White House Adviser Gene Sperling: We Did Put Forward The Framework Of Sequester
This Morning, White House Adviser Gene Sperling Admitted That The Obama White House Had Proposed The Framework Of The Sequester.NBC’s DAVID GREGORY: “Back in October, the president staked out some very clear ground in the presidential debate against Mitt Romney. Here’s what he said.” OBAMA: “First of all, the sequester is not something that I proposed. It’s something that Congress has proposed. It will not happen. The budget that we’re talking about is not reducing our military spending. It’s maintaining it.” GREGORY: “The White House has acknowledged that’s not accurate. The president did propose this. He didn’t want it to become law, and Republicans supported it, but it was the White House’s idea. He said there unequivocally it will not happen, and yet it’s happened. Is there some responsibility he bears for that?” WHITE HOUSE ADVISER GENE SPERLING: “David, Jonathan Chase of New York Magazine, you know, gave the following analogy. A mugger comes up to you and says, give me your wallet. You say, I don’t have my wallet but here’s my watch. Well, technically, giving your watch was your idea, but it doesn’t really tell the whole story. We know, everyone knows, that the president wanted an enforcement mechanism that included revenues on the most well off. The speaker insisted, the Republicans insisted that, it just be an enforcement mechanism that be on all spending cuts. Because we were forced to do, that it is true we suggested going back to the Graham Ruddman Hollings mechanism –” GREGORY: “That’s not what he said in the debate, he said I didn’t propose it.” SPERLING: “I think it’s most accurate that they did propose an all-spending cut mechanism that would have this type of harmful impacts on defense and on education and research. And the idea — and this is the critical part, the idea was not that these would go into effect but that people of good faith would come back and compromise. And we know that that is what’s important. Republicans aren’t getting a win by letting the sequester go into effect. They want more funding for border security. They say they want more funding for defense. The speaker says he wants more on long-term entitlement reform. This gets nothing. It gets long-term entitlement – ” GREGORY: “Was the president right or wrong in that clip that I just showed you?” SPERLING: “I think the president was overall right in that the idea of an across the board all spending cut was the idea of Republicans. But, yes, we put forth the design of how to do that.” GREGORY: “Which was the sequester.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press ,” 3/3/13)
SHOT/CHASER: Obama’s Chief Of Staff Taught Him How To Pass A Bill
SHOT: Obama Said His New Chief Of Staff, Denis McDonough, Taught Him How To Pass A Bill. OBAMA: “I am pleased to announce my next chief of staff, and a great friend to me and everybody who works here at the White House, Mr. Denis McDonough. Now I have been counting on Denis for nearly a decade. Since I first came to Washington, when he helped set up my Senate office, along with Pete Rouse, he was able to show me where the restrooms where, you know, how you passed a bill.” (President Barack Obama, Personnel Announcement, Washington, DC, 1/25/13)
CHASER: Obama Only Passed Two Bills While In The Senate.
During His Brief Senate Career, Obama Was The Lead Sponsor Of 122 Bills.
Only Two Of Obama’s Lead Sponsored Bills Became Law:
- S.906: Mercury Export Ban Act of 2008
- S.2125: Democratic Republic Of The Congo Relief, Security, And Democracy Promotion Act Of 2006
Where Does The Buck Stop On Libya?
