Debunking AP Release: Immigration Dispute Erupts During Bipartisan Lunch

Debunking: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/obama-congressional-leaders_n_6124082.html


 
WASHINGTON (AP) — A White House lunch aiming for cooperation [I'm willing to accept the assumption that it was aimed at cooperation since President Obama said he was willing work with them if they were also willing] boiled [boiled? By whose temperature measurements? I want details and facts.] into a fresh dispute [fresh, as in it is not the same dispute they were having before the election? What's new about this one?] with newly empowered Republicans over immigration reform Friday, with GOP leaders warning President Barack Obama to his face not to take unilateral action. The president stood unflinchingly [seriously unflinching physically, or stood firm] by his plan to act.

 
Republicans attending the postelection lunch at Obama's invitation [okay, his invitation, confirming what I hoped was a safe assumption about 'aiming for cooperation' in the last paragraph] said they asked him for more time to work on legislation, but the president said his patience was running out. [I want names and quotes.] He underscored his intent to act on his own by the end of the year if they don't approve legislation to ease deportations before then and send it to him to sign.

 
The Republicans' approach, three days after they resoundingly won control of the Senate in midterm elections, "seemed to fall on deaf ears," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said [thank you, it's important to know the source so we can verify your source's history with honesty] in a telephone interview. "The president instead of being contrite or saying in effect to America, 'I hear you,' as a result of the referendum on his policies [bullshit alert! Who says this was a referendum on his policies?] that drove this last election, he seems unmoved and even defiant."

 
"I don't know why he would want to sabotage his last two years as president by doing something this provocative," said Cornyn. [Oh, but I do know why Cornyn would make this passive/aggressive suggestion to media] Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this week said the president's stance was "like waving a red flag in front of a bull." [Okie Dokie – let's pump out some comments about this stupid statement by our stupid Senator. Bruce started with his excellent comment above the article – now, who wants to put it in a letter to McConnell or an article about him that we can all share?]

 
Obama press secretary Josh Earnest said there was no reason that executive action on immigration should kill opportunities for the president and Republicans to find common ground.

 
"I could stand up here and say Republicans to vote once again for the 50th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, that that's playing with fire or waving a red flag in front of a bull. I'm not really sure what that means," Earnest said. [Thank you for pointing out how stupid that statement was.]

 
The White House said lawmakers went home from the meeting with a parting gift — a six-pack of beer brewed at the White House. The White House also said Obama laid out three areas where he and Congress could work together before the end of the year — emergency funding to combat the Ebola outbreak, approval of a federal budget and quick action on spending to fight the Islamic State militant group. [Looks like President Obama is ready to do what I hope we will do – suggest actions that will get things done.]

 
House Speaker John Boehner's office [just thought I'd mention that office's don't speak, people do, and it's nice to have a name] said he told Obama [huge red flag this author doesn't respect our President enough to give him a title after she gave Boehner one] he was ready to work with the president on a new authorization for military force against the IS [IS?] group if the president worked to build bipartisan support. [Everyone else's blood boil when they saw this? I think we need to remind the media and Boehner that his party is totally against anything bipartisan and have proven it repeatedly] The White House announced soon after lunch ended that the U.S. was sending as many as 1,500 more troops to Iraq to serve as advisers, trainers and security personnel as part of the mission. [PRESIDENT Obama is also asking Congress for more than $5 billion to help fund the fight. [why is that thrown on at the end of that paragraph?]

 
Friday's two-hour meeting was tense at times, according to a senior House Republican aide [was the aide present, and does s/he have a name?]. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, about to lose his grip [poor choice of words – purposely?] on the upper chamber, barely said a word, the aide said [who is this mysterious aide?]. The aide said at one point as House Speaker John Boehner was making an argument on immigration, Obama [okay, seriously, fuck this source – I don't trust the author to be unbiased – not even a tiny little bit] responded that his patience was running out and Vice President Joe Biden interrupted to ask how long Republicans needed. Obama angrily cut Biden off, the aide said. [Hope everyone is ready to call out this author and every rag that picked up this AP garbage]

 
The aide was not authorized to describe the back-and-forth publicly by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity. [aha! So this is all just so much bullshit so you can yank us around and pretend your stupid opinion piece is really something? You just wasted a bunch of my time and I resent it.]

 
Publicly Obama's tone was more upbeat [if you're implying something in the use of the word 'publicly' we got a big bone to pick] as he opened the gathering. He pledged to work on ending long-running partisan gridlock and to be open to Republican ideas. The president said the lunch was a chance to "explore where we can make progress" after Americans showed in the midterm elections that they wanted to see more accomplished in Washington.

 
"They'd like to see more cooperation," Obama [yes, you are going to hear from me. And I hope about 1,300 other people] said, sitting at the middle of 13 lawmakers in the Old Family Dining Room set with the Truman china. "And I think all of us have the responsibility, me in particular, to try to make that happen."

 
Reporters were ushered out before any lawmaker spoke or the lunch of sea bass was served. Republican descriptions of the meeting were provided after they returned to Capitol Hill.

 
For the record, Boehner's office said he suggested that the president should back a Republican jobs bill as a starting place for bipartisan action.

 
Obama said at the start he was interested in "hearing and sharing ideas" for compromise on measures to boost the economy, then mentioned his personal priorities of college affordability and investment in road and building projects. He also touted improved monthly job growth numbers out Friday as evidence his economic policies are working, saying, "We're doing something right here."

 
Briefings on Ebola and the Islamic State from Pentagon officials dominated much of the meeting, and the immigration debate was said to have lasted about half an hour. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said Republicans told Obama that any executive order, particularly on immigration but any issue, would be a "toxic decision."

 
"He still hasn't come to grips with the reality of the election and the consequences of the election," Barrasso said. "His tone and tenor didn't seem to reflect that of somebody whose policies were just significantly rejected all across the country just three days ago."

 
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Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.