David Axelrod: This Is A 'Tea Party Downgrade'

WASHINGTON — A top White House adviser is blaming the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating on Tea Party Republicans, whom he says were unwilling to compromise on how to reduce the federal debt.

The adviser to President Barack Obama, David Axelrod, tells CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday that the decision by the Standard & Poor's credit agency to downgrade the U.S. from AAA to AA+ for the first time was strongly influenced by weeks of standoff between Democrats and Republicans over the debt.

Axelrod calls the action, in his words, "a Tea Party downgrade" and says it's clearly on the backs of lawmakers who were willing to see the country default to get their way.

Axelrod also criticized GOP presidential candidates for not speaking up in favor of compromise.

The Hill reported on Saturday on growing frustration among progressives over the president's soft response to the role of the Tea Party in the deficit debate:

Republicans and Democrats have unleashed fusillades of attack against each other in the wake of the announcement but Obama has stayed quiet, frustrating his party’s base.

Howard Dean, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, didn't hold back in taking aim at the conservative coalition of activists during an appearance on "Face the Nation" on Sunday morning.

"This is a Tea Party problem," he said on the program. "They are totally unreasonable and doctrinaire and not founded in reality. I think they've been smoking some of that tea, not just drinking it."

Comments

[new 10 ole ole]

11:27 PM on 08/18/2011

This is downgrade on Obama: (just ask yourself these questions)

Was it potus stating to some businesses "...and I WILL bankrupt you...."??

Was it Obama's DOL coming down on a major manufactur­er and stating "...we will tell you that building your plant in SC will be blocked"??

Was it actually watching as Business law tenets over 100 years old thrown out the window by potus in GM-Chysler buyouts?? (this kind of "favoritis­m" for union equity and screwing bondholder­s makes creditors a bit squeemish when it comes to lending.)

Was it having Fannie and Freddie totally up to their collective butts in bad mortgage practices, and getting off scot free while potus scolds $banksters­?

Was it ramming thru a health care law that the Chief Actuary (Mr Foster) has refused to sign off on due to faulty financialt­echniques employed by potus? Not to mention the draconian rules laid on businesses while UNIONs receive Exemptions­?

Without correcting our path soon we will never recover.

[don hasting]

07:05 PM on 08/15/2011

The liberal definition of cooperation,, ahem,, doing what I say and doing dam quick!!

[onemissourian]

07:15 PM on 08/10/2011

Crisis time obama . Time to go on vacation !

[chamadea]

03:51 AM on 08/10/2011

The "conclusion was pretty much motivated by all of the debate about the raising of the debt ceiling," John Chambers, chairman of S&P's sovereign ratings committee, said in an interview. "It involved a level of brinksmanship greater than what we had expected earlier in the year."

Yep, it's definitely a Tea Party downgrade.

[dan laurie]

04:58 PM on 08/09/2011

Roy what worries me if the super congress makes suggestions and nothing is enacted. There is no agreement to take to congress....budget adjustments will be made automatically without votes.....

[twfslc]

01:52 PM on 08/09/2011

David Axlerod is just another Chicago Democrat. If there is any group of people has nothing but contempt for Republicans, it's Chicago Democrats. In Chicago, there is no compromise with Republicans. It's marginalize them.

Remember when Axlerod's old boss, former Mayor Richie Daley, closed Miegs Field in the middle of the night, he claimed that only rich Republicans used it.

Really? I know of a lot of Democrats who use biz jets, including Obama supporters Warren Buffet and Oprah Winfrey.

David Axlerod seems to forget that part of politics is politicing. When you insult people, they get mad and try to get even. If an athlete insults a sports team, that insult winds up on the locker room bulletin board as motivation to beat the team of the person speaking the insult.

You can bet that Tea Party supporters will wind up writing checks, stuffing envelopes, and ringing doorbells, to teach him and the President and lesson.

[buggeroffyou666]

04:57 PM on 08/09/2011

keep the nutbag dream alive teabagger

[Eagleman]

12:45 PM on 08/09/2011

Dog ate my work excuse never worked in school... Why now ?

[manntxs]

01:26 PM on 08/09/2011

We must have had dogs from the same litter! lol

[allengoldchain]

12:11 PM on 08/09/2011

Democrats started it! Let's see if they will have any luck this time around.

[Picachu]

01:47 PM on 08/09/2011

Every one of your posts I read shows your IQ to be lower than your age.

