maybe checked in with us and gotten information. We had a lot of groups, Club for Growth and others endorse our bill. A couple of things — first of all, what do you say to those millions of people that are all of a sudden out of luck come January 1? That’s not what we ought to be doing. We ought to be thinking about those people. The other thing is I’m just looking at the headlines today, Hugh. And in The Wall Street Journal, I mean, these are headlines that are like war is over. ‘Obama Retreats On Health Rules,’ left to right, right underneath the banner. New York Times: ‘In A Reversal, Obama Moves To Avert The Cancellation Of Health Policies,’ and it’s got a pretty sour face in his picture right underneath it, right underneath the banner. USA Today: ‘Health Law Shakes Presidency,’ left to right. Washington Times: Same picture of the president, ‘The Obamacare Retreat.’ Washington Post: Picture of a — not very flattering pictures of the president, ‘Obama Offers a Insurance Fix,’ ‘And you know, that’s on me. I mean, we fumbled the rollout on this health care law.’
HEWITT: Yeah.
UPTON: We’ve done in a week’s time what a shutdown and everything else, where we didn’t have the numbers, let’s face it, to try and reverse the fix that we’re in.
As for why Upton put the delay at just a year, Upton said that was the best way to ensure it got passed.
“We wanted to pass it,” he said. “That was our objective. We wanted to provide some immediate relief to the people that were bitterly concerned about the prospects of their own plan. We thought a one year was good enough that we would not only keep most of the Republicans, and we did, but have a good chance of getting a number of Democrats as well, which we did. Remember, we won by more than 100 votes. Had we done a longer period, it might have been more of a showpiece than an actual piece that you could actually get done, and we wanted to, again, two days ago, before the president undercut us with what is in essence his executive order. We had more than 300 votes for this.”
Upton is not even a convincing liar.
upton - idiot
Me thinks Upton will be the topic of discussion come about 12:00 Noon Eastern time come Monday, just a hunch.
Actually the only good thing about it is completely unintentional on Upton’s part.
If the democrats in the senate don’t kill it, Obama will.
Won’t Obama just veto this? And doesn’t it help give cover to House Dems?
If Upton were not the author of such idiotic legislation as the bill banning incandescent light bulbs, then he’d be worth giving the benefit of a doubt where his intellect and competence is concerned.
Upton’s bill is unconstitutional
Obamacare is unconstitutional
Is anything going on up there that isn’t constitutional?
I believe Reid has already said it won’t get a vote in the Senate.
12:06 to be precise. Right on.
Upton is a zombie pallbearer for the dead Republican party.
Just what did Upton accomplish?
Fred give us back our light bulb technology choices, you Stateist.
Isn’t that the truth.
In addition I have to say, I marvel at the stupidity of a party that would refuse to pass a rescue of their Islamic god in the White House from the Senate of the United States.
They were handed a free pass card. They shredded it.
Whew! Lucky us...
Upton. That name strikes a bell somehow. Wasn’t he the one who spearheaded the bill to abolish the selling of incandescent light bulbs?
“Me thinks Upton will be the topic of discussion come about 12:00 Noon Eastern time come Monday, just a hunch.”
And getting his ass handed to him on a plate
Now I read the comments and see the answer in #7.
So, he thinks he’ll get his 15 minutes of fame. He’s what, a 5th place show horse?
You tell them that they are @ss-out thanks to the rules in Barrycare's that the insurance companies are mandated to follow
That’s not what we ought to be doing.
That's EXACTLY what you should be doing, and threaten to impeach Obama for breaking his own law. No Republican voted for this Upton, why do you want to salvage it?
We ought to be thinking about those people.
We are thinking about them, you nimrod. They have been in the news since Oct 1.
The other thing is I’m just looking at the headlines today, Hugh....
Typical beltway, establishment hack Republican taking solace in media headlines rather than fighting.
This clown is a Grade-A idiot, just a shining example of why I can't stand the Stupid Party. I can't wait for Rush to tear him a new #2 on Monday.
12:21. He has to do the Low Information Voter updates first, like the latest singer’s crisis or the NFL, etc.
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