Grassley: Obama plans welcomed in Europe because they're socialist

[babylonsister]

:D They got nothin'!

http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2009/04/01/grassley-obama-plans-welcomed-in-europe-because-theyre-socialist/

Grassley: Obama plans welcomed in Europe because they're socialist
@ 11:48 am by Michael O'Brien


President Obama's economic plans will be greeted warmly by foreign leaders because they are mostly socialists, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asserted Wednesday.

Grassley insinuated that because the U.S. government under the Obama budget is growing, he will find a friendlier audience among world leaders to his left while meeting this week at the G-20 summit in London.

"Oh, I think they'll be greeted very well because he's meeting mostly with socialist leaders, except for, you know, a couple countries, and his program over here is leading us towards bigger and more government," Grassley said Wednesday morning during an appearance on MSNBC.

"They ought to applaud it," Grassley said in anticipation of the leaders' reactions. "They think that the United States can save the entire world."

[stillcool]

1. Damn old Europe..

except for Barclay's maybe.

[polichick]

2. Jeez, forget grasping at straws - now they're grasping at their own butt hairs! :)

[Jennicut]

3. Yup, poor socialist dumb Europe! They really got so much wrong in the last 25 years.

Like the Iraq War.

[DevonRex]

4. Those dumb socialist countries just take care of their sick and poor. How evil

of them! Don't they know they should be denying health care and food to people? Starting wars is the only way to go!

:sarcasm: just in case it was needed.

[TwilightGardener]

5. I used to think Grassley was better/more reasonable than the other GOPer

Senators, but I was wrong, he's just another nitwit. (He of the "why don't they just kill themselves" joke about the AIG folks).

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

6. Somebody just needs to slap their faces...

whenever they say such crap as this. They know that it's all "socialism"....any time people are asked (or forced) to pay taxes for common cause. The means and structures may vary, but it's all socialism. These guys have no integrity at all, do they.

[otohara]

7. Bush Destroyed The Entire World

might explain the unfriendly audience he received when traveling.

[StreetKnowledge]

8. Wow, you're an idiot, Grassley.

The only thing he got right was about the leaders being left of Obama. He's not all right, but he is in many ways right.....

G20 other than Obama:

Argentina - President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (left)
Australia - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (center-left)
Brazil - President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (center-left)
Canada - Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right)
China - President Hu Jintao (center-right)
France - President Nicolas Sarkozy (center-right)
Germany - Chancellor Angela Merkel (center-right)
India - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (center-left)
Indonesia - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (center-left)
Italy - Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (right)
Japan - Prime Minister Taro Aso (center-right)
Mexico - President Felipe Calderon (center-right)
Russia - President Dmitri Medvedev (right)
Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz (right)
South Africa - President Kgalema Motlanthe (left)
South Korea - Prime Minister Hang Seung-soo (center-left)
Turkey - President Abdullah Gul (center-right)
United Kingdom - Prime Minister Gordon Brown (center-left)

.....and Obama.

NOTE: my political rankings are in comparison to their countries. Virtually all of the above are left most American politicians, except for Harper, Abdul Aziz, Berlusconi and Medvedev. Kirchner and Motlanthe are the furthest to the left.

[PopSixSquish]

9. Someone Please Explain to Me How President Obama

can be a socialist, a communist, a capitalist, and a fascist all at the same time?

My head hurts...

[DevonRex]

11. Seems to be a lot of projection going on, huh? nt

[Blue_Tires]

19. the same way he is a godless, america hating black muslim

who faithfully attents an extremist church for 20 years....

[Drunken Irishman]

29. Don't forget...

Dictator, corporist, liberal, conservative, neo-liberal, neo-conservative, conservaliberal and so on...

[PopSixSquish]

31. The Man Has Talent, I Will Give Him That

I can't even manage to be myself most days...

[Overseas]

10. I like the way you put it -- "They got nothin'!"

Very true.

They've got nothing because heaven forbid we look at their record of Socialism for the Top Tier or Welfare for the Wealthy, which Republicans want to continue with more tax cuts and favors for the super-rich, and defunding of those darned Euro-style safety nets.

I am hoping that all of the Republican attempts to demonize European style "socialism" will draw attention to the social safety nets they have in place as a matter of course, and stimulate our fellow citizens to support strengthening our social support systems and adding in a few more like health security.

[Political Heretic]

23. I want to play the sound effect from the Price is Right when someone loses

lol

Fail.

[rucky]

12. Does this make Grassley an Antisocialist?

[babylonsister]

13. I dunno. Ask Conrad's wife?

ba dum bum!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/27/senators-get-nasty-youre_n_180027.html

Marking up budget legislation can be a brutal affair, often beginning early and lasting long into the night.

But buried within the hours of debate in the Senate on Thursday is an exchange you'd be more likely to hear in a locker room than a congressional hearing.

