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BLAME GAME

GOP Blames Obama for Sequester in Social Media Campaign

White House says Republicans are forgetting they voted for it

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: CBS

Republicans have launched a social media campaign to blame President Barack Obama for the looming $85 billion in automatic spending cuts known as the "sequester."

On Friday, Republican leaders changed their facebook and twitter photos to a passage in Bob Woodward's new book that says the sequester was the Obama administration's idea. Republican leaders have been pushing the hashtag "#Obamaquester" for supporters to promote that line of thinking, The Hill reports.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Friday tweeted a reminder that Congress had voted for the sequester as an incentive to force lawmakers and the President to address the deficit. He used a twitter hashtag "#GOPamnesia" to spread the word.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Republicans should stop tweeting and get back to work. "GOP wasting another week w/gimmicks, slogans & hashtags instead of being responsible & dealing w/sequester," Van Hollen tweeted. "Time is running out."

Unless Congress and Obama can work out a deficit reduction plan before March 1, budget cuts will slash defense spending, domestic programs and furlough thousands of workers.

Via The Hill, Washington Post and Twitter
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Who will you blame if the sequester cuts kick in on March 1?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • Tralee
    !
    It was Obama's idea! He thought he could win some political value by getting the R's to vote for this, now he's got to live with it. R's gave him his tax increase, his debt increase and all he has to do is cut a few expenses and submit a budget, doesn't seem that hard to me. Maybe if he stayed in the office, kept off the perpetual campaign trail and actually owned the office of President, he'd get something done.
  • PNWest
    !
    Hope you didn't get snowed in too bad. Stay safe. Oh yeah... Obama didn't force the GOP to vote for it. They refused to compromise then and just kicked the bucket further down the road thinking that they would be in a stronger position after the election. Things didn't work out that way. Now the GOP is in a weaker position. I predict they'll fold like a cheap lawn chair. Again.
  • martydotcom
    !
    Probably one of the more sophomoric attempts to utilize "social media". If the the GOP thinks Twitter or FB will resolve the problem they must still be listening to Prebius and Rove. Enough with both Dems & GOP thinking party dogma takes prescience over the welfare of the populace. Time for these fools in DC to start acting like adults not posturing, pandering, pre-adolescents
  • scotta
    !
    This is another one of his blaming someone else for problems.I really feel he thoughttje repu licans would not going along with the.vote. now he is worried the cuts are going to happened
  • Calfkiller
    !
    @martydotcom We are nothing but cattle to them. A known quantity. They have baffled us with so much BS that we are squabbling over 80 some billion in cuts. What about the 16 trillion that both the Dems and Reps have dumped in our laps.

  • View all 7 replies >

  • DogLady_1
    !
    Hurray for Politix! Flood us with partisanship, then flood us with blame games! Geez!

    "If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly." -Thomas Sowell
  • Thunderchicken
    !
    It will serve us right if the sequester happens. If our reps had any backbone they would have dealt with this long before now. If the electorate had any brains we would have elected actual leaders rather than panderers.
  • u
    mtkopf
    !
    Until we, as a country, stop the bribing...er...I mean lobbying our elected representatives, we, the people, will never have true voice in D.C.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    This was a poitical fraud from the beginning.

    The teabagger influenced House made this deal because they wanted to pretend they were doing something for the base. They never dreamed it would come to this.

    Now a lot of the teabagger base wants to trigger the sequester as a way of getting what they want, a vastly smaller government. They don't care much, or understand much, about the effects of that.

    But their Congressmen do, and they know that it would be a total disaster for the nation to allow the sequester. They also know that if that disaster happens, it will pretty much be the end of the Republican party.
  • PNWest
    !
    There could actually be some good to come out of this. Public opinion is in favor of the social programs but against wasteful military spending. If these automatic cuts kick in it should be easier to pass funding for social programs and keep the military spending cuts or at least most of them. And as you say if the republicans don't compromise with Obama they will certainly be blamed for the economic downturn that will follow.
  • u
    mtkopf
    !
    @PNWest I posted a link last week but I'm at a bar drinking right now so I don't have access to it. Anyway, there is a dod program that is giving billions in military surplus away to schools, small towns etc. Try Google "chuck goudie i-team" and scroll to pentagon surplus story.
  • u
    mtkopf
    !
    @PNWest thanks for finding that link.

