CNN’s Jim Acosta
noted a number of recent incidents in which the White House has
employed heightened rhetoric to attack Republicans. Acosta asked if the
White House was “trying to taunt” the GOP into shutting down the
government.
During Monday’s briefing with reporters in the White House, Press Secretary Jay Carney was peppered with questions about what President Barack Obama’s response to a government shutdown would be.
“In the last couple of weeks, Democrats including the president have — and he has not used all these words but I’ll throw out some of them — have referred to Republicans as arsonists, anarchists, extortionists, black mailers,” Acosta began. “Hostage takers, Dan Pfeiffer talked about bombs being strapped to chests.”
“It is as if the White House is trying to taunt Republicans into shutting the government down,” he continued.
“Mr. [Mitch] McConnell referred to the economy being a hostage that they could take in negotiations with the president,” Carney replied. “I don’t think this is language that either side has exclusive rights to or has used in the past.”
Carney said that, in order to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling, the Democrats and Obama are asking for no ideological concessions from the GOP while the Republicans have a long list of requests.