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Tag Archives: David Plouffe

Plouffe Suggests Issa May be a Criminal

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The kerfuffle over House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s calling White House Press Secretary Jay Carney a liar is nothing compared to the ugly Chicago, Alinskyite politics that reared its head in response.

The very president who was supposed to be above something as pedestrian as politics has shown once again that he is in fact the ugliest practitioner of it since Richard Nixon.

“Strong words from Mr Grand Theft Auto and suspected arsonist/insurance swindler. And loose ethically today,” tweeted David Plouffe Sunday in response to news that Issa had called into question Carney’s honesty.

Obama and PlouffePlouffe’s slimy remark refers to dropped charges against Issa in the 1970s that he and his brother stole a car, and the claim of a former owner of one of Issa’s companies that Issa had intentionally burned it down. Issa was never charged with wrongdoing in the latter case. But that’s of no concern to the White House.

Plouffe, after having spearheaded the 2008 campaign and then served as Obama’s senior advisor in the White House, is today a private citizen. But thinking of him as apart from Obama’s orbit is like saying your brother’s out of the family because he went to college.

Like the Clintonites before them, the Obama White House uses outside advisors as attack dogs to keep itself looking clean. Carney Monday refused to comment on Plouffe’s remarks, as if they had originated from Mars.

But unlike other outside hit men, Plouffe is really something different.

Once in late 2009, in the White House press office, I looked up at the TV and saw a report on something controversial that was in a book just published by Plouffe, “The Audacity to Win.” I glanced over at couple of Obama press aides and said, “Is the rabbi going to be happy?” referring to Obama.

They laughed. One of them said, “He is the rabbi,” referring to Plouffe.

Plouffe is not just some former paid hack. He has served at the right hand of the president of the United States, and perhaps more than anyone is responsible for Obama getting to the Oval Office in the first place.

Given the power Plouffe wielded and probably continues to wield – who in the White House, including the president, would refuse his phone call? – the notion that he will be engaged in sordid personal attacks should be pretty disconcerting.

It’s reasonable to conclude that Ploufffe doesn’t do things that won’t be well received in the White House, and that many things he does might even have been run up the West Wing flagpole first.

This is effectively Obama roughing up his chief antagonist on Capitol Hill in the most coarse and malignant manner. It’s a sure signal to other White House allies, on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, to begin trying to destroy Issa.

And it’s a desecration of Obama’s office. Then again, that’s nothing much new.

But more interestingly, it may be a sign that the White House is much more gravely concerned about Issa than it lets on.

Video || Nice Rove-Plouffe Smackdown

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Thought you might want to see this nasty little spat between the two premier political operators of the last 20 years, Democrat David Plouffe and Republican Karl Rove. Both elected and then reelected presidents, Plouffe of course handling the Obama portfolio while Rove batted for Bush.

The tussle is over the IRS targeting of conservatives. “This was not a political pursuit,” says Plouffe.

“Baloney,” retorts Rove. Nice to see an Obama flacker called on his spin in less-than-impolite and unambiguous terms.

Plouffe to “Advise” Bloomberg Television

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The man who has arguably been President Obama’s most important political advisor has been hired by a supposedly nonpartisan major mainstream media outlet to serve as a “strategic advisor.”

David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 campaign and then served as senior White House advisor from January 2011 – January 2013, will also provide on-air commentary for the network as part of his employment agreement.

The decision to hire Plouffe adds not just a partisan cast to Bloomberg, but also puts within its ranks a man who likely still seeks to promote Obama and advance his interests.

From an announcement by Bloomberg:

As contributor, Plouffe will appear regularly on Bloomberg Television to offer analysis and commentary on political and business issues as they impact the intersection of Wall Street, Main Street and K Street and will lend his expertise to the discussion of technology, demographic changes and crisis management. In addition, Plouffe, widely hailed as the architect of President Obama’s two victories, will serve in an advisory capacity for the network.

Plouffe recently attended the “Founders Summit” kickoff meeting in Washington for Organizing for Action, the mass organization that will seek to move Obama’s agenda forward.

White House Contempt for Average Americans

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It’s not pleasant to be reminded that the White House is dripping with contempt for average citizens.

Tweets issued over the weekend by former White House senior adviser David Plouffe and his replacement, Dan Pfeiffer, shed some light on how President Obama and his top advisers view their opponents.

Not just their political opponents. Their doubters and detractors among the public.

Perhaps you have seen these juvenile messages that Plouffe and Pfeiffer dispatched Saturday mocking anyone who would suggest that the photo of Obama shooting skeet at Camp David was doctored.

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Screen Shot 2013-02-04 at 6.36.22 PM

Screen Shot 2013-02-04 at 6.33.15 PMFor the record, no, I don’t believe the picture was photoshopped. And I never thought Obama was born in Kenya.