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) was on the receiving end of this one, after telling Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), "Oh, you are good."

"Well, your wife said the same thing," Grassley responded.

[rucky]

15. then they snapped towels at each other.

our boys in Washington

[bdamomma]

14. the repigs just don't like anybody popular like our President is.

thank goodness we have someone who won't embarrass us in Europe.

[bullwinkle428]

16. Keep opening your mouth and embarrassing our state, Grasshole!!!

:mad:

[Odin2005]

17. Wow. Only a lunatic would call Sarkozy and Merkel "socialists", whait, he IS a lunatic.

Go fuck yourself, Chuckie. If Sarkozy be a Socialist then I'm Stalin. :eyes:

[Political Heretic]

21. Erm.. the french system is pretty socialist

[Odin2005]

26. It's State Capitalist.

Socialism is defined as workers controlling the means of production. Free Enterprise vs. Economic Planning is a totally different axis. Equating Socialism with Planning and Capitalism with Free Enterprise is a common notion propagated by both Libertarian idiots and by Marxist dinosaurs that still think a planned economy can work.

[Political Heretic]

27. Thanks, you're right.

I was speaking more informally, but thank you for pointing out the technical definition of real "Socialism" as a form of government.

It does get complicated however, because in some countries you have social democrats or democratic socialists who are not actually advocating for worker controlled means of production, but still use the term.

[Odin2005]

30. That's exactly part of the reason for the confusion.

[Cha]

18. Grassley just spews whatever comes out of his mouth

without any filter. Can't take what he says as fact.

[Political Heretic]

20. Actually, they have big problems with our plans because they are Socialist

Well not really "because they are socialist" but both France and Germany, to get specific, have made strong criticisms of our plans as well as making pretty tough statements about demands for dramatically increased regulations at the meeting. Sarkozy promised to walk out if he couldn't get a commitment on some global financial regulation priorities that so far, the Obama administration has been "cool" about.

I say a tentative Good for him I say. "Tentative" because regulations are NOT (edited to add) good just because they are regulations. It depends on what they are, what they do and how they are enforced. There may be good reason for the administration to be cool about them.

What I do know is that as a general rule, we need much stronger much more comprehensive regulation both nationally and internationally when it comes to our financial system. America has tremendous pressure from Wall Street, which controls more of our politics that is true of many European countries. This is due to the fact that the public in European countries play a much, much larger and more active role in their political process. If they don't like something, they'll riot in the streets. We can't be bothered, and so Wall Street has amassed a stranglehold on political power over the last three decades.

Sometimes I wonder if its even too late to really stop that. :shrug:

Anyway, at first glance I am rooting for Sarkozy, the German Chancellor (name?) and other European leaders who are really pushing for a lot of regulation and reform.

[Barack_America]

22. Meanwhile, Sarkozy and Merkel, Europe's CONSERVATIVE leaders, hold a press conference in London...

Complaining that Obama's plans aren't socialist enough!

Good God those Republicans are hopeless, they can't even spin properly anymore.

[PBS Poll-435]

24. WTF, Chuck?

You have been pretty sane lately.

Now you have to pull this bullshit?


Back to square one with you.

[Overseas]

25. Republicans just want a different kind of socialism -- the Reagan type

Trickle Up Economics.

Here's part of an article on "Reagan: The Great American Socialist"

"Socialism" is a pejorative term in American politics and needs to be carefully examined. It usually refers to increased government control over the economy, or policies that promote the redistribution of wealth. There is no doubt that President Obama's economic measures, passed and proposed, will raise tax rates on the richest Americans to pay for increased government funding of health care, green energy and education. So the new president is indeed a redistributionist, but so was Ronald Reagan, except that Obama's plans will transfer wealth from the rich to the poor, whereas Reagan's bills transferred wealth from the poor and the middle class to the opulent. In fact, Obama's measures are puny, whereas Reagan's were massive. If the Democrat is a "small" socialist, Reagan was the Great American Socialist.

Let's go back to the early 1980's. In 1981, Reagan signed a law that sharply reduced the income tax for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The president asserted his program would create jobs, purge inflation and, get this, trim the budget deficit. However, following the tax cut, the deficit soared from 2.5 percent of GDP to over 6 percent, alarming financial markets, sending interest rates sky high, and culminating in the worst recession since the 1930's.

Soon the president realized he needed new revenues to trim the deficit, bring down interest rates and improve his chances for reelection. He would not rescind the income tax cut, but other taxes were acceptable. In 1982, taxes were raised on gasoline and cigarettes, but the deficit hardly budged. In 1983, the president signed the biggest tax rise on payrolls, promising to create a surplus in the Social Security system, while knowing all along that the new revenue would be used to finance the deficit.

Full article:
http://www.truthout.org/032009R

[JayMusgrove]

28. What a "moran" he can be. Why does Iowa keep him around?

He's embarrassing that state almost every time he opens his mouth.