"Nope. Zero," the pres said to the speaker. Mr. Boehner tried again. "Nope. Zero," "John, this is it

[phleshdef]

Matthew Jaffe Reports:

Behind the scenes in negotiations that averted government shutdown, President Obama had just agreed to House Speaker John Boehner’s request to include a Republican policy rider to ban taxpayer funding of abortion in Washington, DC, but Boehner wanted more: to defund Planned Parenthood.

The response from the president was blunt.
“Nope. Zero,” the president told Boehner, according to a senior Democratic aide. “And then the Speaker tried to engage it.”
“Nope. Zero,” the president replied again. “He was like, ‘John, this is it.’”
“There were a good 10 minutes of just sitting there of everybody looking at each other,” the aide recalled. “I mean, it was like, there’s nothing to do here. The store’s closed.”

“It was awkward, like, what do you do now?”

“They realized that kind of the gig was up,” the aide said of Republicans. “They weren’t going to get it included. It wasn’t going to happen. The president and Sen. Reid were prepared to say, ‘This bill will go down if you make this about social policy.’ That was the line in the sand.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/04/how-government-shutdown-was-averted-behind-the-planned-parenthood-deal.html

[Brickbat]

1. They -- including this "senior Democratic aide" -- need to stop considering women's health as a

"social policy."

[villager]

19. Only the health of billionaire males counts when it comes to "bottom lines"

n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. If you don't think health is social policy, what do you think it is?

It's not just economic policy, is it?

[phleshdef]

42. Can the horse shit. The anti-choice/pro-choice debate IS a social issue.

Republicans were going after this because an organization that happens to provide abortions receives some of the funding. It doesn't matter that the funding isn't used for abortion. They don't care. Simply because its associated with abortion, they wanted to cut it. So it WAS a ploy based on social policy. You can't deny that.

[calimary]

2. He should have done that WEEKS ago. No. I take that back. MONTHS ago.

ALL LAST YEAR while they were haggling over health care reform.

BACKBONE. BACKBONE. BACKBONE. Speak to them in the language they understand. FULL FORCE AND BACKBONE.

[roguevalley]

40. agreed, calimary. but then, he wasn't running for president at the

time and he didn't care about the independent soccer moms at the time.

[calimary]

50. And that was a huge mistake.

I am continually amazed that nobody on our side seems the least bit interested in messaging. Aggressive messaging. Not just in the delivery but the actual substance to be delivered.

What the hell is with our side??????

[roguevalley]

60. they don't want to get dirty. I will do it for them. I remember how

that was done. We never lost when we did it, majority or not.

[calimary]

64. Hey, I don't mind getting dirty, either.

One way to make sure a job gets done correctly is to do it yourself.

[Exilednight]

3. A "senior Democratic Aide". Who exactly is that?

[ProSense]

4. Sorry,

this contradict's Scarecrow's opinion!

[hfojvt]

35. that name seems very apropo to me

With the thoughts he/she is thinking he/she could be another Lincoln if only ...

[cali]

5. I've become so cynical about this administration

that I think this is pure spin to portray the prez as resolute and strong and a liberal- which is simply not the case. Also, it's a hey look over here tactic. Ugh.

[phleshdef]

7. Sounds like it offends you that it can be honestly said that Pres. Obama drew a line.

...on blatantly a blatantly liberal cause such as women's rights and health access.

[cali]

9. first of all it is not a blatantly liberal cause

secondly, it's too little too late, third, it was easy and cheap.

[phleshdef]

39. First of all, yes it absolutely is. Secondly, bullshit. And Thirdly, bullshit.

[ProSense]

10. I guess it's more believable that

Boehner simply dropped his list of demands out of the goodness of his heart!

[highplainsdem]

67. No, it's more believable that Big Business told the GOP not to shut the government down. Links:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x850271

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x861542

[FLAprogressive]

16. He couldn't draw a line on anything else for the poor......he just did it for political points

[AndyTiedye]

18. PP is the Only Access to Health Care for a Lot of Poor Women

PP also has enough Republican support so that it was politically possible.
That was not true for some other items.

[FLAprogressive]

20. He could have drawn the line on other things but chose not to. PP would have cost him campaign $.

[AndyTiedye]

21. He Would Have Had to Back Down to Prevent a Shutdown

A shutdown would have been a total victory for the Teabaggers.

To draw a line in the sand you have to be able to defend it.
To do that you need to be able to line up the votes.

[FLAprogressive]

22. No it wouldn't, if a shutdown was a total victory for the Tea Party, then it would have happened.

A shutdown would have been bad for the GOP.

