Three cheers for Kirsten Powers for not sitting quietly by as a Republican debate opponent made the kinds of smears and jeers of the left that are commonplace on Fox. Powers is not exactly the strongest advocate for the left on Fox but she's often willing to do what others who are supposedly further left will not - and that is call out right-wing baloney when she sees it.
The discussion was about the fiscal cliff deal. But at about 4:44 into the video below, Powers responded to Republican Dee Dee Benkie's attacks with the following:
The only thing Dee Dee left out... all the people who voted for Obama are a bunch of leeches... This is why the Republican party is so irrelevant right now... It's because they fundamentally don't understand the electorate and they keep telling themselves these lies about what, who the electorate is.
This idea like, 'You're getting free stuff.' I mean, it's so condescending... There are thinking people, you know, who like the president for a lot of different reasons. It's not because they're getting free things or because he's likeable or any of these other things. Look, he staved off us from going into the, potentially into another great depression. That's not a minor thing. If you disagree with that? Fine. But stop denigrating the people who feel differently and believe differently... People who voted for Barack Obama are smart, thoughtful people.
Kirsten Powers On O'Reilly: GOP Is Becoming 'Irrelevant' Because They 'Don't Understand The Electorate'
Bill O'Reilly declared tonight that after last night's fiscal cliff compromise vote, President Obama will "go down in history as the biggest spending president ever." He brought on Kirsten Powers and Dee Dee Benkie to react to the vote, but the conversation quickly shifted to a broader discussion of why people voted for Obama.
“And again, this brings up my biggest gripe against Rethugs – they obviously don’t want to pay to have the country they want so much.”
Hmmmmmmm, I wonder how many Republicans have seen the outside of the IRS headquarters in Washington DC? Mark my words Steve: like millions of Americans I am certainly NO FAN of the IRS — yet, above the main entrance to its Washington DC headquarters the following thought-provoking phrase is engraved:
“TAXES ARE THE PRICE OF FREEDOM”
What this phrase really means is the following — this is a fundamental truth I learned in sixth grade way back in 1975: YOU CANNOT HAVE FREEDOM WITHOUT ACCEPTING THE RESPONSIBILITIES! Remember: those filthy rich Americans and big corporations who don’t pay taxes or pay less than their fair share are simply turning their backs on their countrymen and FLIPPING THEM THE BIRD.