But given all the lies and deceptions that have come out of this White House and the fantastic frauds that have been perpetrated by previous White Houses, people can be excused for having a healthy suspicion of their leaders.

A president has to be president of all the people, even those who doubt him. And even those who hate him.

Pfeiffer with Obama
Pfeiffer with Obama

This president loves to think of himself as a modern day Lincoln. But Lincoln took a magnanimous position not just toward his opponents in the North, but even toward the Southerners who were in armed rebellion against him.

This president is no Lincoln, nothing like him. He presides over a petty, fully politicized White House that has real hatred toward people it is responsible for governing.

Obama himself once counseled Hispanic voters to punish their “enemies.” That Pfeiffer and Plouffe would gleefully take to Twitter to mock those who might be suspicious the photograph – and by suggestion those who believed Obama’s birth certificate to be false – is a pure reflection of the contempt that animates this White House.

It’s no coincidence that Obama and his advisers can’t establish any kind of relationship with conservatives. They hate conservatives, and they want to crush them.

Obama and Plouffe
Obama and Plouffe

Frankly, I respect people with strong opinions. Unlike Bill Clinton, who was essentially a chameleon, Obama is a true liberal with a deep intellectual understanding of the principles that guide him.

It’s unfortunate, and even disconcerting, that he doesn’t respect the views of others, and that he surrounds himself with people who would demean American citizens from their lofty perches of power.

It’s one thing to play for keeps. But poor sportsmanship, at this level, is unacceptable.

Obama is the most successful liberal of his generation. As president, he is making serious changes in the direction of this country. But Lincoln, he is not.

Obama Campaign Shifts Into Extreme Attack Mode

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With its candidate having been swamped in the debate by an aggressive and articulate Gov. Mitt Romney, the Obama campaign is switching fully into attack mode, moving beyond earlier assaults on Romney’s business record and wealth toward a new drive to destroy his character.

Casting completely aside the Obama 2008 brand of a hopeful unifier, Obama’s operatives Thursday dived straight the jugular, working on multiple fronts to brand Romney a liar. The campaign, Obama aides made clear, would henceforth be conducted exclusively Chicago style.

In a vicious and personal assault rarely conducted at the highest level of U.S. politics, White House senior adviser David Plouffe repeatedly told reporters aboard Air Force One that Romney was “dishonest.” With the president of the United States in a cabin just a few steps away, his top adviser pushed out the new campaign theme that the man who had bested him in the debate Wednesday night is an untrustworthy scoundrel.

Generally presidential campaigns leave such personal attacks to surrogates, at least preserving the appearance that presidential candidates are above such things

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki opened Plouffe’s remarks by airing for reporters the new Obama campaign ad, “Trust,” which claims that Romney is lying about his tax plan and can’t be trusted to be president.

On a separate front, top campaign adviser David Axelrod convened a phone call with reporters telling them that the “question” for them “is really one of character and whether or not a candidacy that’s so fundamentally rooted in hiding the truth and the facts from the American people and deception is the basis of trust on which you assign the presidency to a person.”

Axelrod announced that this would be the new theme of the Obama campaign. “That is what we are going to focus on moving forward,” he said.

Plouffe to Reporters: Taste My Sour Grapes

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Obviously bitter about President Obama’s losing performance in Wednesday night’s debate, senior White House political adviser David Plouffe today repeatedly called Gov. Mitt Romney a liar.

I’ve never heard so much whining and or seen such unprofessional bad form from a top presidential campaign official. And the bar for that sort of stuff is pretty low.

There must be some real nervousness in the Obama camp, because they’re now simply flinging epithets. It’s thoroughly undignified, though not terribly surprising coming out of this White House .

Plouffe spoke to reporters today aboard Air Force One. From the pool report:

“The remarkable thing was that the centerpiece of his campaign, and of his economic strategy, he tried to pretend didn’t exist last night.”

Plouffe said that was evidence of Romney’s “dishonesty.”

“One of things we’re going to have to adjust to is that dishonesty,” he said.

“It’s hard to remember a time in American politics where you had someone who’s a major nominee for the presidency, being that fundamentally dishonest toward parts of his campaign platform.”

Plouffe repeated his sense of amazement that Romney said he didn’t have $5 trillion tax cut . . .

“Romney’s performance was one that’s probably unprecedented in its dishonesty,” he said . . .

“We are obviously going  to have to adjust for the fact of Mitt Romney’s dishonesty.”

Plouffe called Romney’s performance “theatrically aggressive” but then contradicted himself, saying, “We expected an aggressive Mitt Romney. That’s who he is.”

Awww, Mitt is one of those aggressive types, is he? Not what you want in a president, I guess.

