Are Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh better Republicans than Colin Powell? Tom Price says, ‘No. Goodness.’
Toward the end of a 10-minute stint on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, U.S. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell tried to cool down the “good Republican/bad Republican” debate by stepping up for Colin Powell.
He avoided dissing Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney — but did say that neither can claim to be a “better” Republican.
A rough transcript is below:
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Joe Scarborough: Do you believe the Republican party is big enough to hold both Rush Limbaugh and Colin Powell?
Price: Without a doubt. If we are concentrating on fundamental principles, those principles of economic freedom and economic liberty and opportunity, national security and adhering to the social values that have made America great, then that’s a party broad enough for the vast majority of the American people.
Scarborough: Congressman, do you disagree with Rush Limbaugh that Colin Powell should leave the Republican Party?
Price: Look, it’s not up to Rush Limbaugh to decide who ought to be in the Republican Party. There are all sorts of wonderful folks across this land who hold dear the fundamental principles that we, as Republicans…
Scarborough: But you disagree with that viewpoint, Congressman, that Colin Powell should not be a Republican. You want him to be a Republican.
Price: I’m an arms-open guy. I want folks all across this land who believe in the fundamental American principles that we embrace, to move forward in a positive way — as opposed to the kind of exclusive division that we so often see in Washington. It’s so counterproductive.
Scarborough: Do you believe that Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney are better, quote — I’m just using terms that we hear every day on TV and radio — that they are somehow better Republicans than Colin Powell?
Price:: No. Goodness. This division that we seem to embracing across this land has just got to go away.
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37 comments Add your comment
DW
May 18th, 2009
5:17 pm
Let’s hope Rep. Price doesn’t have to apologize to Rush later…
Coastal Cavalier
May 18th, 2009
9:21 pm
If the Democrats are going to try and paint Rush as the face of the Republican Party than perhaps we need to start calling Keith Olberman the face of the Democratic Party.
Keith
May 18th, 2009
11:45 pm
Once and for all, Colin Powell has never been a Republican.
The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar
May 19th, 2009
6:32 am
Price will be on his knees tea-baggin’ Rush before the week is over.
What a bunch of fawning cowards. All of you GOPers.
catlady
May 19th, 2009
6:42 am
Bend over, Price. The Mightly All Powerful Great and Wonderful Oz, er, I mean Rush, will be speaking to you and you will NOT like what he says. I feel a backtrack coming on…
catlady
May 19th, 2009
6:42 am
Thou shalt have no other gods before him.
dmac
May 19th, 2009
6:48 am
It’s funny that Price of all people sounds like a moderate.
As chair of the Republican Study Committee, he has been one of the more hysterical voices of the GOP.
Both of these guys love to be talked about.
Tony
May 19th, 2009
7:41 am
Who is this RUSH guy. What is his credentials.
Ellie
May 19th, 2009
7:42 am
First of all, Tom Price is a far right wing nut and thank God I don’t follow the path of those idiots. And yes, Rush and Cheney will be on him in a heart beat and he will be kissing their back side before the week is over. Show me a Republican that cares about anybody but the rich and I’ll show you someone who isn’t a Republican. My parents were die hard Republicans and I know they would be ashamed of the party today.
herbK
May 19th, 2009
7:46 am
“Who is this RUSH guy. What is his credentials”
Why, he’s the most famous oxycontin addict with a radio show. Just like boortz & hannity, he sits behind a microphone for a few hours each day, spewing his opinions and related garbage for millions of dollars. And just like boortz and hannity, he talks about hard work, yet has never worked a day in his life.
Joey
May 19th, 2009
8:13 am
Clearly Bush-Syndrome has mutated into a new strain, Rush/Cheney-Syndrome. This abundance of ignorant hatred provides entertainment, but it also renews Conservative energies.
It would seem that Obama was not the antidote, but merely a host for festering hate.
RetLTC
May 19th, 2009
8:18 am
Keith, Colin Powell is the best kind of Republican. But I guess 20% of the “base” (LMAO) will never feel that way. Hope they enjoy losing elections for the next 30 years.
RetLTC
May 19th, 2009
8:19 am
BTW…did anyone else see Jesse Ventura absolutely destroy Hannity last night?
