[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.
I’m not sure if this reflects a bad link on Hot Air’s part, or whether the AP’s Erica Werner really did drastically did rewrite this article between 10:35 PM and 12:52 AM. Compare two equivalent passages for an idea of how extensive the latter would have been.
Original (WaPo, supposedly; copy found at Breitbart)
Obama used the same language toward Republicans as he did toward extremists in the Muslim world in his inaugural address. Of Republicans, he said Wednesday, “We extend a hand and get a fist in return.” In his inaugural address last year, he said the United States “will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
WaPo’s version:
The president said he meant it when he told House Republicans that he wants to work with them. Then he sharply added: “We’ll call them out when they say they want to work with us, and we extend a hand and get a fist in return.”
The rest of the piece is like that, of course. I’m singling out Erica Werner because she’s listed on the WaPo article as a contributor to the article, but not what looks to be the original: if this was a rewrite, presumably she had a busy night*. Or somebody did. If we start seeing articles being rewritten hastily after they show up in major blogs, well, then we’ll know. And need to start screenshotting again, of course.
As to the specific bit here about how the President thinks of my party in the same terms as he does of armed terrorists who take special care to murder women and homosexuals… well, let me put it this way. The first draft of this post was a satirical apologia for President Obama’s repeated attacks on Las Vegas. I was going to excuse him for it because he had been raised in a profoundly insular, somewhat xenophobic, and definitely rigid sub-culture that was notoriously intellectually indifferent to the belief structures of other groups: in short, he was a typical urban academic. I couldn’t make it work, and I couldn’t figure out why.
I have now figured out why: I wasn’t being satirical. It was all true.
Moe Lane
*I’d really like to believe that this was a bad link on HA’s part, but I can’t, quite.
Crossposted to RedState.
Either way, this kind of talk is not going to endear Obama or the Democrats to independents and moderates come election time. I can imagine them reading this and shaking their heads. He just doesn’t get it.
I mean, come on. If a bill is so unpopular with voters that you can’t pass it with 60 Senators (or 59 for that matter), a large margin in the House, and the presidency, then maybe it isn’t such a great idea after all? Has that thought even crossed Obama’s mind?
It’s all in Saul Alinsky’s book.
Yes indeed, for the past year the Dhimmicrats have been extending a hand to the Republicans, the hand on the chest saying you can’t go in here…and the President sure sounded seemed a lot more angry about the Republicans standing in the way of “change” than he does when talking about Islamic terrorists.
The Washington Post AND The NYTimes does this all the time… there needs to be a wiki like system to keep track of changes on news stories…
IS it time to call Obama the “Saul Alinsky” president? If so, he is proving Saul Alinsky is a flop. Just can’t handle people who stand up and confront him.
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! I really like your blog!!
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com
ps. Link Exchange?
This oligarch does not differentiate between command and demand so does not see the folly of his so called “outreach.”
This entry for synonyms for oligarch says it all:
“Part of Speech: noun
Definition: absolute ruler
Synonyms: Hitler, absolutist, adviser, authoritarian, autocrat, boss, chief, commander, despot, disciplinarian, fascist, leader, magnate, mogul, oligarch, oppressor, ringleader, slavedriver, totalitarian, tycoon, tyrant, usurper”
Sound familiar?
When you quite literally lock the door in the faces of the Republicans and will not even permit them into the room when you are discussing a pending bill, then it takes a special kind of hubris to describe it was “extending one’s hand” and receiving a fist in return. Or a stone liar who thinks we’re all utterly stupid. We’re not!
Mr. President, quit playing politics for five minutes, open an honest dialogue with our side of the aisle and you may find that something good comes of it. Or continue as you have done and find yourself a one-term president with a relentlessly hostile Congress comprised of Republicans who can quote your own words back to you: “Elections have consequences. We won!”