Obama, Tea Party Supporters Get In Heated Exchange In Iowa (VIDEO)

DECORAH, Iowa (AP/The Huffington Post) — President Barack Obama's Midwestern tour is offering a mix of offense and defense that signals both his governing approach for the remainder of his term and the evolution of a campaign message for his re-election bid.

Obama is determined to use the reach of his office to build public pressure on Republicans to move his way on economic and fiscal policies, to counterpunch against the GOP presidential field, and to argue for his presidency with independent voters and rekindle enthusiasm among Democrats.

On Tuesday, Obama got an earful from two Tea Party supporters who challenged him on reports that Vice President Joe Biden had agreed with congressional Democrats who characterized the conservative movement as terrorists.

"He said we were acting like terrorists," Iowa Tea Party activist Ryan Rhodes said, confronting the president after the Decorah town hall as Obama worked a rope line of audience members. "What we stand for is limited government and a balanced budget," Rhodes continued.

Obama countered that Biden was making the point that almost failing to raise the debt ceiling was irresponsible.

"He wasn't objecting to the balanced budget amendment, he was objecting to us almost defaulting," Obama said. As Rhodes persisted, and Obama continued to shake hands, the president added, "It doesn't sound like you are interested in listening."

On the second day of a three-day bus tour, the president was spending the day promoting rural economic policies, among the series of remedies he is pushing to fire up anemic job growth. But the measures are targeted, such as making it easier for rural businesses to get access to capital, and far more modest than the ambitious $821 billion stimulus package he pushed through Congress in 2009 when unemployment was rising but still below the current 9.1 percent level.

The economic message illustrates Obama's current dilemma. Republicans control the House and believe that addressing the nation's long-term debt will have a positive effect on the economy; they have no appetite for major spending initiatives aimed at spurring a recovery.

Embracing that demand for fiscal discipline, Obama has called for both spending cuts and increases in revenue, but he found few takers for that formula during the contentious debate this summer over raising the nation's debt ceiling.

Comments

[Crawfish Festival]

04:37 PM on 08/19/2011

Hey when Janet Napolitano of Homeland Security issued her report - labeling attendees at Tax Day Tea Party events - as domestic terrorists,

Napolitano was failing to acknowledge the FORTY-TWO documented Radical Muslim training camps popping up across The United States of America.

[SSF]

03:34 AM on 08/20/2011

Can you provide a link to prove the existence of these so-called "Radical Muslim training camps", or are you repeating some BS rumor posted anonymously on-line?

[Crawfish Festival]

11:39 AM on 08/20/2011

@ "SSF":

Why "pretend" you know nothing about Radical Muslim training camps in the USA?

Check out the internet, screwball - instead of trashing everyone for bringing it up!

Such as - there are many links to Islamberg, New York - a township that was created, as a gated community, w armed guards - on a 70-acre Islamic compound - of anti-American Muslims - refusing entry to anyone - to this area of US soil - who is not a Muslim.

[hatenomor]

12:15 PM on 08/20/2011

I am proud to be an Ameican Terrorist, I.E. FREEDOM FIGHTER. That is a jackey I proudly wear.
TEA PARTY 2012 FIGHT THE POWER VIVA LA REVOLUTION.

[Bumble Bee]

07:11 AM on 08/19/2011

"It doesn't sound like your interested in listening."

Silly me. I thought the "listening tour" was for the President to listen to "folks'" not the other way around.

[DocSkull]

10:01 AM on 08/19/2011

"Silly me. I thought the "listening tour" was for the President to listen to "folks'" not the other way around."

This is an unfair criticism.

Obama listened to their complaint about what someone said about the Republican leadership in front of Joe Biden, and when Obama tried to address their concerns they didn't care to listen. That suggests that they were more interested in providing cover for the Republican leadership than any legitimate concerns the Tea Party might still have.

[blinkthink]

10:52 PM on 08/20/2011

A two way conversation is not easily understood by some.

[Carolab]

02:17 AM on 08/19/2011

The Tea Party is backed by environmental polluters, the Koch Brothers.

I'd call them eco-terr-orists, myself.

[Open-your-eyes]

02:59 AM on 08/19/2011

Can you please provide sources? I would very much like to get all perspectives. Knowledge is power. Thanks.

[Carolab]

03:11 AM on 08/19/2011

"Koch Industries is one of the biggest polluters in America, so it's not surprising that they've spent millions blocking measures to protect our air and water," said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. "The Kochs have also served as one of the biggest obstacles to our transition to a clean energy economy. You can thank the Koch brothers for standing in the way of new jobs in the wind, solar and efficiency industries. They have a lot of money, and they're not afraid to spend it to influence politicians, fight public health safeguards and spread misinformation about pollution and climate disruption."

