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Debbie Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks dictatorship spark panic'

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz says GOP seeks dictatorship spark panic'

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'This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship, said Debbie Wasserman Schultz. | AP Photo By MIKE ALLEN | 7/27/11 5:52 PM EDT

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Wednesday that House Republicans are trying to impose dictatorshipthrough their tactics in the debt-ceiling negotiations. She said the GOP rhetoric could spark panic and chaos,which she called potentially devastatingto the economy. The chair telephoned POLITICO to express significant disappointment in where Republicans have allowed this debate to degenerate. Arent we at the point where the closer we get to chaos, the more concern that there should be about coming to the table and compromising with Democrats?Wasserman Schultz asked. This is not leadership. This is almost like dictatorship. I know they want to force the outcome that their extremists would like to impose. But they are getting ready to spark panic and chaos, and they seem to be OK with that. And its just really disappointing, and potentially devastating.

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Specifically, Wasserman Schultz cited a movie clip House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) had played Tuesday during a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference. The brief clip was from The Town,and Republicans said it was intended to send the message that were all in this together. The DNC chair said: They start the day with trying to incite their caucus with, essentially, violent movie clips pushing their people to inflict pain and hurt people. Michael Steel, press secretary to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), responded: Given how serious the situation is and the situation is serious why is she spending time complaining about Kevin McCarthys taste in movies? Wasserman Schultz continued: What should be happening is what weve been ready to do for months. Ideally, what should be happening is a big deal a big solution for a big problem, as the president has pushed for. At this point, its probable that were too close to the breaking point on Tuesday for that to happen. At the very least, we should come to the table and hammer out a compromise that has the balance in it that the overwhelming majority of the American people want and not just pile all

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the pain on seniors, on children, on the middle class and working families. Its just shockingly irresponsible that the closer we get to the breaking point here, the more irresponsible and the closer they are to pushing us to chaos, as if that is the desired outcome. Wasserman Schultz concluded: Weve been sitting at the compromise table for a long time. Were just waiting for that cold chair to be warmed up by the Republican leadership. They still have time to do the right thing and be responsible. They just seem to be moving further and further away from it.
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Readers' Comments (318)

Pollitico
Reply #1 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:01 PM EST Deal or no deal?

Chubby Party: Conservative

Whose deficit-cutting plan do you support?

j k l m n

House Speaker John Boehner's. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's. Somebody else's. Nobody's - Congress should raise the debt ceiling now and then come up with a bipartisan plan. It doesn't matter - Congress shouldn't raise the debt ceiling under any circumstance. I'm not sure.

Dictatorship?

j k l m n
She has become so insane...she cannot be taken seriously...and really has become a bit of a bore....

j k l m n j k l m n

The Left believes...incorrectly...that they make as much sense as those polemicists on the Right.

j k l m n

kevin777 Party: Independent

Reply #2 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:06 PM EST

j k l m n

Sounds similar to a dictatorship.

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Wuerking Drawings
Larry Darrell Party: NA Reply #3 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:07 PM EST

See all

Good to see Democrats' affirmative action picks coming back to bite them in the backside. This woman, totally out of her depth, was picked because of her sex and because of her religion - to pull the wool over jews' eyes about Obama's anti-Israeli sentiments. Problem is, she generally comes across as overly strident, immature and unprepared. I have seen her on TV several times literally sobbing her eyes out and wailing about some bleeding heart cause.

Valo Party: N/A

Reply #4 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:07 PM EST

Wasserman-Schultz is mentally ill.

jhoger Party: Liberal

Reply #5 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:10 PM EST

Dictatorship is exactly right. The House leadership is trying to roll the President, the Senate, and the American people by using extreme economic force: threatening to tank the economy for a decade if they don't get their way. That's not compromise. It's forcing capitulation of the rest of the government. There is no negotiation happening, they are using force.

The Last Brain Left Party: Independent

Reply #6 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:12 PM EST

This chick is crazy. I mean certifiably insane.

Cornell Party: NA

Reply #7 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:15 PM EST

I will vote for the debt ceiling being raised if someone gives Debbie a hair dryer and makes her use it. No woman should be allowed to look that way in this century. Yellow brillow.

Rigoman33 Party: Independent

Reply #8 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:16 PM EST

"Wasserman Schultz concluded: Weve been sitting at the compromise table for a long time. Were just waiting for that cold chair to be warmed up by the Republican leadership." Seriously? The Republicans have tossed out plan after plan. Dems and WH? Crickets until Reid put out his plan just recently. Boehner tossed out another plan but blew the scoring with the CBO. Come to think of it, so did Reid with his plan by 500 Billion (oops). So who's been warming what chair for whom??

