Conservative commentator Mark Levin characterized President Barack Obama as unwilling to bend on domestic policy, but called him “quite the appeaser” when it came to foreign policy.
Immediately following President Barack Obama’s remarks regarding his conversation with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the budget battle underway in Congress, conservative talk show host Mark Levin made an appearance on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” Levin revealed he wasn’t impressed with the president’s efforts with Rouhani and questioned the merits of any discussions with such a brutal regime.
“[Yawn] That’s my reaction,” Levin said. “Well, I’m sorry. But the dictator of North Korea is going to call him next and will sit down with them and so forth? The fact of the matter is, did not this moderate say that they’re not changing policy with respect to their production of nuclear weapons? Didn’t he say that? Well, so what are they talking about on the phone? I have no idea. I don’t know what progress they’re talking about. It’s amazing to me. The irony is unbelievable. The president gets up there, he talks in very nice prose about, you know, this is the first time we’re having this discussion.”
“This is a regime that hangs gay people,” he continued. “This is a regime that kills American soldiers. This is a regime, [that] as I speak, that’s torturing freedom fighters in that country. Meanwhile, he talks about the Republicans as if they’re holding hostages. One of his flunkies was on your show yesterday talking about them having bombs attached to their chest and I’m not going to talk to them. Now, the Iranians, sure, we’re going to talk to them. This is a first. Boehner, no, no way I’m going to talk to them. Does he even understand how silly he looks? No, he doesn’t.”
Regarding Obama’s strong words to Congress, advising them to pass a “clean” continuing resolution, Levin, the author of “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic,” downplayed the risk of a government shutdown, noting that such occurrences are not unprecedented in modern American history.
“So, the only Congress that was democratic was the one that passed Obamacare,” Levin said. “So we’re stuck with it forever. I understand when he was a senator and he voted against increasing the debt ceiling, that was not going to throw the economy into hell. No, no, no, no. Now, as president of the United States he’s talking about a government shutdown, we have to pay our bills. Does he even understand how this works? You’re paying existing interest, principal and pensions — existing, not prospective. We take in $200 billion a year. That covers all that and more. He doesn’t want to negotiate because he doesn’t want to talk about that. That’s perfectly fine.”
“Now, we’ve shut down the federal government 17 times in 19 years,” Levin continued. “I’ve got it right here. It’s NBC, so it must be true. From 1976 to 1995, people got their checks, the military didn’t go home, the border was as secure as it was then as it is now. So, all these scare tactics mean nothing. I just want to inform some of the folks here at CNN, the tea party is not like the reptile house at the zoo, this tiny group of people. It is people who are concerned about $17 trillion in debt, $90 trillion in unfunded liabilities. This president has added enormously to this. So, it’s kind of ironic that he’s talking about paying our bills and the debt and so forth, when he’s accumulated so much of it.”
Levin explained that a shutdown of the government may not be what some people think it is — some parts of the government will still function.
“I want people who watch CNN to understand it’s not like Saturday and Sunday when the government really shuts down, there’s nobody in the offices, or a government-paid holiday when nobody’s in the offices,” Levin said. “There is actually people in the offices, the military doesn’t go home, the border patrol doesn’t go home, the ships don’t go into dock. I just want them to understand the Social Security checks are still cut. We’re talking about the rest of the government.”
And despite the criticisms that the Republican-controlled House of Representative hasn’t done its job regarding the budget process, Levin reminded host Jake Tapper that the U.S. constitutional form of government gives certain powers to the House that Obama must recognize.
“[W]e live in what’s called a constitutional republic,” he added. “It’s interesting under Article One, spending, taxing, borrowing has to come from the House of Representatives first. Maybe the president doesn’t understand that. So, if he’s really concerned about a government shutdown, he’s really concerned about the debt, he would have spent the last five years trying to figure out how to work with Republicans — but he doesn’t. And so, we have, for instance, Obamacare. What does he do? He decides who gets waivers. He decides who benefits. He decides what he’s going to extend and not extend. That’s not the way our republic works. So he should pretend… that John Boehner’s the president of Iran, maybe get a phone call, maybe they could tweet each other and maybe have a discussion about the constitutional responsibilities of both. But Obama, when it comes to domestic policies, it’s his way or the highway. When it comes to foreign policy, he’s quite the appeaser.”
