Gibbs on Tea Parties, DHS Report

RUSH: Robert Gibbs, the most brilliant, the brightest, the most effective press secretary ever in American history, according to the Drive-By Media, had his White House press briefing this afternoon. We have some sound bites. Question from Jake Tapper at ABC News: ‘Does the White House have any response to the tea party protest going on across the street and in other parts of the country?’

GIBBS: I don’t know if there’s a specific response to protests as much as there is, uh, I think you saw the president today talk about as candidate Obama promising to bring a tax cut to 95% of working families in America, and as president, delivering, uh, that tax cut. The president promised significant tax relief for working families in this country and in the first month of his administration delivered just that to the American people.

RUSH: Thirteen bucks. It goes to eight bucks in January. It’s not even a tax cut. Next question, Ed Henry from CNN: ‘On what the president said today, that if you’re making 250 grand a year or less your taxes aren’t going to go up period. Part of the criticism, if you smoke cigarettes, taxes did go up after the president signed the children’s health bill. How do you square those two?’

GIBBS: People make a decision to smoke. People get on airlines and pay taxes to land a plane at O’Hare or in Washington. Those people also got a tax cut. I don’t know how much they smoke. I guess that depends on the individual consumption of nicotine habits involved in those at tea parties around the country. Maybe on a rainy day such as today one might light up a few more times in hopes of surviving the drizzle.

RUSH: The caustic hatred coming out of the White House. He’s asked a legitimate question about how can you say 95% of the American people got a tax cut, everybody knows the vast majority of poor people are the ones that smoke, taxes went up sky-high for them after the recently imposed April 1st increase on tobacco. Here’s Gibbs saying, ‘Well, depends on the individual consumption and nicotine habits involved in those at the tea parties around the country.’ So he’s making fun of the poor! Gotta love this guy. Savannah Guthrie, NBC. ‘Do you think these tea parties reflect a genuine grassroots sentiment out there, a frustration with the president’s tax policies, or is it something that’s contrived?’

GIBBS: Well, you can speak to the organizers, I guess, on the — whether they’re contrived. I think the statistics I read I think are pretty clear. If you make — if you’re — if you’re one of the — if you’re one of the 95% of working families in this country, I think it’s that earns less than $200,000 a year, you’ve seen a tax cut. I’ll let the organizers of whatever these are speak to their motivations. I think they can be reasonably assured, though, maybe they fall outside the window of making a quarter of a million dollars —

RUSH: Bob, what the hell is it? They’re either smokers who are lining up to smoke cigarettes to get their nicotine fix at the tea parties, the vast majority of people in this country that smoke are poor, or now they’re rich people making over 200 grand a year, 250. Bob and the media are missing the point here. This is not just about tax cuts. It is the destruction of the foundation of the country. It is all of this debt being piled up on every future generation we can think of. All of this needless, unnecessary spending that is simply enlarging the role of government in people’s lives. These tea party protests are essentially aimed at restoring individual liberty and freedom and stopping this massive assault on it. That’s what the tea parties are about. Next question came from an unidentified reporter: ‘There has been quite a strong reaction to the story that we ran yesterday about this DHS report, right-wing radical groups. You’re with the president a bit. Is this on his radar? Does he feel like the concerns have been raised are legitimate? Does he think that it’s an overreaction, or is it just not on his radar?’ See, we predicted this. Does Obama know about the DHS report? It is Obama’s DHS report! The DHS report calling every mainstream conservative a right-wing extremist is who Barack Obama is. So here’s a dunce reporter, ‘Does Obama know about this? I mean, is this even on his radar?’

GIBBS: I haven’t spoken specifically to him about the report. I think the secretary of Homeland Security has and will make a statement about this today.

RUSH: Wow, this is reminiscent about when Janet Waco conducted the Reno invasion, and Clinton went out there, (impersonating Clinton) ‘You have to talk to Janet Waco about that. I have no idea. You gotta go talk to attorney general. That Reno invasion, I was minding my own business, I was in the White House. Actually, I was in a little room off the White House, and I heard that Janet Waco went in there, the tanks and gunfire, so I figured there must be a legitimate reason for it, but you gotta go talk to her.’ Does Obama know about the DHS report? What does he think of it? You know, with this bunch, I hate it when I’m right. I hate it. It infuriates me.