Gregory Scolds Bachmann for Listening to Public Opinion on Debt Ceiling
It appears David Gregory is a bit confused about how our system of government works. During intense questioning of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Sunday's “Meet the Press,” the host scolded his guest for having the nerve to actually care what the American people thought about raising the debt ceiling (video follows with transcript and commentary): DAVID GREGORY, HOST: Let me ask you about the debt ceiling. You were adamantly opposed to raising the debt ceiling. You voted against that. REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MINNESOTA): Mm-hmm. MR. GREGORY: And there's a lot of people who said that was an incredibly reckless thing to do for our economy. REP. BACHMANN: Oh, hardly, hardly. MR. GREGORY: But, wait… REP. BACHMANN: Yeah. MR. GREGORY: …let me just, let me just take you through it. It wasn't just the president of the United States, it was also the chairman of the Federal Reserve, it was the Treasury secretary, it was your entire… REP. BACHMANN: And they've done such a smashing job for us, haven't they? MR. GREGORY: Well, if I can just finish the question. The entire Republican leadership thought that was the wrong thing to do. Major members of the business community in this country thought that was the wrong thing to do. Why should we trust your judgment that that was the right thing to do and not a reckless act… REP. BACHMANN: Because… MR. GREGORY: …on the part of a congresswoman? “Why should we trust your judgment that that was the right thing to do and not a reckless act on the part of a congresswoman?” Before we get to Bachmann's answer, can you imagine Gregory or any member of the mainstream media asking this question of former Senator Hillary Clinton when she was running for president? Or such a question being asked about votes made by other high-profile Democrat women such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), or Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)? But I digress: REP. BACHMANN: It's a great question you're asking, a fantastic question. Because that's the judgment of the people of this country. The people of this country would love to weigh in, and they would love to say, “Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, you're wrong. Mr. President, you're wrong.” And that's what we… MR. GREGORY: But this is why we have elected representatives, Congresswoman… REP. BACHMANN: That's, that's really, that's really… MR. GREGORY: …who actually know the true financial impact of a step like this. Maybe people are against raising the debt ceiling, but the reality is, bipartisan agreement, in the business community saying you don't do that, you don't mess with the full faith and credit of the United States. Would you have voted the same way… REP. BACHMANN: That's right, that's exactly right. MR. GREGORY: …if you were the deciding vote? Actually, we have elected representatives to go to Washington and carry out the wishes of their constituents whenever it's possible. In this instance, the public as measured by a July 12 Gallup poll were strongly opposed to raising the debt ceiling. Such people didn't want the United States to default on its debt. They instead rightly believed there were ample revenues coming in from tax receipts in August to pay the interest on all of our outstanding treasury paper. As such, folks like Bachmann that were against raising the debt ceiling were indeed carrying out the wishes of their constituents without being anywhere near as reckless as the administration and their shills in the media claimed. On top of this, Gregory is certainly no one to point fingers about knowing the “true financial impact” of not raising the debt ceiling as he completely negected to determine that for his viewers when he interviewed treasury secretary Timothy Geithner in July. Maybe if the “Meet the Press” host had grilled Geithner with the same intensity he did Bachmann, the nation would have been far better informed of the “true financial impact” of such a move: REP. BACHMANN: That's right, you don't mess with the full faith and credit of the United States. That's why I introduced the bill that I did that would have prevented any form of default. It's President Obama who failed to put any sort of a plan forward. That's what led to uncertainty. I was at another business here in, in west Des Moines, Competitive Edge, and, and the owner of that company told me that their problem right now is, again, uncertainty and the fact that they didn't know what was going to happen with interest rates, they don't know what's going to happen with Obamacare, and so they're on hold right now for hiring. The president is not sending the right signals. And again, let me just answer your question because you said, well, all the people in Washington said we had to raise the debt ceiling, all the people out in America said don't raise the debt ceiling. That's the problem with Washington. MR. GREGORY: Right. But, but why does that make it… REP. BACHMANN: They're not listening to the people. MR. GREGORY: …why does it make it the right thing to do? I mean… REP. BACHMANN: Well, because, because, because representatives are supposed to represent the people that they serve. The people that they're serving are saying, “You guys don't have it figured out. Stop spending money you don't have.” MR. GREGORY: But so public opinion will be the sole determinant of how you vote on a particular issue? She didn't say it would be the sole determinant, but the wishes of constituents should certainly be a factor in how an elected official votes. Unfortunately since the Democrats took over Congress in 2007 and the White House in 2009, the Left and their media minions have gotten used to their representatives doing whatever they want with total disregard for public opinion. Now that some folks on the right are once again paying attention to the voters, Gregory and his colleagues think it's “reckless.” Quite the contrary, what has been reckless for the past four years is Democrats passing bill after bill with far greater support from the press than the citizenry. That started to change this January, and people like Gregory can't stand it. Of course doing the public's bidding will surely come back in vogue the second it's once again on the side of the Left. Funny how the public is only important when their views mesh nicely with those of so-called journalists. When this isn't the case, these very same citizens become immediately labeled as uninformed and reckless. It's always quite a treat to watch the intellectual capacity of the average American quickly skyrocket when he or she agrees with the prevailing liberal view.
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Gregory Scolds Bachmann for Listening to Public Opinion on Debt Ceiling
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on August 14, 2011. Filed under