◼ Geithner claims Obama adviser suggested he mislead public - Megyn Kelly/FOX With: Judge Andrew Napolitano
KELLY: Yes, Geithner said I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it.
NAPOLITANO: Geithner said I'm not going to do it. And Pfeiffer said, you have to do it. It will be a dog whistle to the left. Meaning, it will send a signal to our left wing base that we're still with them, a signal in the form of a lie. Now this could not have come out at the worst time for this administration.
KELLY: So now, Mr. Geithner testifies in his book that he refused to do it, however, lest you have any doubt about what the democratic talking points were on this issue, listen to who would do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SEN. DICK DURBIN, D-ILL., "MEET THE PRESS"/NBC, FEB. 20, 2011: Social Security does not add one penny to the deficit.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y., "MORNING JOE"/MSNBC, NOV. 9, 2012: I think on Social Security, you'll find more resistance for one reason, it's not part of the deficit.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, I-VT., "ED SHOW"/MSNBC, NOV. 8, 2012 : We're not going to cut Social Security, which by the way, as Harry Reid just reminded us, has nothing to do with the deficit.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
NAPOLITANO: Wow.
KELLY: Right? So, they got the memo.
NAPOLITANO: Those are great gets. They obviously got the memo and they didn't have the sense of integrity or fear of lying that Tim Geithner had.
◼ Many on the left are outraged, outraged I tell you, that conservatives would have the audacity to actually accuse the White House of sending out a representative to lie on Sunday talk shows in order to push their political agenda. Oh wait, here’s former Treasury Secretary Timmy Geithner saying that’s exactly what they tried to make him do: - IJ Review
“I remember during one Roosevelt Room prep session before I appeared on the Sunday shows, I objected when Dan Pfeiffer wanted me to say Social Security didn’t contribute to the deficit. It wasn’t a main driver of our future deficits, but it did contribute. Pfeiffer said the line was a ‘dog whistle’ to the left, a phrase I had never heard before. He had to explain that the phrase was code to the Democratic base, signaling that we intended to protect Social Security.” (p. 458-9, 467)
◼ Tim Geithner: The White House Asked Me to Mislead the Public - FOX
The White House wanted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to lie on Sunday talk shows to downplay the part Social Security played in driving the deficit, it was revealed today.
Geithner writes in his memoir Stress Test, out today, that the White House communications director asked him to downplay the long term cost of Social Security spending to mollify the Democratic Party's base.
◼ White House wanted Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to LIE to the public about social security being behind the deficit - Daily Mail
Geithner's anecdote about White House communications staff trying pressure him into misleading Americans about the country's ability to meet its future financial obligations once again casts a shadow on the Obama administration's willingness to tell the truth when the truth is politically unappealing.
He writes that Pfeiffer, who is now Obama's senior communications adviser, often let party politics come into play when discussing how the administration should respond to fiscal issues.
During a discussion on spending cuts, Geithner says that Pfieffer argued that 'we couldn't afford to alienate our base and split a weakened Democratic Party in pursuit of an imaginary compromise with Republicans who didn't want to compromise.'