[Exilednight]

24. A shutdown would of scored Obama points. People would of rallied around the

president, especially since MSM news has been touting how bad the GOP was damaged during the last government shutdown.

When Chuck Todd says that a government shutdown would be terrible for the GOP, he means it. Even Boehner admitted it would of hurt the GOP.

But Boehner was smart to compromise, but he's even smarter because he's now framing the debate on the debt ceiling. Now Obama is going to be stuck playing catch-up .... again.

[Warren DeMontague]

47. So what, precisely, are you mad about? That Planned Parenthood didn't get defunded?

That Planned Parenthood and reproductive rights enjoy not just broad, but ENTHUSIASTIC support in the Democratic Party?

Because it may be a sideshow to you, but for lots of us, support for reproductive and personal freedom is a cornerstone of why we're here.

[FLAprogressive]

65. No, I'm upset that other programs that benefit low-income people got big cuts while keeping PP

funding as being hailed as some sort of a major accomplishment. He could have fought just as hard to prevent cuts to programs like Head Start...

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tblue]

11. Dispelling the "wimp factor"

I don't buy it, but I would love it if he started to act like a president instead of a marriage counselor.

[Raine]

26. Agree.nt

[Bluerthanblue]

37. gotta give you credit for admitting you are cynical-

The account is written with a purpose- that doesn't make the result null and void.

I believe that Pres. Obama drew this line. I'm glad he did.

Not everything the President does needs to be seen as negative.

:shrug:

[Tatiana]

62. Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if Daley put this out there.

If the President was so strong, he would have also told the Speaker "Nope" on the DC abortion rider as well.

It makes me ill to think men are dictating to women what we can and should do in terms of our bodies and health.

[donheld]

69. Cynical, Now more than ever.

No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up. Lily Tomlin

[The Magistrate]

6. If This Is True, Sir, And that Is a Long If, By The Way, It Has To Be Stuck To

From here on out, nothing should be said to Boehner but "Zero. Nothing. Store's closed, John."

Riders on the debt ceiling? "Zero. Nothing. Store's closed, John."

A 2012 budget that does not match the Democratic Party platform? "Zero. Nothing. Store's closed, John."

[cali]

8. looks like more spin to me- whether it's true or not

and I'd bet my last measly dollar that the administration will be making more deals with Boehner- deals that largely favor his positions.

[The Magistrate]

15. You May Well Be Right, Ma'am....

Just cold advice from a long-married man who has been in some fist-fights as a grown-up....

[brandywine]

12. This is coming straight from the screen writers to fluff up the drama. Why are these SECRET?

So they can control the narrative.

They run the show like a soap opera.

[SidDithers]

14. ...

Sid

[brandywine]

17. Excuse me?

[SidDithers]

13. CAVER!!1111!1...nt

Sid

[xchrom]

23. Such chutzpah like I've never seen.

Not.

[Raine]

25. "Convenient" that this nameless aid was

there to spill this bit of "inside" info. It's just more of the Kabuki theater for the masses.

[DCBob]

30. If it wasnt true I suspect Boner would be crying about it by now.

get over it.. cant you people ever admit the President does something good?

[Warren DeMontague]

32. If it was an 'inside report' saying Obama was eager to end social security next week

I guarantee you half of DU would be trumpeting it as GOSPEL FUCKING CATFOOD COMMISSION TRUTH OMG ZOMG OMG ZOMG!!@!1111!!!!!

[phleshdef]

44. Like flies on shit, as they say.

[tammywammy]

53. +1 n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

27. If he had taken that attitude toward them in 2009

we'd still have a majority in the House today.

[comtec]

48. and thats what the obama appologists will never admit

if he acted like this on legislation that truly mattered - like health care, and taxing the rich, and punishing banks and oil companies for raping our economy - then we'd be in a better world.

but he didn't

he did it on some piddly, one week extension of a budget yer that ends in 8 months.

big

fucking

deal

[inna]

28. hey, i'll k&r just for the heart-warming quality.

btw, Senator Reid is WAY underrated, compared to President Obama, at least.


and... where the f is Nancy?

[Marr]

29. Political salesmanship.

Seriously-- a "senior Democratic aid" counters the very narrative that's angering liberals with an inside-baseball story, and you seriously think everyone should just accept it at face value and reconsider opinions based on two years worth of counter evidence?

And it doesn't seem at all suspect that his 'firm stand' was on an issue that would've been a huge political loser for Republicans, and doesn't cost Wall Street a penny? Where was that principled stand on the Bush Tax Cuts, or bankster bailouts, or any of a hundred other issues on which proper action would've been inconvenient for the mega-rich, and acquiescence deeply damaging to the working class?

