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CNN’s Don Lemon Asks Guest: ‘Is Obama More Conservative Than Most People Think?’

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» 33 comments

Depending on whom you ask and what he’s been up to that week, our President ranges from “definitely a socialist” to “quite possibly a moderate conservative.” The latter is a talking point CNN’s Don Lemon brought up during an interview with Demos.org’s Heather McGhee. Lemon’s question was in direct reference to an article by Fiscal Times writer Bruce Bartlett — “Obama: The Covert Conservative Liberals Have to Love” — in which Bartlett writes that “Obama has always been moderately conservative – a fact that has been obvious to liberals dating back to the beginning of the 2008 campaign.”

Lemon had previously (and not entirely seriously) asked a guest whether Obama would do well to run as a conservative in 2012:

When I said to a Democratic congressman last week, because of what happened with this debt ceiling, “Should Obama run as a conservative in 2012?,” I was being a little bit facetious there. Someone took that seriously.

Heather, do you agree with what Mr. Barlett said? Is Obama more conservative than most people think?

McGhee, for one, sides with Bartlett’s assessment:

I think definitely, certainly more conservative than the Republicans sort of like to paint him as. Look, if you look at where he is on, for example, corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are at their lowest share of the economy than they’ve been in generations. And he actually wants to reform the tax code but not raise any more money from corporations. That’s a pretty conservative position.

But this is the problem, is that that he’s never going to get any credit from that from Conservatives because, you know, they’re really very focused on wanting him to fail more than they are wanting the economy and working families to succeed. It’s really quite shocking to watch.

Have a look at the segment, from CNN:

h/t Newsbusters

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  • Anonymous

    If you’re pissing off both extremes on a regular basis, you’re doing something right. (Although one extreme is clearly MUCH more extreme than the other at this point)

  • Anonymous

    The next thing to look for is Al Gore making visits to Iowa and New Hampshire. 

  • Michelle

    I see the It Boy is trying to get his name in the headlines again. 

  • Anonymous

    Obama is only conservative to those ( libs ) who lack the ability to think…….for thmselves or rationally anyway.

  • Anonymous

    No, he is just a massively depraved and incompetent liberal.

  • Anonymous

    More Ronald Reagan comparisons? Save it Lemon, Reagan wasn’t a socialist with Marxist leanings.

  • Frod

    Yeah he really went out on a limb this time didn’t he? Next thing we know he’ll be wrestling dolphins on live television.

  • Moderate

    Obama is very Liberal that tries to be a Moderate when it benefits him, this pisses off both Liberals and Moderates. 

  • Anonymous

    I think that people need to stop looking at what parties espouse and actually look at what they do. Not raising taxes on corporations doesn’t make him liberal or conservative. It just exposes the fact that there is a disconnect between political platforms and political policies.

  • Anonymous

    Is Dawn Lemon more ladylike than most people think?

  • Anonymous

    Sometimes Don Lemon is just flat out hilarious. Conservative…that’s a hoot!

  • Anonymous

    Sometimes Don Lemon is just flat out hilarious. Conservative…that’s a hoot!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Steven-Tyler/100001071466947 Steven Tyler

    He is such an attention starved queen. Dig the glasses fag

  • Frod

    I think Steven Tyler needs a cuddle

  • Frod

    In an elevator

  • Anonymous

    I bet you $1000 dollars that you can’t find one example of extremism on the right.  Of course I’ll bitch out and not pay up when you produce evidence.

  • Anonymous

    This is the funniest thing I have seen all day. Don is sooo stupid, earlier in the same piece Don asked an economic analyst if the dow futures have ever dipped 200 before LOL, the analyst had to laugh at him a bit.

  • Anonymous

    Way more.

  • Anonymous

    Can’t stop thinking about that gay sex can ya?

  • Good ‘Ol Grover

    Tax cuts are part of Keynesian theory; they are not inherantly right-wing.

  • Anonymous

    CNN’s Don Lemon Asks Guest: ‘Is Obama More Conservative Than Most People Think?

    No.  Liberals simply don’t know how to categorize Obama’s failure, so they call it conservatism.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s see, “health care reform” that protects Wall Street more than main street and workers, extends Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, 16 trillion in corporate welfare for banks, constantly compromising with right wing ideologues – I’d say it’s unequivocal he’s a conservative and a huge disappointment to actual liberals.

    But far be it from me to spoil anyone’s simplistic self serving talking points.   

  • Anonymous

    Haven’t seen you lately.  

    Your response to Lemmon is perfect.  Well done.  

  • expatpatriot

    He’s sure as hell more conservative than I thought I was getting. I thought I was voting for a moderate Democrat. Turns out he’s a right-of-center Republican.

    That having been said, I’ll vote for a right-of-center Republican who’s not batshit insane over a wingnut who is.

  • Anonymous

    Obama’s healthcare plan is a carbon copy of the Republicans’ 1993 healthcare plan….and Romneycare.   Except the Republican plan had a public option.

    But what happens when you offer up Republican plans 15 years later?  It’s “socialism”!

  • Anonymous

    Please…it’s just freaks you wingnuts out that Obama and St. Ronnie have so many things in common.

  • Anonymous

    Question:  What does a repudiated, far left, Democrat-Socialist look like, to a Leftist/Socialist?

    Answer:  A “right-of-center Republican.”

    Fortunately, so far the men and women who stand with the Founding Fathers, The Constitution and Liberty have held off the latest and most effective attack on America, yet!

    If Obama is a political casualty, so be it.  This turmoil has devolved into a civil war of ideology and wisdom.  There will be casualties.

    Purveyor  

  • expatpatriot

    Not exactly. By my political map, I’m a moderate Democrat, just a tad to the left of what I *thought* Obama was pitching himself as. I’m a bit more liberal on social policy and closely aligned with fiscal and governance that I perceive as sitting just left of center.

    Obama’s curse has been to be more flexible and reasonable than his opponents, in a political season where no one on the right is going to be rewarded for reasonableness — in fact, they’d get their faces ripped off for even trying to be reasonable. The effect has been a series of strong lurches to the right, despite the fact that the American people don’t approve of the policies now being taken for granted.

    Obama would be much better off if he was more intransigent himself.

    Where the danger lies is if Obama is wiped out in 2012 (even by someone apparently sane, like Romney) and/or Republicans take over the Senate, the aftermath will make Alaric’s sack of Rome look like a Sunday school social. The Tea Party zealots will own the town and will dismantle or simply destroy all social progress that’s been won over the last hundred years, and in the process will wreck the economy too.

    You have to understand, from my point of view the Tea Party adherents in Congress are not metaphorically insane, but literally insane, in that they reject the good along with the bad and just want to pull the house down. Needless to say, I find nihilism a pretty horrendous way to govern, not to mention opening up the body politic to invasion by fascists and demagogues.

  • Anonymous

    Here’s what I’ve been able to determine from your writings just now.

    People shouldn’t think they own their own political map.

  • caconservative

    This is an obvious attempt to remake Obimbo’s socialist image. Conservative-Socialist, isn’t that an oxymoron? This clown president is pulling out all the stops to try and save his chances for reelection. TOO late chump!!

  • caconservative

    This is an obvious attempt to remake Obimbo’s socialist image. Conservative-Socialist, isn’t that an oxymoron? This clown president is pulling out all the stops to try and save his chances for reelection. TOO late chump!!

  • expatpatriot

    Interesting. Why not?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bob-Uda/1044488632 Bob Uda

    Far from it.  He is a Marxist-socialist.  The Democrat Party should look for a replacement for Obama in the 2012 election–if they ever expect to have a chance.  The political tsunami is coming!

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