White House Faults GOP Candidates for Not Chastising Unruly Audience Members at Debates
Email
John Raoux/AP Photo
The White House today added to the president’s criticism the night before of the audiences at Republican presidential debates, chastising the GOP candidates for staying silent in the face of objectionable eruptions by some members of the audience.
At a fundraiser in California on Sunday night, President Obama said of the debates, “You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay. That’s not reflective of who we are.”
The boos and applause came from what sounded like less than a handful of individuals, it should be noted.
Regardless, White House press secretary Jay Carney elaborated on the president’s remarks, saying, “There was a question asked by a soldier, a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq, about ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the fact that when he was booed by audience members, not a single one of the candidates for president, people who believe they have what it takes to be commander in chief, said a thing about that. And he is there defending our country, putting his life on the line for our country.
“The president was also struck by, in an earlier debate, where the hypothetical question was asked about someone who didn’t have health insurance that had died and there were cheers at that prospect and no candidate had anything to say about that,” Carney said. “It’s a matter of values. It’s a matter of who we are as Americans.”
Some of the Republican candidates have told ABC News that they weren’t aware of the cheering or booing from the stage, while others weren’t certain what the cheers were for.
Earlier this month, Carney refused to condemn Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr., who called Tea Party members “sons of bitches” at a labor event the president attended.
“I understand that there is a ritual in Washington that, you know, somebody says something and you link the associations and then everybody who has an association with him or her is somehow — has to avow or disavow it,” Carney said, adding that the president wasn’t on stage at the time and “didn’t hear it. … Mr. Hoffa speaks for himself. … The president speaks for himself.”
– Jake Tapper and Mary Bruce
Best Commencement Speeches of 2012 
Joe Biden Recalls Death of Wife, Daughter
Jimmy Hoffa behaves like a thug, onstage, at an Obama event… Obama not required to denounce him or his ugly words.
Two or three anonymous loons make a ruckus at a debate… Republican candidates are supposed to condemn the entire audience.
Yeah. That seems about right.
Double standard much, Carney?
Posted by: jana | September 26, 2011, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
“The boos and applause came from what sounded like less than a handful of individuals, it should be noted.”
This was the third paragraph of your article. It is confusing because what the President said was that no one defended the soldier.
And the President was correct. None of the Republican candidates defended the soldier! Also none of the candidates were sorry about the prospect of a person dying from lack of health insurance!
Furthermore, talking about what Hoffa said about a completely different subject is JUST PLAIN MISLEADING!
You really need to make your news stories less opinionated—and stop using non-sequitors to make the President look bad! It makes your news service look bad!
Posted by: Jennifer Szendrey | September 26, 2011, 6:00 pm 6:00 pm
Political spin, that means nothing.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | September 26, 2011, 7:22 pm 7:22 pm
Mr. Claire Shippman set the standard with Hoffa’s intro of Obama on Labor day. The bar is set with that event that candidates are completely immune from criticism due to the actions of those arround them.
Posted by: Larry | September 26, 2011, 7:23 pm 7:23 pm
Lying demagogue of a miserable failure.
Posted by: foggy | September 26, 2011, 7:39 pm 7:39 pm
Please. This president was the one who voted against funding the troops every time it came up when he was senator.
Posted by: Rafe | September 26, 2011, 7:41 pm 7:41 pm
Listen to the Republic right apologists trying to defend what happened. Pathetic.
Posted by: Judd | September 26, 2011, 8:06 pm 8:06 pm
Do as I say but not as I do Mr. Hoffa’s recents comments along with Maxine Waters and Rep Carson, among others, outrageous racist malicious comments and the White House has offered silence. This hypocrisy is ridiculous and abc with this article is promoting the double standard. Either hold both to the same standard or drop it but picking and choosing when to apply this based on ideology is ridiculous.
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
Nothing compared with the Republican audience booing an American soldier for his sexual orientation, and then cheering that someone else should be allowed to die. The Republican right keep setting lower and lower standards for what America means. They should be called out for it – and they are being called out for it.
Posted by: Judd | September 26, 2011, 8:44 pm 8:44 pm
Really?
This from the NoBo administration that didn’t chastise Hoffa!
U N B E L I E V A B L E !
Barry Hussein O’Bama knows no shame.
Posted by: Noz | September 26, 2011, 9:38 pm 9:38 pm
LMAO at this so called president maybe he has forgot about his union thug friends
I will be laughing at his impeachment trial, over the gunrunner, solyndra, Lightsquared scandals that he is tied into… ABC CBS and NBC will not be able to save him
OBAMA____________VS_____________AMERICA
Posted by: Yep I said that | September 26, 2011, 9:49 pm 9:49 pm
U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds to Buy, Sell Weapons During ‘Fast and Furious,’ Documents Show
Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel — the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared.