The Koch brothers own a firm with revenues estimated at $100 billion and they are out to expand their profits at the cost of Americans' health. A University of Massachusetts study identified Koch Industries as one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. From 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outspent even ExxonMobil in funding efforts against clean energy legislation.

http://www.dcmessageboards.com/index.php?/topic/18700-koch-brothers-are-biggest-polluters-in-america/


http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/07/13/265497/bachmanns-pledge-to-eliminate-the-epa-is-fueled-by-koch/

[Carolab]

03:11 AM on 08/19/2011

http://thi­nkprogress­.org/green­/2011/07/1­3/265497/b­achmanns-p­ledge-to-e­liminate-t­he-epa-is-­fueled-by-­koch/

[isb782]

02:11 AM on 08/19/2011

LOL...Biden offended Tea party by calling them terrorist....I just wish he had done it sooner.

[DocSkull]

10:02 AM on 08/19/2011

"LOL...Bide­n offended Tea party by calling them terrorist.­..."

It wasn't Biden, and it was directed at the Republican leadership.

[cornelison]

01:18 AM on 08/19/2011

That awful Joe Biden had to open his big fat mouth and tell the TRUTH.

[moutonnoir]

01:54 AM on 08/19/2011

nothing is more disruptive to politics than the truth..

[isb782]

02:14 AM on 08/19/2011

LOL..

[krechsd]

11:58 PM on 08/18/2011

Looks ike the same old "dirty tricks" strategy the Repugs have been using since Nixon.Wonder how many times Fake News will run this.

[demdame1]

07:05 PM on 08/18/2011

He's just now realizing they aren't willing to listen??

[Zacky Ahmed]

06:57 PM on 08/18/2011

I cant help but to think if these 2 were left leaning progressives calling out Bush
or another Republican, the booes and the abuse they would get from the rowdy Tea party crowd.

[Rogo99]

10:51 PM on 08/20/2011

They wouldn't be allowed near Bush, their gatherings were tightly crowd-controlled.

[wjhamilton29464]

03:59 PM on 08/18/2011

Wow, they badger and interrupt the President.

[moutonnoir]

01:55 AM on 08/19/2011

they learn from fox...

what they have learned is that you do not have to keep 'the train of thought' from statement to statement - just pump out that rhetoric.

[stacknef]

03:42 PM on 08/18/2011

A man and a woman in suit jackets at a picnic.....talk about an obvious set up.

[futbol4fun]

02:56 PM on 08/18/2011

Talk about a wasted opportunity. He has a legion of armed guards around him, he can call in the Marines at a moments notice, but he lets this guy walk?

[ugly american]

06:49 PM on 08/18/2011

That would have just given them more fuel to accuse him of being a dictator. He recognized at least that he was talking to a wall.
Our last president never had that kind of encounter because he locked away anyone who disagreed with him in a cage at least a mile away.
Obama realizes that what they say about opinions is usually true and recognizes the really stinky ones.

[isb782]

02:18 AM on 08/19/2011

Agreed! Fanned and Faved.

[Open-your-eyes]

02:11 PM on 08/18/2011

Please stop with the Republican, Democrat blame game. We've been doing this for years and where has it gotten us? The American population continues to amaze me. We are being conditioned to believe a reality that is simply not true. BOTH parties feed the wealthy - just in different ways.

Bush sold us down the river with wars, Obama sold us out to the banks and Wall St. Before you spew media talking points, I challenge you to RESEARCH AND LEARN.

Where to start:

READ the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
UNDERSTAND how we got the FED, how it really works, and its implications long term.
INVESTIGATE who our previous and current administrations appointed to office.
ACCEPT that the media (ALL MEDIA) feeds you what they desire.
COMPARE what you've been promised versus what they actually delivered.
READ the Patriot Act, and the plethora of Executive Powers.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE by looking at their record, not the rhetoric which they preach.

Open your mind, cast aside what you "think" or have been "told" and FIND THE TRUTH. You may discover you've been quite effectively convinced you're something for which you're not.

[ugly american]

04:25 PM on 08/18/2011

Hey,,you actually have been paying attention! Fanned and faved for that alone!
You're right that both recent presidents have sold us out in several ways. Bush committed criminal acts doing it. Obama indeterminate yet.
Memorized the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. (Keep a copy handy!)
Woodrow Wilson said the Fed was the worst mistake he ever made.
Obama kept alot of people from the Bush era he should have jettisoned and has made some questionable appointments like the Secretary of Labor and the chairman of GM.
The Obama Administration resembles the Hoover Administration most.
A few major corporations own almost all media not just in the US but the free world.
Obama made promises, some he has kept but some are harder than others to pass.
Others he has not paid enough attention to for his supporters tastes.
The Patriot Act is a very long complex document that is actually unconstitutional on it's face. It should be repealed.
Hold them accountable? Even faced with the truth they don't seem that interested in what the people really think. Washington lives in an impenetrable bubble.
The Tea Party has some laudable goals but some of their ideas are just plain unrealistic or harmful in any recession. (Like a balanced budget amendment? Please! Remember the last amendment, the ERA? It takes the states to approve it.)
Good post!