    I'm a veteran and I have seen first hand the amount of waste that occurs. But, its more important to keep buying $300 hammers than extending someone's unemployment; more important to buy $2000 toilet seats than help feed hungry inner city kids. Yeah, the conservatives really have their priorities str8.
  • PNWest
    !
    @mtkopf It would be far less hypocritical to be against waste of all sorts. I don't know anyone on the left who supports abuse of the programs meant to help the poor.

  • View all 14 replies >

  • Dan_Tien
    !
    blame trust
    n.
    1. A group of experts who serve, usually unofficially, as advisers on fault allocation, especially in a government
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    I've always said that when you enter office and don't try to change it, you also own that (in your words) lock, stock and barrel
  • u
    seedtick
    !
    @harold_lloyd And, what is your point? Don't you think we all understand what this crap is all about. We don't need your finger shaking. If you voted for the idealog in the White House, then you share a lot of the blame.
  • u
    BelinKS
    !
    Obama is the leader of this country. The republicans voted for the time increase because they were promised the issue would be addressed immediately. Instead Obama and the democrats have been focusing on their own agendas. Not their promise! The buck stops at Obama! He is the one with control to demand that promise be upheld! He did not! Now the s__t is about to hit the fan again. He helped start the mess at the beginning of his presidency and has refused to face it head on to try to fix it.
  • Thegrif
    !
    I say all the money needed is being blown in the form of aid, aid to 150 countries that will never do one thing for America. So before we go cutting social programs or military spending. Lets cut our gift wrapped aid to 75% of the countries on the planet.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    "...all the money needed is being blown in the form of aid..."

    You have no idea how much of the budget goes to foreign aid.

    Find out before you look this silly again.
  • Thegrif
    !
    @harold_lloyd more than enough to save our social programs (head start programs, special ed programs, teacher, etc.), Harold.
    You are the only one lookin silly here Harold.
    You think I sound silly, but find absolutely nothing wrong with America giving assistance in the form of aid to 150 out of 198 countries on the planet.
    You find no problem with America feeding people on the other side of the globe, while children in America don't eat.
    You think it is fine to raise taxes on Americans, while your gov't gives money away around the world.

    Silly? Okay lets go with just calling you silly Harold.
  • Thegrif
    !
    @harold_lloyd 56 billion Harold, and that goes along way towards that 85 billion sequester. But don't talk to me about hurting our own people till you have ended aid to people in some 3rd world country on the other side of the damn earth.
    I say if you or Obama care more about them than you do our own kids, special needs kids, and education for our kids, then you and Obama and anyone else should jump the first plane over there and take care of them.
  • Thegrif
    !
    @harold_lloyd Oh and Harold, you wanna make up the remaining 26-30 million? Round up all the illegals living in America like they aren't common criminals, and throw them back to where ever the hell they came from. The money saved from all the benefits they were getting, that should cover the rest of the sequester money.
  • u
    Buckfan4life2
    !
    Iam so sick that Obama has made this country a total mess and yet he and his media backed propaganda machine consistantly blame the republicans for every fart onleashed in Washinton. We have the very first president that NEVER has to be questioned on anything he says or does and has the media backing his every move. Jesus Christ himself couldn't recieve this kind of love and dedication. I knew the country went mad last Nov 6 when the record of coverups,lies and failures that this man achived in his 4 years in office was flat out ignored and he again reelected. ANYONE but him. And this ol bullshit that this is what the majority of the country wanted is pure crap! 80% of his votes came from people that was getting some sort of gift from him like welfare,Gays, illegal alians and his skin color. Most of his votes were from people that had no clue of his policies or agendas and how bad he screwed up this country in 4 short years and you are an idiot if you think this isn't the truth. Just be honest for once people and answer these questions and tell me that after 4 years of a president telling you he was going to do these 11 things and after 4 years not accomplishing not one of them, would you still voted for him the second if this was someone other than Obama. Remember these?
    THE OBAMA CHRONICLES:
    “I promise 100% transparency in my administration.”.
    “I promise NO NEW TAXES on a family making less than $250K a year.”.
    “I will allow 5 days of public comment before I sign any bills.”.
    “I will remove earmarks from PORK projects before I sign any bill.”.
    “I will end Income Tax for seniors making less than $50K a year.”.
    "I will bring ALL of our troops home within ONE year."
    “I’ll put the Health Care negotiations on CSPAN so everyone can see who is at the table!”.
    “I’ll have no lobbyists in my administration."
    "I'll close Guantanamo."
    "I'll resign if I don't cut the deficit in half by the end of four years."
    "I'll unite the people of this great country."
    BETTER KNOWN AS LIES.
    Please,PLEASE explain to me why you have excused Mr Obama of these when I know no other man would have never been able to have escaped warth of the people and media. Now Iam only looking for an explanation not on my spelling or grammer or how dumb I am. ANYONE?
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    "Obama has made this country a total mess"