Watch Obama throw Holder under the bus LMAO
OBAMA____________VS___________AMERICA
Posted by: Yep I said that | September 26, 2011, 9:52 pm 9:52 pm
I will be laughing at his impeachment trial, over the gunrunner, solyndra, Lightsquared scandals that he is tied into…
Posted by: Yep I said that | September 26, 2011, 9:49 pm 9:49 pm
Still grasping at straws with smear attempts . . . nobody believes the Republican right flakes anymore.
Posted by: Judd | September 26, 2011, 10:35 pm 10:35 pm
Jimmy Hoffa behaves like a thug, onstage, at an Obama event… Obama not required to denounce him or his ugly words.
Posted by: jana | September 26, 2011, 5:59 pm 5:59 pm
I’ve watched all of Hoff’s presentation and it was a call to union members to vote Republicans out of office. He didn’t ‘behave like a thug’.
Nobody believes the Republican right flakes any more. You guys lie too much.
Posted by: Judd | September 26, 2011, 10:37 pm 10:37 pm
Posted by: Judd | September 26, 2011, 8:44 pm 8:44 pm
Judd, first you should google what Rep Carson said before you diminish my comparisons that way you can make an informed comparison.
Bigotry is bigotry whether due to race (whatever color) , sexual orientation or all the other various, distorted ways humans show this ugly side. My point was the appalling double standard of the White House and some in the media, not the justification of those in the crowd who showed such disrespect to a soldier.
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
Maxine Waters double-dog-dares oBama to chastise her for telling Tea Party members to go to hell. HYPOCRITES!
Posted by: Michelle Shu Jas | September 26, 2011, 10:42 pm 10:42 pm
Judd, first you should google what Rep Carson said before you diminish my comparisons that way you can make an informed comparison.
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 10:38 pm 10:38 pm
Carson basically said ‘some’ people in the tea party are racist. I don’t doubt it. You have a problem believing that? I would also accurately say some blacks are racist. If this is news to you, I’m afraid you’re a little naive.
Posted by: Alan | September 26, 2011, 10:54 pm 10:54 pm
Maxine Waters double-dog-dares oBama to chastise her for telling Tea Party members to go to hell. HYPOCRITES!
Posted by: Michelle Shu Jas | September 26, 2011, 10:42 pm 10:42 pm
The tea party members who caused the raising of the debt ceiling to turn into a last-minute crisis – resulting in a lowering of the country’s credit rating – can go to hell.
Posted by: Brad | September 26, 2011, 10:57 pm 10:57 pm
Posted by: Alan | September 26, 2011, 10:54 pm 10:54 pm
Nice filter Alan you really cleaned it up perhaps you should google for the full quote like Judd. Here’s part of the quote per Politico. “A top lawmaker in the Congressional Black Caucus (said US Rep Carson) says tea partiers on Capitol Hill would like to see African-Americans hanging from trees and accuses the movement of wishing for a return to the Jim Crow era.
It was not a few people, it was a group, one that has shown no documented behavior even close to his rhetoric. His rhetoric was incendiary, way over the top and insulting. Also he was not some nameless person in the crowd. Like Mrs. Waters he is a member of Congress, a national leader, and with both the White House and some in the media have been silent.
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
Posted by: GO | September 26, 2011, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
That is not Carson’s quote! You’re quoting an article, not Carson. And the article does not put ANY of what they attribute to Carson in quotes – and for good reason – they are not accurately quoting him.
The actual quote is ” . . . …some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me…hanging on a tree.” He’s saying ‘some’ of the tea party are racist, not all, nor even a majority . . . he says ‘some’. I do not doubt it.
It’s not surprising the right wing blogs have shortened this quote and kept the ‘hanging from a tree’ bit while pretending Carson was referring to ALL tea partiers, or ALL right wingers. The Republican right’s one recognizable trait in their various smear campaigns is taking quotes out of their full context to make the quote seem worse.
Posted by: Alan | September 26, 2011, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
Yep…I said it….Solyndra loans were given out during 2008 under the Bush administration and the Obama administration restructured the loan to protect tax payers……google it!