Redneck
May 19th, 2009
8:26 am
Hey Joey, if you have to ask who “RUSH” is your are either brain dead, an idiot, or have been asleep for the past 20 years.
Rush has been on talk radio for 20+ years agravating, agitating, and in general raising the hackles of the bed wetting leftist aka as marxist socialist democrats!!!
His program is listened to by 20 million each day, even better than the “MESSIAH” does in prime time.
melvinowens
May 19th, 2009
8:29 am
the republican party is the party of bigotry and hate
John
May 19th, 2009
8:29 am
Keith,
I hear the CDC is working on a vaccine for “P1R1″ (parroting Rush). Neither of you have a clue.
Redneck
May 19th, 2009
8:31 am
retLTC, while Powell might be what you call a “republican” he is not a conservative. He is socialist lite and you and he should feel real comfortable in the left wing loony bin!!!
Tea
May 19th, 2009
8:46 am
Maybe the Repulblican Party should split into two factions, the “moderate” and the “insane”. Moderates, cut your losses and take this opportunity to run far far away from Limbaugh style activism.
Adittohead
May 19th, 2009
9:12 am
AJC’s liberal writers like Galloway, like to stir the pot of discontent with Republicans….POWELL is no conservative…..POWELL is a RINO…just like John McCain……A RINO is no conservative…that is what it will take for the Republicans to win back the House & the White House.
Adittohead
May 19th, 2009
9:18 am
DO YOU NOTICENO NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE GOP, WHO IS SARAH PALIN…….Old Media does not like to give Sarah Palin prominence…Old Media is scared of this conservativer
Chris Broe
May 19th, 2009
9:19 am
I don’t expect that we’ll have Rushannity around forever to secure our fairly won victory over conservatism. I say let them speak freely among us, let them ring our bells, and shout their slogans, galloping and galavanting as madly as the horses they rode in on. (real wife-whisperers).
JM
May 19th, 2009
9:27 am
Well you just know that Rush will now have something negative to say about Tom Price. After all, he dared to cross the “Great Rush Limbaugh”. *Rolls eyes* Give me a break.
RetLTC
May 19th, 2009
9:29 am
And Redneck, you should feel right at home losing elections. You 20%ers sure are in tune with the rest of America. Losers.
JM
May 19th, 2009
9:29 am
Great suggestion, Tea. I completely agree.
RetLTC
May 19th, 2009
9:34 am
BTW Redneck. Since when do you have to be a rightwing bigoted, ethnocentric, nativist, xenophobe to be a republican anyway? Maybe that’s you 20%er’s idea of what a conservative should be. But it doesn’t define “republican”. Maybe you and others of your ilk have managed to hijack the term “conservative”, but you still don’t get to define what a republican should be. Thank God. Enjoy your exile to the political wilderness.
JM
May 19th, 2009
9:35 am
Coastal Cavalier, The difference between Keith Olbermann and Rush Limbaugh is that KO is that the members of the Democratic Party don’t take KO so seriously that they live and die by his every word like alot of members of the GOP do with RL. Sure they listen to what he says, but they don’t follow it to a T like the GOP does with Limbaugh. IMO, I think most Democrats just see Olbermann as comic relief and someone who does a great job of making fun of the GOP. The GOP views RL as the Gospel and IMO, no radio or tv talk show host should be taken as the Gospel of any political party. Just one of the many reasons why I can’t stand RL and like KO.
Adittohead
May 19th, 2009
9:39 am
TEA…….Maybe you should learn what the difference is between the party label, GOP….& ideas that win elections…TEA…Go back to school.
The Snark
May 19th, 2009
9:50 am
If Sarah Palin is the brightest star in the GOP, then the GOP is toast. She’s nothing but an amateur.
BB
May 19th, 2009
10:26 am
The Snark , What in the #### was obama in before pres, a community organizer!! wow, that’s great. you bedwetter
Capitol Hack
May 19th, 2009
10:26 am
It will be nice – one day – to turn on the TV or radio and hear a politician having an honest, real, human conversation. But getting a politician to break out of jargon mode and dispense with the talking points and have a real conversation and actually respond to questions with real answers – like a real person – is virtually impossible. Do these people go to school to learn to talk like that? Do they practice in the mirror saying phrases like, “All across this great land”? Who talks like that, except politicians? If your friends, family or co-workers evaded and “talked around” questions the way politicians do, you’d think there was something wrong with them.