Barkoff Party: NA

Reply #9 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:16 PM EST

Since when is one branch of the government a dictatorship? Well Ms. Wasserman, maybe you democrats should have got off of your asses when you had all three branches...but then you wouldn't have anyone to blame for your failures, would you?

jgalt11 Party: Independent

Reply #10 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:16 PM EST

more dumb*** rhetoric from Debbie Downer...

ttgg Party: Democrat

Reply #11 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:17 PM EST

she is a trouble maker. An alarmist. Obama has clear designs on becomeing a dictator and she hopes to be one of his ladies in waiting......

Rick1923 Party: NA

Reply #12 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:17 PM EST

This "woman" needs to be locked up in a padded cell. This is stark, naked, hatred being spewed by the hideous creature.

rplatt1 Party: NA

Reply #13 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:17 PM EST

Wasserman is a certified idiot and a left wing zealot.

Cornell Party: NA

Reply #14 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:17 PM EST

Didn't the DNC produce a commercial that has a man throwing a wheelchair bound elderly woman off a cliff?

Tadpole Party: Republican

Reply #15 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:18 PM EST

@jhoger The House is the one entity that has actually put forth and passed legislation. About the time the Democrats either a) put a plan on the table (yes, in writing) or b) allow the Cut, Cap, and Balance legislation to be debated, amended, and voted on (totally up to Harry Reid), then maybe I'll give two seconds consideration to what they are saying about doing something about the debt and raising the debt ceiling. It's not about compromise, it's about negotiation. Harry Reid calling legislation DOA is NOT negotiation - it's asking the Republicans to come up with an alternative without offering one of their own. Sad sad sad.

A Teachable moment Party: NA

Reply #16 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:18 PM EST

Typical Dem name call , and offers no answers go away idiot

rplatt1 Party: NA

Reply #17 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:18 PM EST

And you are living is some parallel universe if you really believe that tripe.

HPP Party: Republican

Reply #18 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:19 PM EST

President Obama's Monday Night Speech Was A Cry For Help! The fact of the matter is that whether the U.S. federal government makes all its debt payments in August is beside the point. The main problem is that the U.S. federal government has become heavily overborrowed. As Pimco bond king Bill Gross said last month, the U.S. is in worse shape than Greece. That perspective is easily understood when one considers not only the federal government's $14.3 trillion debt, but that it also has $18 trillion in unfunded Social Security liabilities, plus over $36 trillion in unfunded Medicare liabilities. Indeed, the U.S. government is broke, it is running $1 trillion-plus deficits for the third fiscal year running, and President Barack Hussein Obama's administration does not have a clear or plausible short-term or midterm plan for controlling either these deficits or how to finance all the debt that is coming due. The U.S. federal government should not have a AAA rating, on the basis of its immediate payments and liquidity situation, and its credit fundamentals.

The Obama Administration needs to become seriously interested in economic stabilization policy, and quickly. It started to do this at the beginning of its tenure, but then veered off course by pressing for the biggest increase in federal entitlements in two generations, i.e., Obamacare, which was the wrong thing to do. Now the federal government is having payments problems from having spent too much, and having been too expansive in both its monetary and fiscal policies, and it is clear that the status quo has become very unsustainable. Mr. Obama should quit thinking about new spending programs like high speed rail projects and attacking Libya. The Obama Administration needs to think about how to restore confidence in the federal government's credit, and in how to stabilize the U.S. dollar, and how to restore stability and faith in the U.S. as a private sector investment environment and location. If it doesn't know what to do, it can ask the International Monetary Fund for help. The IMF has many professionals who are experts at helping countries stabilize their economies.

If the Obama Administration is too proud to seek help from the IMF, it should get on the phone and call the Brazilian government. Brazil too has many experts in economic stabilization policy, people who have had a lot of very successful first person experience. Chile is also a country which has been extremely creative in turning around a situation which was once considered a completely bankrupt public sector, to one of the strongest, best-managed public sectors in the world.

Mr. Obama, your administration needs help! You need to realize that the federal government can't just spend the nation out of its serious economic problems. That approach has been tried many times, and often does not work! Ask for help! Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/s...

TruNYC Party: Independent

Reply #19 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:19 PM EST

You have to give them credit.. Since 2000 they have tried to destroy this country by any means... looks like they are going to accomplish their goals.

Barkoff Party: NA

Reply #20 Jul. 27, 2011 - 6:19 PM EST

How can we take serious a bunch that preaches fiscal responsibility and then refuses to consider a Balance Budget Amendment?

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