Posted by: sick and tired | September 27, 2011, 12:05 am 12:05 am
Posted by: Alan | September 26, 2011, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
ABC is moderating my last quote don’t know why but I will try reposting a shorter version of what I said. First the politco quote I put in had Carson’s words in quotes. Actually if you look up the full quote that his office confirmed he said in Miami (not the portion of it you quoted) or the live video his office confirmed it includes accusing actual, sitting members of Congress of wanting Jim Crown laws, lynching (as you included) and taking blacks back to pre-civil rights era laws. Now after splitting hairs about Rep Carson’s actual quotes, even after his own office confirmed them and he unapologetically backed it up afterwards, your comments are a perfect illustration. You have spent more time blaming people relaying his words but nothing about their tone, truthfulness or appropriateness just like the White House and some in the press. It is a rank double standard which was my point.
Posted by: GO | September 27, 2011, 12:16 am 12:16 am
You have spent more time blaming people relaying his words but nothing about their tone, truthfulness or appropriateness just like the White House and some in the press.
Posted by: GO | September 27, 2011, 12:16 am 12:16 am
Huh? You were the one posting inaccurate quotes. Don’t talk to me about ‘truthfulness’ if you’re putting inaccurate words in a man’s mouth.
Posted by: Alan | September 27, 2011, 12:20 am 12:20 am
Posted by: GO | September 27, 2011, 12:16 am 12:16 am
You STILL haven’t quoted him accurately. . .. give it a try.
Posted by: Alan | September 27, 2011, 12:21 am 12:21 am
“This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me… hanging on a tree,” Carson said at a Aug. 22 Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour even in Miami.
“Some of them right now in Congress right now are comfortable with where we were fifty or sixty years ago,” Carson added. “But it’s a new day with a black president and a Congressional Black Caucus.”
Carson’s office confirmed that he made the remarks, which were caught on video. Here’s one per abc, I know “shockingly right wing blog sight” (that would be my sarcastic quote not to be confused with Rep Carson) that it is.
Here’s another shcokingly right wing blog sight the Huffington Post
“This is the effort that we’re seeing of Jim Crow,” Carson said. “Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second-class citizens.”
He went on, “Some of them in Congress right now of this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.”
An audio and partial video of Carson (who has previously blogged for The Huffington Post) making the remarks first surfaced on Tuesday on Glenn Beck’s website, The Blaze. When contacted by The Huffington Post, Carson’s office confirmed them and didn’t back down
Would you care for another how about the full audio of his remarks, how about you look for yourself if you would rather be uninformed and throw stones from your glass house go ahead. I have said my peace people can certainly decide for themselves.
Posted by: GO | September 27, 2011, 12:31 am 12:31 am
“This is the effort that we are seeing of Jim Crow. Some of these folks in Congress right now would love to see us as second class citizens. Some of them in Congress right now with this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me… hanging on a tree,” Carson said at a Aug. 22 Congressional Black Caucus Job Tour even in Miami.
“Some of them right now in Congress right now are comfortable with where we were fifty or sixty years ago,” Carson added. “But it’s a new day with a black president and a Congressional Black Caucus.”
Finally, you quote the man himself – after your inaccurate quotes.
I think the man is telling the truth. He is saying ‘some of them’ are racist. I don’t doubt it.
Posted by: Alan | September 27, 2011, 12:37 am 12:37 am
AND…..? I see plenty of folks trying to turn the argument, but non of you “Righties” address the issue? Are you going to boo a gay soldier? Are you ready for more people to die from lack of insurance than is already happening so Corps can keep their tax breaks on jets? So Oil corps can write off the lease of the rigs and not pay us our royalties for OUR CRUDE they are pumping out of the ground?
I think this lovely little tea party is over and Americans are about to clean their clock come election time.
Posted by: DewyB | September 27, 2011, 1:11 am 1:11 am
If barry is not responsible for the things that are said at events that he attends, why should the republicans do likewise?
Posted by: crisp | September 27, 2011, 7:38 am 7:38 am
“Carson basically said ‘some’ people in the tea party are racist. I don’t doubt it. You have a problem believing that? I would also accurately say some blacks are racist. If this is news to you, I’m afraid you’re a little naive.” – Alan
Makes sense Alan.
I’m sure there are racists nearly everywhere.
I bet there is a racist or two working in the White House.
Posted by: Noz | September 27, 2011, 7:54 am 7:54 am
If we had not have witnessed this type of ‘behavior’ for three straight years (especially from the extremist and tea partier side), then you ‘right wing, conservative apologists) might have a ‘case’ for saying this is political demagoguery. BUT because of the despicable rhetoric and actions of this ‘base’ over that time period….you have NO CASE! And this type of NEGATIVISM will not only get you defeated next year….it is destroying your Party.
Posted by: CND FOX | September 27, 2011, 7:54 am 7:54 am
“The boos and applause came from what sounded like less than a handful of individuals, it should be noted.”
