Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Reince Preibus' Comparison Of Obama To Cruise Ship Captain Was 'Incendiary'

RNC chief Reince Preibus' recent comparison of President Barack Obama to the disgraced Italian captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner, which hit a rock and capsized earlier this month, was "incendiary," DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz charged on Monday.

"I'm not going to give any credence to those incendiary remarks," Wasserman Schultz said on Fox News. "The captain of the Costa Concordia has been charged with manslaughter, and for the RNC chairman to compare the president of the United States to someone who has been charged with manslaughter shows a dramatic level of insensitivity to the families of those victims. Unbelievable comparison."

(Video above via Fox News)

On Sunday, Preibus appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation" and told host Bob Schieffer that Obama had shirked his duties to lead the nation and effectively jumped ship.

"In the end, in a few months, this is all going to be ancient history and we're going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama who is abandoning the ship here in the United States. He's more interested in campaigning than doing his job as President," Priebus said.

Francesco Schettino was captain of the 4,000-plus passenger cruise ship that ran aground and capsized off the coast of Italy earlier this month. In telephone recordings released after the incident, Schettino can be heard arguing with Italian coast guard officials from a lifeboat as the vessel sinks. He faces possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his crippled cruise ship, the Associated Press reports. So far, the disaster has claimed at least 17 lives, though more passengers and crew remain missing.

(Video of Preibus' comments below via Mediaite)

Comments

[rockysparks]

11:31 PM on 01/31/2012

Priebus is the perfect chairman for the RNC. Nasty, inappropriate and tone deaf to what is good taste.

[Billyguitar]

12:13 PM on 01/31/2012

Even Michael Steele criticized Priebus for that comment. When that happens Priebus should know he's stepped in it.

[teschman]

09:06 AM on 01/31/2012

Priebus's statement is nothing more than a good example of the moral character of the GOP, and that example is that they have few moral's and very little veracity. He draws an anaology between a failed ship's captain who has been indicted for manslaughter and dereliction of duty and the POTUS and claims it's valid. Just love watching the circular firing squad going on in the GOP primaries, hope Newt keeps his promise and goes the distance. The farther they run to right the farther they get from winning over moderate democrats, republicans and independents. They've already thrown the hispanic vote out the window, along with gays, many women. They keep narrowing their base to older caucasion males, which demographically as group, has been shrinking for years.

[RichVAman]

01:27 PM on 01/31/2012

Great posting. F & F.

[ranchero42]

02:21 PM on 01/31/2012

"They keep narrowing their base to older caucasion males, which demographically as group, has been shrinking for years."
======================================
Yep, that's quite the mystery, all by itself, right there...

[intolleft]

07:29 AM on 01/31/2012

"I'm the captain of the ship" BHO on 60 minutes.

[rcwells]

09:36 AM on 01/31/2012

"I want a colony on the Moon by 2020". Professor Pander, Florida RePug Debates.

[intolleft]

10:02 AM on 01/31/2012

So? We put a man there after such a proclamation 50 years ago. What, you anti-science?

[reddwine]

10:22 AM on 01/31/2012

So, you think Pres. Kennedy is the only one to hope for this? Its a great idea.

[Billyguitar]

12:14 PM on 01/31/2012

How many are dead on that ship? It's a disgusting comment from someone who should know better, Priebus.

[intolleft]

01:57 PM on 01/31/2012

The fact that Deb Was-a-mann, and now you, equated common cliche with that tragedy and now are making and issue of it shows how weak and pathetic the issue is.

[86-44]

07:25 AM on 01/31/2012

Of course according to Wasserman Schultz any comment opposing Obama is incendiary and should not be allowed. She and the rest of the liberal hoard thinks we should all lick his boots and sing his praises on a daily basis like they do.

[rcwells]

09:38 AM on 01/31/2012

Of course according to Rancid Prius "racism and bigotry in the defense of freedumb is no vice".

[86-44]

11:02 AM on 01/31/2012

Try learning a little about your party and its ideals.

http://www.freestaterevolution.com/?p=553
http://gopcapitalist.tripod.com/democratrecord.html

[ranchero42]

02:27 PM on 01/31/2012

Please tell us everything you know about this 'liberal hoard' -- not many are aware most of us are being kept in reserve -- thank you for giving us hope that the days of the 'trawler horde' are numbered...

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

02:10 AM on 01/31/2012

The comment made by Reince Priebus of behalf of the Republican Party about President Barack Obama is simply despicable and horrid.

Unprovoked, Reince Priebus disrespects and denigrates President Obama, Americans who voted for President Obama, Americans who died and Americans who lost loved ones at the hands of Captain Schettino.

Reaffirming their profound conviction to “hate bait” against President Obama, the Republican Party top-down offers no apology.

I urge Americans to send a message to Reince Priebus and vote for Barack Obama to unify America on Election Day and for the next four years with a democratic majority. You can be assured; Barack Obama will know how, the second time around.