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Refuses To Say That The Buck Stops With Obama In Matters Of Diplomatic Security. FOX NEWS’ ED HENRY: “Can you say on Libya, that basically the buck stops with the State Department on security then, it doesn’t stop at the White House?” WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY: “Well that’s an unartful, made for television phrasing, Ed. But the fact of the matter…” HENRY: “So you’re saying it’s up to the State Department, that the President can’t, that basically, he doesn’t make those assessments, is what you said the first time.” CARNEY: “There are thousands of diplomatic personnel across the world. There are countless facilities around the world. And I am saying when it comes to the number of personnel who are in place at consulates and embassies and other diplomatic facilities around the world, those decisions are appropriately made at the State Department by security personnel. When it comes to funding, yeah, this president fights to make sure that embassy security and diplomatic security is adequately funded and make sure that that funding is restored when efforts on Capitol Hill are made principally by House republicans, including Congressman Ryan to slash it in order to cut taxes for the wealthiest 2% in this country. You bet that’s the President’s responsibility and he has demonstrated that he’s kept that responsibility.” (White House Press Briefing, Washington, DC, 10/12/12)
Fact Check: MTN’s Iran Connections Known Before Plouffe Speech
White House Spokesman Jay Carney Denied That White House Advisor David Plouffe Should Have Known About MTN’s Connections To Iran, Saying It Was “Several Years Ago Prior To The Dynamic We Have Now With In Regards To Sanctions And Companies Like This.” ABC’S JONATHAN KARL: “President Obama came into office talking about a higher standard. Is there any concern about this kind of, you know - $100,000 in Nigeria to a South African company. I mean it was widely reported, it had been reported even in The New York Times that they had business dealings with Iran. Is there any concern at all about this?” WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JAY CARNEY: “I’m not sure I understand the nature of your question. This was prior to David Plouffe coming to office here working in the White House. It was before the watchdog group had even made an issue of this particular holding company. And again, this is political criticism after the fact that’s clearly designed to try to score some points when this was several years ago prior to the dynamic we have now with in regards to sanctions and companies like this.” (White House Press Briefing, Washington, D.C., 8/6/12)
The White House Spin Ignores MTN’s Long-Known History Of Aiding The Iranian Regime’s Crackdown On Its Own People
November 2005 – MTN Group Reaches A Deal With Iran’s Government For A Cellphone License And 49 Percent Stake In Irancell. “MTN paid (EURO)300m for the second cellphone license in Iran after it agreed with local shareholders to take a 49% stake in IranCell. Iran’s government was in the process of issuing the license, said MTN, whose shares hit a fresh high of R61,70 on the news.” (Lesley Stones, “MTN’s Iran Deal Bulks Up Share Price,” Business Day [South Africa], 11/23/05)
2006 – In State Department Cables MTN’s Iranian Affiliate, MTN Irancell, Was Referred To As Being “Fully Owned” By The Iranian Revolutionary Guard. “In 2006, Stuart Levey, then undersecretary of the Treasury and the point man on Iran sanction enforcement in the Bush administration — a job he also held for two years under Obama — told Turkish officials that Irancell was ‘fully owned’ by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a State Department cable made public by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.” (Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten, “Obama Associate Got $100,000 Fee From Affiliate Of Firm Doing Business With Iran,” The Washington Post, 8/6/12)
Email Evidence
WH Staffer Holds Meeting At Caribou Coffee To Avoid Transparency
“Jim - coffee at Caribou Coffee - across the corner from the WH - would work at 11:30 a.m. on Friday…plus getting you through the new WH security rules these days almost takes an act of Congress almost (and you know how well that’s going these days),” Smith wrote. “[P]lus you’d appear on an official WH Visitor List which is maybe not want [sic] you want at this stage …” (Jennifer Epstein, “GOP: W.H., Messina ‘Failed’ On Transparency,” Politico, 7/31/12)
A Second Helping Of Pinocchios For Carney’s “BS”
The saga of White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s fairy tale claims of Obama’s “fiscal constraint” and “responsible stewardship” of the nation’s finances continues. Today, the author of the original column that spurred Carney’s claims said that the White House’s citation of his research was “disingenuous” and agreed that they deserved the Pinocchios that they were awarded. After Carney attempted to highlight disagreements between fact checkers on the issue, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler took another look and reaffirmed his ruling: “Three Pinocchios.”
The Author Of Column That Carney Touted Says His Claims Are “Disingenuous” And That The White House Deserves Their Pinocchios
MarketWatch’s Rex Nutting Told The Washington Post’s Fact Checker: “I Have No Problem With You Assigning Pinocchios To The White House Based On This.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Facts About The Growth Of Spending Under Obama, Part 2,” The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker,” 5/31/12)
- Nutting: “[I]t’s A Bit Disingenuous Of Them To Tout My Column As Proof Of Their Fiscal Responsibility …” “The White House clearly does not want all those 2013 spending cuts to take place, so it’s a bit disingenuous of them to tout my column as proof of their fiscal responsibility on the one hand, while trying their best to spend more money on the other.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Facts About The Growth Of Spending Under Obama, Part 2,” The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker,” 5/31/12)
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker Reaffirmed Obama’s Three Pinocchios
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker: “We Reaffirm Our Previous Ruling. Three Pinocchios.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Facts About The Growth Of Spending Under Obama, Part 2,” The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker,” 5/31/12)
- The Washington Post’s Fact Checker: Many Of 2009’s “Key Spending Decisions Were Actually Made By Obama.” “Obama supported and voted for Bush-started programs such as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Moreover, many key appropriations bills were held back by Democrats until Obama became president, and then he pushed through a $830 billion stimulus bill (which consisted of mostly spending). In ordinary times, one could argue that 2009 should be counted as Bush’s year, but in fact many of the key spending decisions were actually made by Obama.” (Glenn Kessler, “The Facts About The Growth Of Spending Under Obama, Part 2,” The Washington Post’s “The Fact Checker,” 5/31/12)