[AnasaziTribe]

05:24 PM on 08/18/2011

Stop spreading misinformation about Woodrow Wilson and the Fed. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Woodrow_Wilson

[Dosadi]

06:57 PM on 08/18/2011

Fanned and faved. Got my eye on you.

:-)

[Tootsie56]

01:01 PM on 08/18/2011

Dude was a typical example of the TeaPee'rs. Yackety yak don't let anyone get a word in edgewise. Rudeness is their example to their children, gawd help this country.

[Bankerrkt]

09:01 AM on 08/19/2011

Anytime someone disagrees with the Man-Child Libs want to call it "rude". Just remember. not everyone in the US walks around as a Zombie brainlessly swallowing everything Obama says as if it were the gospel.

[Rogo99]

10:53 PM on 08/20/2011

No, many do the same with Fox News, Rush, Glenn, and the next level worse.

[Rogo99]

10:52 PM on 08/20/2011

He must have gotten the instruction sheet from TP Central.

[SmartladyDem]

11:32 AM on 08/18/2011

If I am not mistaken, that is the same guy that was at the Tea Party Rally in New Hampshire protesting unions- Seems more like a paid actor than an "Activist."

OR should we refer to them as "ACTORVISTS?"

[Savage Lotus]

03:08 PM on 08/18/2011

Yes indeed. I think you just coined a word. I may start using that.

[stacknef]

03:54 PM on 08/18/2011

he does look very much like one of the guys who was videoed storming into a town hall meeting about healthcare reform, all of them wearing suits and sportjackets in August, saying they were constituents, when practically everyone else was in plaid shirts and overalls.

[Bob Rousseau]

11:20 AM on 08/18/2011

I think their are a lot of whiny people here who don't understand a fig about how politics work in this country. Most of the disenfranchised on the left are projecting onto the president like 99.9% of Americans and have completely unrealistic expectations of him. Americans are an unconscious, narcissistic nation. The epidemic narcissism and attitude of entitlement in Americans obscures their perception. The President took a turn rightward when Rahm Emmanuel left the administration and when Richard Daley took over as COS. People generally do not know that the President has an army of people that constantly poll the American populace on every single issue. The president adopts the talking points and advocates the policy positions that the data informs him to take. People are naive and project onto the President like he has much more power than he actually does. He is but 1 element of a tripartite division of government. With the United States so sharply divided....almost down the middle....it is a very difficult juggling act for the POTUS. Obama's meetings with Bill Clinton also influenced him to turn rightward. Now you will see the President take a turn back to the left.

[Andrea Blackwell]

11:57 AM on 08/18/2011

These people don't lift their head out of the sand until the ground shakes! I've been sitting in the cheap seats for about 7 years now and it's pretty clear that they are buying and selling our livelihoods at the Wall Street Casino. People get better odds at the Montecito! And they have the nerve and the gall to call themselves 'conservatives'? He needs to shut up and let the man sign his hard earned autographs.
And no, she doesn't look like a terrorist, she looks like a spoiled brat who expects veterans to die in the street for her Pradas.

[mercedes1947]

03:12 PM on 08/18/2011

The office of the Presidency has as much power as the Queen of England at this point.

I so agree with your assessment of American narcissism. The difficulty is you cannot debate a narcissist or persuade them. The the healthy portion of our national mentality must come forward to reinstate sanity in this nation. People such as yourself.

[Bob Rousseau]

09:56 AM on 08/19/2011

You are absolutely correct. Narcissists are defensively self encapsulated egos that are disconnected from their own Soul. People are acting out of their "wounded child" in all of our political discourse. Naturally we are not getting positive results. Our politicians simply have not evolved sufficient consciousness and character to be able to put the needs of the country first. To allow the needs of the country to transcend their petty little wounded egos. This is why I also advocate for thoroughly screening and testing and qualifying every candidate for higher political office before they are allowed to even run. The testing would be administered objectively and would include IQ, EQ, aptitude, character, and psychological tests to determine if the candidate is qualified and has the intelligence, character, and psychological health required to do the job. Nixon, Bush, Palin, Bachman, Mark Foley, and Larry Craig would have never made it to the campaigning stage is we had such a system. Every job in America including government Civil Service Jobs requires experience, credentials, and extensive testing to even be considered. Every job except the highest offices in the land...which is completely absurd.