I’m not picking on Dr. Price specifically, because they ALL do it, from president right down to city council. But this clip is a fascinating example of it. Maybe it’s time for CDC to work on an anti-rhetoric vaccine.
The Snark
May 19th, 2009
11:41 am
BB:
Did you think that up all by yourself? I’ve seen more coherent comments written on bathroom walls. And with better punctuation.
But since you’ve asked: President Obama’s bio is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
Coulmbia University undergrad, Harvard Law (Editor of the Law Review), three terms in the Illinios Senate, U.S. Senator, twelve years as professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School …
Admittedly, he has never won a beauty pageant, or been mayor of Wasilla, and has no grandchildren born out of wedlock, but it’s a pretty decent resume.
BB
May 19th, 2009
1:15 pm
The Snark :
No I didn’t take the time to think of that all by myself. I’m glad you have seen more coherent comments than that on the bathroom walls with better punctuation. Some of us work and sometimes get in a hurry. If he was a constitional professor he fooled me because I don’t think he really understands what it says. He’s just a typical lib wanting the gov’t to control our lives more . By the way, what did he do in the U.S. Senate?
The Snark
May 19th, 2009
1:41 pm
BB:
Twelve years teaching con law at Chicago and you don’t think President Obama understands what it says? What is your basis for that statement? Enlighten us as to your historical and legal expertise in the United States Constitution. For example, have you read it?
(By the way, “constitutional” is not spelled “constitional.”)
I know you’re working and thus “in a hurry,” but his Senate record is spelled out in the Wiki cite I gave you earlier. Perhaps you can research what Senator Chambliss has done and give us all a fact specific compare and contrast. Of course, that would require some knowledge of the actual day to day workings of government, which disqualifies 99% of the folk who post on this blog.
Rush demands an apology
May 19th, 2009
1:47 pm
Isn’t Price a doctor? Maybe he can send Rush a bottle of Oxycontin pills as a makeup gift, along with a tearful apology.
The Amazing GodHatesTrash
May 19th, 2009
9:54 pm
Good idea, Rush demands.
Send him some Viagra, Dr. Price. And a couple of little Dominican boys.
Odd that a drug-addicted pedophile sex tourist is the mouthpiece for the GOP.
Or maybe not.
Trash loves trash.
Gary
May 20th, 2009
4:24 pm
My god your people are unbelievable. No wonder this country is in the shape its in. Libs are bedwetters, conservatives preach hate, etc, etc… Listen to yourselves. No wonder Washington is the way it is today. With all of you out there to support them no wonder we continue to take it up the backside as a country.
Politicians both Democrat and Republican are nothing but lying snakes who care nothing about anything but their own self interests and the money that interest groups give them. Obama is going to be no different than Bush and bow down to his cronies. Democrats are going to do nothing but bow to George Soros and Unions while Republicans bow down to the NRA and Social groups. Its a never ending game no matter which party it is and each of you are fools to think one is better than the other. You are also fools to think one will control the country for a long period of time vs the other one too. I mean come on Ret, the GOP was just claiming several years ago this same thing about Democrats losing elections for the next generation. Now the Democrats are saying the same thing just like they did in 1992. Sheesh don’t you people ever look at history? One party will never control this country longer than maybe a 2-4 year period. Eventually the citizenry will get tired of one party rule and make a change somewhere be it Congress or the Presidency.
Informed Citizenry
May 21st, 2009
8:24 am
If the Repugnicants want to have any chance of winning the White House or majorities in Congress in the next 12 years, the best thing they can do is to banish the 20%ers (i.e. Redneck, BB, Adittohead, along with Rush, Hannity, and Palin) to a third political party. This will leave room for young, up-and-coming politicians, with reasonable minds and well thought out ideas, to rise to leadership positions in the party and pull it back from the far-right-wing cliff on which it is currently teetering. It also leaves room for moderate Democrats to leave their party and join the new Republican party, forming a majority in the center, which reflects the electorate much more accurately than does the current political system.
The neoconservative movement is dying, and in its death throes it is perpetuating further damage to the country. The final stake needs to be driven through its heart, and the best way to do that is to “encourage” the neocons to form their own party, thereby marginalizing them and completing their death spiral.