Captain compromise attacked Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, blaming them for Republicans not wanting to ‘compromise’:
NEWSBUSTERS – FRANKLIN FOER, EDITOR NEW REPUBLIC: Are there any forces for reform within the Republican Party, people you’ve been able to establish some sort of working relationship with?
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, look, I’ve always believed that there are a bunch of Republicans of goodwill who would rather get something done than suffer through the sort of nasty atmosphere that prevails in Washington right now. It’s not a fun time to be a member of Congress.
And I think if you talk privately to Democrats and Republicans, particularly those who have been around for a while, they long for the days when they could socialize and introduce bipartisan legislation and feel productive. So I don’t think the issue is whether or not there are people of goodwill in either party that want to get something done. I think what we really have to do is change some of the incentive structures so that people feel liberated to pursue some common ground.
One of the biggest factors is going to be how the media shapes debates. If a Republican member of Congress is not punished on Fox News or by Rush Limbaugh for working with a Democrat on a bill of common interest, then you’ll see more of them doing it.
It’s not a fun time to be a member of Congress.
Newsbusters picked up Greta’s response too:
Apparently President Obama wants his usual media pass and Fox challenges his policies – which happens to be the media’s job.
Frankly, I think a far bigger part of the problem is the disintegration of relationships between politicians. It is also worth noting that President Obama has not developed relationships on Capitol Hill – note that he had to dispatch VP Biden to Capitol Hill for the recent tax debate because he does not have the relationships. […]
And do you know what else? Brace yourself for this one! Some Democrats have told me that they want to come on Fox to discuss issues but they get heat from their Leadership for appearing on Fox. Does President Obama know that? So which Party is intimidating its members? And to say Senator Harry Reid is willing to compromise is just wrong. He has not allowed a budget to get to the Senate Floor for years to even begin a discussion. The budget process is where all compromise begins and ends and ended it before it even got started.
BAM! Greta nails it. And it’s all true. In fact, Republicans are pros at compromising. It’s Democrats, especially Obama, who don’t like to compromise. Otherwise, the fiscal cliff deal would have included real budget cuts.
What an arrogant idiot.