It’s odd that you mention this only after the President and the White House call out the Republican candidates on this. It seemed to be a BIG problem when you first reported those two debate incidents.
Posted by: John KC | September 27, 2011, 8:08 am 8:08 am
Well John, they didn’t advocate “taking care” of (code word for eliminate) their political opponents like a certain Teamster official did at an Obama rally.
Posted by: Nephron | September 27, 2011, 8:18 am 8:18 am
“Nothing compared with the Republican audience booing an American soldier for his sexual orientation, and then cheering that someone else should be allowed to die.”
I love it, now its the whole audience?? So a few people can now represent an entire audience and smear the republican candidates as well huh? Give us a break. The American people aren’t buying it.
It’s obvious Obama and his minions can’t sell himself anymore so he has to look elsewhere and no gutter tactic is off limits. Pathetic really. Keep trying left, it’s all you got.
Posted by: J.R. | September 27, 2011, 8:19 am 8:19 am
” He is saying ‘some of them’ are racist. I don’t doubt it.”
That is hardly what Carson is just saying and you know it. Stop being so obtuse. What Carson said was repugnant and a malicious lie. Just because he and you see racism in every criticism of our “beloved” President doesn’t make it so.
Posted by: J.R. | September 27, 2011, 8:37 am 8:37 am
“but non of you “Righties” address the issue? Are you going to boo a gay soldier? Are you ready for more people to die from lack of insurance than is already happening so Corps can keep their tax breaks on jets? ”
I’m your huckleberry.
While I may not agree with gays serving openly in the military, I wouldn’t boo a soldier (unless his actions were considered treasonous and etc.). From what I’ve read about the incident there were more people telling the “boo-ers” to be quiet then there were people booing.
Your point about healthcare is wrong. You also give a false choice as your answer which is deliberately misleading (which is your desire). No one dies from lack of insurance as I have yet to see that cause of death on a death certificate. Also, no one is refused medical care in this country. However, you are and should be held responsible for those costs. Choosing to go without insurance (remember that was the question) is a personal choice which has consequences should you get sick. The government should not be someone’s lifeline after they choose to go without insurance and then get sick. If that were the case, what is the point of anyone buring insurance? The government should not be anyone’s safety net from the failure of someone’s own personal choice.
Your quip about corporate jets is just silly and doesn’t need to be addressed.
Posted by: J.R. | September 27, 2011, 8:51 am 8:51 am
“BUT because of the despicable rhetoric and actions of this ‘base’ over that time period….you have NO CASE! And this type of NEGATIVISM will not only get you defeated next year….it is destroying your Party.” – CND Fox
Are you talking about the Demos or the Repubs foxy?
Posted by: Noz | September 27, 2011, 8:59 am 8:59 am
Meanwhile, Obama says he is “proud” of Jimmy Hoffa, Jr minutes after the union thug offered to “take out those tea party SOB’s” at Obama’s Detroit rally.
Posted by: Obama's Union Thug Army | September 27, 2011, 9:07 am 9:07 am
Teab@ggers hear only what they want to hear. Like the part of the Hoffa quote using the word “vote” is conveniently blocked out of their minds. They hear “gay”, they ignore “soldier”. They hear “health care”, they ignore “dying uninsured”. They hear “execution”, they ignore “record numbers” and “innocent”.
Posted by: cicclinton | September 27, 2011, 9:31 am 9:31 am
The President is now BLAMING Republican candidates for what someone in the audience is doing. For all we know it was an Obama plant striiring up trouble.
The AUDIENCE is no comparison to the rhetoric that is coming out of elected officials in the Democrat party. And the Union head, which Obama backs.
Posted by: wheresmymoney | September 27, 2011, 10:14 am 10:14 am
When will the Pres. condem the spoken words of HIS base???? He only tells his opponents to be civil, yet his followers can say and do whatever they like and you blame the other side. Hypocrites.
Posted by: Lizzie | September 27, 2011, 10:32 am 10:32 am
Funny, I noticed a curious lack of Outrage from the White House when Congresswoman Maxine Waters was telling the Tea Party “to go straight to Hell.”
Oh, but I’m sure Obama’s paid internet community organizers on this site will tell me she was quoted out of context.
Posted by: Obama's Union Thug Army | September 27, 2011, 11:13 am 11:13 am
I guess it is some kind of disease spreading …. Maxine Waters….Jimmy Hoffa…..gee, who’s next?
Posted by: justj joey | September 27, 2011, 12:08 pm 12:08 pm
It’s really very complex in this busy life to listen news on TV, so I only use internet for that purpose, and take the latest news.
Posted by: Shayne Fegan | February 1, 2012, 7:25 pm 7:25 pm