    How inane is that.

    Can you think far enough back to remember how he got elected in the first place?

    Two wars on credit, collapsing economy, no Republican with a viable plan, and teabaggers wanting to burn the house down.

    And you're complaining he hasn't made it all better for you?

    It's going to take fifteen years to fix the fiscal mess, and that's if we act efficiently, and act now.
  • mimi57
    !
    @talkenhed Oh sure, I'll believe Maddow , Ed Schultz , Matthews , and the rest of
    those Liberal clowns when Hell freezes over. There's no drop off, it's the Left who is
    doing another phoney 'spin game'...They feel threatened and should.

  • View all 9 replies >

  • cr8z4amerika
    !
    They are all playing all playing politics. But then again this man does have a history of blaming everyone else but himself, personal responsibility is not something that he is accustomed to. Just look at the NDAA. He claimed he was against it, but went ahead and signed it claiming he had reservations about doing so, all the while knowing he had created it. Get real!
  • charlesgreen
    !
    It is the way it has worked for over the two hundreds our great country has been around. The President proposes and the Congress disposes. I am not a tea party guy, but would we been having this discussion today without them. We have been spending every cent we could lay our hands on ever since President Johnson discovered he had a problem. He need more revenue to finance his War in Vietnam and his War on Poverty. Seems the American People was not interested in a tax increase, so he proposed to Congress and Congress passed a bill to start spending the money in the Social Security Account. Wink, wink...We will pay it back later. Now we are not only spending that money, we are borrowing forty cent on a dollar. So if this is the only way we can get a spending cut. I am all for it.
  • RedFloppyShoes
    !
    Because they all pretend to play like that they all have skin in the game, they are all to blame.

    Ironically, none of them have any skin in the game. They all pass the buck
  • DARSB
    !
    Y'know, if the President could have forced Republicans to do anything we wouldn't be facing a sequester right now.
  • u
    whataGOVwehave
    !
    This BS has gone on too long with both sides. It's funny one side of GOV. Is all for the blame game and the other side, what happens to one happens to all. Suits vs. Military.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    Last time I checked and I check often, the "sequester" was the House GOP's baby that they demanded in order to extend the debt ceiling. Now they want to deny it? How, uh, right wing of you. Lie and then lie about the lie.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    "...the "sequester" was the House GOP's baby that they demanded in order to extend the debt ceiling..."

    Talk about an inconvenient truth...
  • Brownie
    !
    I'm going to blame all their behinds. They all work together. They all fall together. That's what they get paid to do. Work crap out. If they can't work it out together. We're wasting out dang money.
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    "If they can't work it out together. We're wasting out dang money."

    That's why I can't understand people supporting the tea party, not 'working it out' is their guiding principle.
  • Brownie
    !
    @harold_lloyd sorry I be Swyping so fast. Maybe, i should proofread. But, I think you're smart enough to figure out what I was swyping.
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