NewsBusters.org ^ | November 18, 2012 | Noel Sheppard
Posted on Sunday, November 18, 2012 3:59:00 PM by Kaslin
For approaching two weeks, liberal media members have been contorting themselves to make the case the President's victory on Election Day represented a mandate for his agenda.
When CNN contributor Donna Brazile tried this on ABC's This Week Sunday, George Will marvelously responded, "Almost every member of John Boehner's caucus won his or her seat by a much bigger margin than Mr. Obama won his renewed term" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
Will Schools Brazile on Mandates: Almost Every House Republican Won By Much Bigger Margin Than Obama
MARTHA RADDATZ, SUBSTITUTE HOST: Simple math? And is there a mandate? Does the president have a mandate? DONNA BRAZILE: He has a mandate. He said -- he said he has a mandate to protect the middle class, to fight for the middle class. And I think what's important, before we start talking about entitlements, which the president has talked about before, is that the Republicans are now talking about revenue.Indeed.
The question is, what Republican Party will show up, the Republican Party that still believes the Romney-Ryan math adds up or the Republican Party that understands the reality now that 60 percent of the American people, at least on Election Day, voted to put revenues on the table? That is -- that is the big question that we have to look at, as we look down the road. The president is going to play the long game. He's not going to play for a short-term deal.
RADDATZ: George?
GEORGE WILL: The president denounced the House Republicans across this country as obstructionists. The country said, "We hear you," and they sent them back to continue being a break on the president. And almost every member of John Boehner's caucus won his or her seat by a much bigger margin than Mr. Obama won his renewed term.
Beyond this, Obama received fewer popular and electoral votes in 2012 than he did in 2008.
What kind of a mandate is that?
But Will wasn't finished:
WILL: Look, the arithmetic is simple. If you cap at $25,000 the available deductions, you raise $1.2 trillion. That's a lot of money. If you cap it at $50,000, you raise about as much money as you would raise by letting the Bush tax rates expire. I don't think that's a problem. You showed the clip a moment ago of Patty Murray saying, as a negotiating ploy, go off the cliff. Let me give you another theory. For 40 years, the Democratic Party's activist base has had two goals: substantial tax increases and substantial defense cuts. Going off the cliff implements the Democratic Party's agenda.Indeed. Let's give it a try and see how the economy does. Then the left's agenda totally supported by the media will finally be exposed as a failure.
All those in favor say Aye.
