Bill Kristol and Former Obama Speechwriter Brawl Over Who’s Winning the Shutdown
The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol and Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, engaged in a tense back and forth over which political party is more effectively winning over the public during the government shutdown. Kristol told Favreau that he was glad Bill Clinton was not in office because he would be more effective at winning the public over to his side.
Favreau began by saying that the GOP has a hill to climb in order to regain the public trust because they did not want the shutdown in order to defund the Affordable Care Act to begin with.
CNN host Jake Tapper revealed that he has heard from a number of GOP lawmakers who want the shutdown to end as quickly and painlessly as possible. Kristol dismissed their concerns.
“A lot of those Republicans are the same Republicans who thought Mitt Romney ran a brilliant campaign and you don’t need to actually fight and every fight you get into is going to be a replay of 1996, where Republicans lost,” Kristol said.
He noted that the fallout from a shutdown that was predicted – the economy would flounder and the Republicans would take significant heat from the public – has not materialized. Kristol added that the GOP’s strategy of forcing Democrats to vote down spending bill that would fund the National Institutes of Health or national monuments “are creating problems for the Democrats.”
He added that the strategy of enforcing the closure of open-air monuments made the White House “seem a little petty.”
RELATED: Obama Responds to Anonymous Quote: ‘No One is Winning’ If Shutdown Continues
“When you shut down the government — when Republicans choose to shut down the government — the government shuts down,” Favreau countered. “The World War II Memorial shuts down…”
“It’s open. It’s on the Mall. They had to build a fence,” Kristol shot back. “You think that was the right thing to do, to build a fence to keep people out of it?”
Favreau insisted that memorials in Washington D.C. were closed in 1995-1996 as well.
“Bill Clinton signed legislation during the shutdown,” Kristol added. “I’m grateful, honestly, that President Obama’s in the White House and President Clinton isn’t, who I think would be outmaneuvering the Republicans.”
Watch the clip below via CNN:
[Photo via screen grab]
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