[harttuner]

06:17 AM on 01/31/2012

"Barack Obama will know how, the second time around." ?? ...On the job training?Yea, thats a great thought. By the time he actually knew how to be President he would be a Gold member of AARP! He knows nothing more than how to campaign and has no clue how to actually do the job once he wins...well proven over his political career.

[Billyguitar]

12:16 PM on 01/31/2012

Right.......... Who've you got that's better? No one I've seen, that's for damn sure!

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

02:31 PM on 01/31/2012

Part One

Spin back. While, apparently, not intended, your compliment that President Obama did learn during his first term is telling: “By the time he actually knew how to be President…” Many Americans agree, so let’s shelve the nonsense over the President’s birth certificate, transcripts, and factual accomplishments. He’s darn good for a Black President and equally outstanding as our better-regarded Presidents.

Like parasites, Republicans gut the economy, deny responsibility and blame and vilify the Poor, the Middle Class, the Democratic Presidents, and Democrats en masse. Republicans have learned to speak in unison to characterize anybody but a Republican as the culprit, according to Reverend Al Sharpton, who ate mama’s “blueberry pie.” At election time, when we hold politicians accountable, Republicans spend whopping amounts money to convince you to suspend your sense of disbelief and vote them back in office and reignite the cycle of destructive governing. By the way, consider when and how that whopping amount of money is created.

Most importantly, Republicans depend on you to lose all appreciation of relative perspective. Famously or infamously, depending on your point of view “The Decider” is well known for vacationing in Texas and reading. At the end of his second term in office, the economy was on the verge of irreparable collapse; we were fighting two wars with no end in sight, and Congress was saber rattling about starting wars with Korea and Iran. Part Two below:

[demofem]

10:42 PM on 01/30/2012

Watching Priebus' smirk while he made what he believed to be a real zinger, I wondered about two things. 1) The job of the RNC Chairperson is to expand his party and help the eventual GOP candidate win the White House. 2) Since Priebus and his compatriots routinely insult the President, everyone who voted for the President--53% of 2008 voters, women, gays, African-Americans, Latinos, and on and on...is this really a clever strategy? What's he smirking about?

[MarcDel]

10:32 PM on 01/30/2012

Are we sure Rancid Pubis isn't Pee Wee trying to make a comeback? He sure looks and sounds like him.

[cjfrog]

10:22 PM on 01/30/2012

Gotta hand it to those republican­s. Every day they prove what a classless, worthless, hateful, vile, nasty, hypocritic­al, sordid bunch they are. When some bleep isn't tweeting about Obama's demise, they're making fun of Michelle, or they're comparing Obama to someone despicable­. Then they harp on how "Christian­" they are and how they have "family values." Insults, slurs, lies, half truths, untruths, death jokes-
America, this is how the GOP shows their respect for the office, and the President.
Agressivly trying to change voting rights, flibusteri­ng him nore in 3 years than any 2 term president before him, the first president ever questioned about his birth and school grades....­.

History will take a very dim view of this GOP behavior toward the first President of color. Republican­s will have to answer to history.

[RichVAman]

01:46 PM on 01/31/2012

Great post. F & F.

[260Parkway]

10:09 PM on 01/30/2012

If my name were Reince Priebus, I most definitely wouldn't be calling anyone a derrogatory name.

With a name like that it sounds more like an infection instead of a person.

[freekybig53]

10:36 PM on 01/30/2012

What derogatory name did he call Obama ,I didn't see that in the article ??

[jddelane]

11:45 PM on 01/30/2012

You're not real perceptive are you? That been a problem all your life. You a "bagger"......bagger?

[Me atlast]

09:20 PM on 01/30/2012

I love how she makes these two look like the fools they are.....

[good4you]

09:18 PM on 01/30/2012

Soap, Rinse Pubis, Soap, Rinse Pubis....Repeat !!! Just trying to help him clean up his act !

[knott wrench]

09:17 PM on 01/30/2012

Debbie, hold Rence's feet to the fire! Don't let him "Sheep Out" on this.

[ruggit]

08:28 PM on 01/30/2012

Debbie is the poster girl for the far left. Attacks on everyone she is told is on the other side, but no real training or ability to think.

[Robert Brooks]

08:46 PM on 01/30/2012

You damn skippy. She's a look at me look at me person. She rides the wave of someone elses success or demise..I.e. picking up on the spotlight of Gabby. A leach this woman is.

[demofem]

10:39 PM on 01/30/2012

Actually, she and Kirsten Gildebrand are Gabby Giffords' best friends in Congress, according to Gabby's husband. And she was asked to read Cong. Giffords' letter. She's a mom, a breast cancer survivor, and the first Jewish Congresswoman elected in Florida. As chair of the DNCC, her job is to get in front of people to press the case for her candidates. But I don't think you or the person you're responded to above are interested in the facts, are you?

[ruggit]

08:18 PM on 01/30/2012

Great analogy. Captain BO is playing games while the country sinks.