[jkb5371]

11:18 AM on 08/09/2011

How is it a Tea Party down grade when 95 Democrats voted against raising the debt ceiling while only 65 Republicans voted nay?
How is it a Tea Party down grade when Reid/Boehner had agreed to a plan that Obama dismissed out of hand because it didn't carry beyond the 2012 elections?
How is it a Tea Party downgrade when Democrats refused to even present a budget (and didn't pass one for over two years)?
Do Dems really think the Bart Simpson playbook will work? "I didn't do it" can be Obama's 2012 campaign slogan.:)

[JimR]

11:41 AM on 08/09/2011

Because it was the Tea Party who insisted that any debt ceiling increase be unnecessarily tied to spending cuts. That could have been done in a separate bill.

[jkb5371]

11:58 AM on 08/09/2011

It could not have been done in a separate bill. The Republicans tried that...remember Cut, Cap and Balance, how'd that work out?

[Twelve]

12:38 PM on 08/09/2011

You have to stop watching Fox news, I mean really!!

[den1953]

11:11 AM on 08/09/2011

Sitting back and waiting for these events to hit the President is not cutting off the attacks on the president,preventing them from happening in the first place is the best offense. Someone in the Obama Administration better stop falling asleep at the helm or he is toast......

[tm22]

10:20 AM on 08/09/2011

Arizona Republic newspaper covered McCain at a local town hall in Gilbert, a suburb of "mo-mo's" and baggers who chided McCain for not knowing about the UN's "Agenda 21"...

So I looked up the sinister "agenda" and it's a global environmental protection statement of principle; the baggers claim that it's a conspiracy by the UN to "first take away our farms and then our guns"...go figure...

[Dishwater Tea]

09:52 AM on 08/09/2011

YouTube is not a friend to the Tea Party Cult. The cult can attempt to rewrite history books because the base has no concept of history before Dancing with the Stars. However YouTube clips show them saying repeatedly ... "Let America default on it's debts", "We don't care about a downgrade", "it will be no big deal", Limbaugh stated before the downgrade that the only repercussions would be that other countries would be less willing to lend to us. Well Folks, go check your 401ks right now and tell us if it's no big deal.

Tea Party willingness to scuttle the economy for their own ideology ... It's out there for the world to see. Democrats: you are fools if you are not editing these clips together for the 2012 campaigns.

[don hasting]

06:53 PM on 08/15/2011

well at least you got the "Democrats: you are fools" part right. yuk yuk

[CanUFeel2012]

09:01 AM on 08/09/2011

Yeah, we know...

[marcchagal]

08:28 AM on 08/09/2011

Let this be a lesson to the Tea Party. The S&P downgrade is the Tea Party downgrade. May they be held accountable forever more.

[elsquibbs]

11:04 AM on 08/09/2011

The TP wanted more cuts AFAIK. S&P downgraded the US credit rating because not enough cuts were made.

The problem is the debt, not the debate over the debt. The Cut, Cap & Balance Act would have avoided the downgrade according to S&P, but that was tabled by the Senate.

[Casey Plant]

12:08 PM on 08/09/2011

In particular, Standard & Poor's added, it grew more pessimistic about U.S. debt because of the bitter political fight over raising the debt ceiling.

"The political brinksmanship of recent months," the company said, "highlights what we see as America's governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed."

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/standard-poors-downgrades-us-credit-rating-aaa-aa/story?id=14220820

[Brian Gilmer]

12:53 PM on 08/09/2011

The S&P really doesn't care much about the US Constitution but we as American really should. The idea that an amendment to the US Constitution had to pass Congress in order for the debt ceiling to be raised in repugnant. Congress has only passed amendments to the US Constitution 33 times in US History. The T-People wanted the 34th time to be in return for the US not defaulting on debt. The law creating the debt ceiling thus enabling the crisis was passed by Congress.

[petit chaton]

08:23 AM on 08/09/2011

Howard Dean still articulates progressive issues and arguments better than any democrat out there.

[jkb5371]

11:20 AM on 08/09/2011

You obviously have never heard Mario Cuomo speak...and I'm a Repub...

[petit chaton]

12:24 PM on 08/09/2011

I have heard Mr. Cuomo, though not as much on national issues, and I believe you're correct. As a republican, who do you respect most on articulating the right?

[manntxs]

12:24 PM on 08/09/2011

He is also peddling himself to high bidders. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/08/mek-lobbying_n_913233.html