[NoodleyAppendage]

34. BINGO. This is just some bullship story dreamt up to keep the grassroots from completely flipping.

The only thing that Obama and his troops are good at is pissing off the base and then trying to make the repeated injuries feel better.

J

[Bluerthanblue]

38. wow....

just wow.

:shrug:

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[comtec]

51. convenient that the line doesn't help the poor

i'd hardly call keeping PP open a hard left issue as well.
basic humanitarian.
am i glad he finally showed some fucking balls?
yes I am.

but he still let them rape and butcher 70 BILLION from SOCIAL areas like EDUCATION
change I can believe in?
not so much

[tammywammy]

54. PP does help the poor. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

55. Like it or not, the GOP controls the house.

We don't need another government shut down. The other guys blinked, and we won.

[comtec]

56. No, we lost

hard to understand, but look at the cuts, and the LACK of tax hikes on the rich.
we lost.
all of us.
Obama simply prevented the massive hemorrhaging that would have happened if we had caved more.
but make no mistake, we lost.

I'll give Obama credit for (finally) drawing a line.
but it's one he should have drawn when we were in power.

[Warren DeMontague]

59. Right, but we're not in power, not in the house.

The GOP base wanted the government to shut down. Now they've got a bad case of shutdownius interruptus.

[comtec]

73. the GoP was in "the minority" for the first two years of Obama...

yet managed to get EVERY piece of legislation they wanted pushed through.
answer me that mr appologist!

[phleshdef]

41. Providing healthcare access to poor women is more important than any of that.

You are just mad because the reality doesn't sell itself to the negative ass narrative that you've fallen so in love with.

[Marr]

57. Continued funding to Planned Parenthood at the present levels,

not increasing funding or anything like that-- just keeping a basic service we have in place now-- is, in your mind, more than fair compensation for the bank bailouts, extension of Bush's tax policies, etc.?

You'd probably love this deal as well: How about I agree not to steal your car, and in exchange, you overlook my robbing your bank account and kidnapping your dog.

[Warren DeMontague]

58. the bank bailouts? This is what you're mad about?

Look, I understand that the idea of the bank bailouts is extremely unpopular in some low-information torch-n-pitchfork circles, but a wholesale meltdown of the global financial system would have been far worse.

[Marr]

61. You couldn't possibly have missed the "extenstion of the Bush Tax Cuts, etc.", part of

that post, as it only contains two sentences.

I'm sure you've got lovely excuses for every item I could possibly list-- I've read them all here before. Your bar is set very low, I understand that. But if you're seriously trying to sell the idea that only surrendering half your territory is a 'great victory', your bar must be on the ground.

[Warren DeMontague]

63. No, the extension of the Bush tax cuts is inexcusable.

But the never-ending hysterics over the "bank bailouts" is just plain goofy, and shows a gross misunderstanding of the financial situation we were facing when they went through.

[Marr]

66. We'll just have to disagree on that.

I think it could have been handled in such a way as to end much of the casino activity on Wall Street and prevent a replay of the same catastrophe. I think Obama had the leverage to largely fix the system at that moment, and he chose not to use it.

It's not really the bank bailouts themselves I have a problem with-- it's the way they've been handled, and servile attitude he's taken with Wall Street in general.

[Warren DeMontague]

71. And I agree with some of that, too.

I think that there were a lot of missed opportunities; certainly, more regulation and some bully pulpit calling out of the folks behind the 'creative financial instruments'... no, I agree completely.

It's the notion that TARP, for instance, wasn't necessary.. something like it was, or we would have endured a much greater shit-storm IMHO.

But I agree, it should have been coupled with much more. And as Krugman said from the beginning, the stimulus should have been bigger, too.

[Marr]

72. Yep-- I agree. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

31. Woo-Hoo!

Fuck the fucking Jesus Freak Fetus Fetishists. Enough, already. They can put the government in their own damn pants, if they want it there so badly.

[mfcorey1]

33. Are republican men willing to forgo all intimate acts that would lead to pregnancy and a woman

having to make a decision about her own body with their permission?

[Warren DeMontague]

49. It's not the women they're intimate with that they're interested in controlling, silly.

It's those *other* women.

[comtec]

52. those POOR, and colored women

THOSE uppity women need to be kept down, not THEIR rich (mostly white) women.
THEY can do whatever.

[Bonobo]

45. Sounds like it was written by a comic book writer.

Super Obama!!!

[Name removed]

68. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Safetykitten]

70. In an alternate universe this happened...

[Zorra]

74. No, zero, John. We already didn't pass a budget so you could have your way with us.

We give up anymore and we'll completely lose our base. We need to preserve at least the illusion of integrity.