“He performed better than people expected,” said Plouffe, “because recent history would suggest he might start off by insulting half the country.”

Snippy. Apparently the captain of Air Obama isn’t used to a little flight turbulence.

Plouffe, just prepare your guy better next time and stop insulting yourself by calling the GOP presidential nominee a liar.

 The Romney campaign should be encouraged that the Obama people seem so rattled. They may start to make mistakes.

Obama to Give Catholics a Present

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The White House today announced that President Obama is planning on buying Catholics a present to make them feel better in the aftermath of a an administration decision to require Catholic institutions to provide employees with free birth control.

“It will be a beautiful gift,” said Obama in an interview with Diane Sawyer, who looked on lovingly at the president as he described searching Amazon for something “meaningful and expensive.” Said the president: “I mean, it will be at least $25 so I can get the free shipping, but probably much, much more.”

Obama refused to reveal any details about the gift itself, even declining to say which Amazon category he will ordering from. “I want it to be a surprise,” he said.

Obama acknowledged he had underestimated how much Catholics care about their religion.

“My political adviser, David Plouffe, told me his polling had shown that people stopped clinging to their bibles in 2010,” Obama said. “I mean, I thought the small people had  advanced in their thinking by now, after three years of listening to me. But I believe everybody has a right to live in the Dark Ages, and just to show I love them anyway, I’m getting them a gift.”

Obama apparently will not select the button on Amazon that would have the gift wrapped. A lucky Associated Press photographer photographed Michelle Obama Thursday shopping at Target for wrapping paper.

Meanwhile, an unusual coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Evangelical, gay and lesbian, transgender, Native American, and women’s groups vehemently condemned Obama’s plan to purchase a present of Catholics.

“Oh, so we don’t get a gift, is that it?” said the group’s spokeswoman, Arlene Quibblesworth. “Nothing for us? Can you imagine how we’re all going to feel when the Catholics are opening their gift and we’re just sitting there without anything? This is clearly establishment of religion, by the way.”

The White House signalled it was also ready to potentially relax some of the requirements of the new rule, or at least to give Catholic organizations a way to pretend they are not supporting birth control.

“We’re going to work out an arrangement with Catholics where they won’t have to compromise all of their principles – just some of them,” Obama told Sawyer.

In a conference call with reporters, a senior White House aide denied the arrangement would have any impact on the president’s determination that nothing should impede free love.

“The president is firm in his conviction that people must be allowed to have all the sex they want at the lowest cost possible,” he said. “This is an important Constitutional principle that was established in the 1960s by The Beatles. It supersedes nebulous concepts like the free exercise of religion, especially after a couple of drinks.”

The official, who declined to be named but who claimed to be supine while on the phone, added that the issue wasn’t just about the rights of women, but the rights of men as well.

“How can we tell all these studs who want to sleep with dozens of women that they should have to risk knocking one of them up?” he said.

A spokesman for the Vatican described White House efforts to placate Catholics as unsatisfactory.

“While we of course are looking forward to our gift, we continue to believe Catholic institutions should not be forced to pay for birth control,” he said.

A Grim Encounter for Michelle

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The scene is the first lady’s office in the East Wing of the White House. Two of President Obama’s top political advisers, David Axelrod and David Plouffe, have stopped by for a chat about Michelle’s spending habits. ************ Axelrod: Mrs. Obama, we want to talk to you about, you know, um . . . Michelle:… Continue Reading

“What?? No Econ Briefing? You Morons!”

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At 6:53 pm this evening, I received this schedule from the White House: 9:30AM        In-Town Travel Pool Call Time 11:50PM        THE PRESIDENT meets with his National Security Team                         Situation Room Closed Press 3:30PM         THE PRESIDENT departs the White House en route Andrews Air Force Base                        … Continue Reading

Obama Ditches Mao Suit, Dons Epaulets

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In 2008, America elected Comrade Obama. He promised to spread the wealth around, to raise taxes on the Kulaks, to usher in hope and change and to improve the condition of the common man. He’d create universal health care and save the environment. Forget all that. The economy is not doing well. The environment for… Continue Reading

Plouffe Engineers New White House Order

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Want to make sure you have the opportunity to check out today’s piece by Glenn Thrush in Politico about David Plouffe, the new senior White House adviser. Plouffe is described as a kind of Rahm in Reverse, harboring the former chief of staff’s intensity but channeling it into a low key, highly organized disposition. Plouffe,… Continue Reading

Massive White House Turnover a Smart Move

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POLITICO’s Carol Lee and Glenn Thrush have a good piece up this morning on who’s in the running for various positions in the West Wing. This amounts to the most sweeping turnover in a West Wing that I’ve ever seen. Almost everyone is changing jobs or leaving, except the president. It looks like Valerie Jarrett… Continue Reading